This summer I prioritized saying ‘yes’ to almost every river trip I got invited to. I want to gain more experience so I can be more confident on the oars, see new areas, and of course, just be outside as much as I can. All in all, I got three more trips under my belt in the past few months.
The last trip to cap off my river season was down the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument. A friend of mine pulled a post-season permit with October 2nd as our put-in date. Trips this time of year can go any which way when it comes to weather. Did I need beanies, a puffy coat and long johns? Waterproof splash kits and rain tarps? Fortunately, with this mild autumn, shorts, tees and sunhats were the ticket.
To be honest, I didn’t do a whole lot of research on this area and the planned float until a few days prior. I got some beta from a friend who had canoed it early this summer, downloaded some maps and started learning more about the incredible landscape.
Mid-day on the 2nd we slid our boats down the boat ramp in a relatively flat area with wide slow-moving water, but just downstream the river narrows between large canyon walls of red quartzite, known as the Gates of Lodore. My neck was sore within the first two hours from looking up at the walls.
Our first day we had two large rapids, Upper and Lower Disaster Falls. This name came about after the rapid claimed one of Major John Wesley Powell’s (Lake Powell namesake) boats and much of his supplies on his 1869 journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers. With our timing, it was low water, which meant more rock-dodging than large wave-trains.
Day two brought on another notable, and the biggest rapid of the trip, Hell’s Half Mile. This one has a large rock in the middle that has earned the name ‘Lucifer’. Scouting this rapid gave us some nerves, the water was pushing right into ‘Lucifer’ instead of parting and pushing to either side. We made it through cleanly with some hard digging to avoid getting high centered.
On day three I whipped out the fly rod. I’ve heard it isn’t too typical to have good fishing and good white water paired together. But this river provided! I hooked up on a few nice Brown Trout early in the day, and another pal on the trip caught a beautiful Rainbow and a Small Mouth Bass. Our camp that evening was walking distance to a small tributary where we ventured during sundown to cast a bit more.
Day four was a push! This was the final day and our biggest mileage yet. Not far from our camp we exited the canyon and entered a flat desert ‘lazy river’ feature. Of course, the upstream wind picked up, forcing us to put our heads down and push our way to the next elevation drop. We finished out the trip with a quick cruise through Whirlpool Canyon to the boat ramp just outside Vernal, UT.
This trip had some of the most jaw-dropping landscape I have ever seen. I am so grateful to have this experience and I can’t wait to add to my list of rafted rivers!
Dylan Peterson
IG
FB
*Must have’s – Fishermans Chillba, Ensenada dress, Rockhaven fleece
© 2026 KAVU
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)
/1x.jpeg?auto=webp)