The Green River flows into the Colorado River at a point in Canyonlands, but our usual rafting route ends shortly before there in the small town of Green River. It begins some ninety miles up at a place called Sand Wash-- a site where a ferry existed at one time to cross the river. The river is devided into two sections along this stretch: Desolation Canyon and Gray Canyon. These names are accurate. Desolation Canyon is deeper in places than the Grand Canyon and is miles from any help or rescue. Gray Canyon is just that: it's gray.

The rapids are all rated I to III... not very big, but there's two or three that should be scouted. Scouting is not cowardly, as some might argue. Half the fun of the rapid is psyching yourself up and scaring everybody else about it. Plus, it's nice to stop and snap some pictures of rafts going through the rapids. Still shots don't do it justice, but it's close enough. Here's a shot of me, just chilling in my kayak on a peaceful stretch of river.

The first time I rafted this river, myself, my brother, my cousin Chris, and our friends Mike and Tim Hare, swam almost the whole thing in our life jackets. Of course, the larger rapids were spent in our little kayaks, where we gained our river experience. By now, we're experts, of course. Trouble is, our inflatable kayaks aren't much good for larger rapids. I'd never run Lava on the Colorado with one of these babies. I'd disappear in a flume of wildly frothing water never to be seen again.

But the rapids on this river are fun in and of themselves. Some of the big boys are Steer Ridge, Cow Swim, Wire Fence, Three Fords, and Coal Creek. I'll discuss some of them and their variable fun levels.

Steer Ridge is pretty much the first big rapid. Everything before it are just riffles or small rapids. Actually, the first few days on the river (we usually take more than a week) are just flat water. By the time we get here, we're all excited. It's always the same run, but we like to scare ourselves silly by scouting it anyway. The books tell of a "fatal log jam" on the right run and it's always interesting to see and easy enough to avoid. Last year, My brother's wife, Stephanie, and I ran doubles in my Tahiti. Jesus, what a ride. Big water and screams pretty much sum it up. That, and an intense adrenaline flow. There's a pretty good camp at its end where one can watch other trips run the rapid as well.

Cow Swim is always a surprise. You whip around a corner, recovering from a collection of small rapids prior, then BAM! You're being tossed bodily about by more of a falls than a rapid. As you open your mouth to scream in surprise and impending doom, it's over. All you can do now is take a few breaths, wipe the sodden hair from your eyes, and start bailing your boat. And change your shorts if the need arises. I've never been that scared, but the faint of heart just might be. If you can stop at it's base, there's a cool side canyon where we once saw a huge bighorn...

Wire Fence. Ha ha ha! Looking at it from water level, the river just disappears in a thunderous roar. The rapid is but a single drop, but what a drop! Plus, you know that Three Fords is just around the corner. There's no scouting this one, either. Make the drop, hope you survive, and paddle like mad to the beach at the end so you can scout Three Fords before it sucks you in. This is really a fun one.

Which leads us to Three Fords. This one is big time. It's a place where three rivers come together-- a boulderous place indeed. A ripe location for a monstrous rapid. In fact, that's me below breaking the first wave. I've stalled on that badboy before and it was a bad scene. I didn't flip, but it scared the holy hell out of me. That first wave is the really tough part. But once you break it, you just avoid a hole or two and ride the tail waves out. This rapid used to scare me, but it does no longer. I once had a disastrous ride with my brother's wife's sister Amanda. On her first river trip she tried out the whole kayak thing and did admirably well. I was duly impressed and developed an intense crush on her for that at the time. Anyway, at the end of this rapid I asked if it had scared her and if she wanted to run it again. No, she wasn't scared, and yes, she did want to run it again. So we decided to go doubles in my kayak and hiked back up to its beginning. We broke the first wave and flipped on the second. I spent the better part of the rapid upside down under my kayak with my foot caught in the bowline. But I popped up whooping like I'd just won the lottery-- I'd actually knocked myself silly on a rock, but I usually leave that part out of my story. But it was fun. And I had swum Three Fords.

Of course, the question remains whether or not I flipped on purpose. I've never flipped a kayak in my life. Did I or didn't I? Heh, she'll never read this, so I'll admit it. I flipped on purpose to test her resolve... but don't tell her for pete's sakes.

Coal Creek is really not that bad in my mind. It has a huge hole in the middle and is very long, but it doesn't scare me. It's more my nemesis. It's full of rocks. Scraping ugly boulders is inevitable. I hate that. I don't even want to talk about it. There's a good camp below it, though, where we once found a snarling badger. That was cool.

I run rivers with my family. We've always done this sort of thing together. By family, I include my mother, father, my brother Jeff, and his wife Stephanie. We prefer small river trips. We go with the Hares (no more than four of them at any one time). Or Wayne and Renee Johnson. Or Ed Anderson. Or my cousin Chris. Occasionally, we'll introduce somebody new to the river, but it's usually a core group.

The picture below is one of our bigger groups. My Mom is in the red shirt with my Dad on the left in the green. Ed is on the end at left. That's me with my back to the camera. Wayne is between me and my Mom. Jeff and Stephanie are on the right.

Here's Stephanie, Jeff, and I chilling on the beach.

This picture is more our maximum trip. From left to right is me, Amanda, Renee, Mom, Dad, Stephanie, and Jeff. That's Wayne crouching in the front.

And here's my Mom and Dad descending into Three Fords.

Of course, the more people you have, the more can play Bozo Ball. I'll go into more detail on this pastime in the San Juan section, since it's funner there. But here's a picture of a game in action: