River Rafting on the Green River

Shane and I have certified as river rafting guides, and we decided to try out our skills on Ben and Lizzy, and the whole VDG family. We headed out to Green River, UT (near Moab) for a three day trip of 'high-adventure'!

Day 1
Load up the 4Runner at an insanely fast rate, squish in the 4Runner (literal squish), head down to Green River past the windmills and through the canyon, and into the desert. We left, eager for adventure, despite a heavy rainfall the night before.



Overconfident, and low on brains, we decided to 'push through' a dangerous dirt road with our four-wheel drive. We ended up slipping in the foot-deep mud to within 6 inches of a 20 foot drop-off into the Green River.


We had to head to the river to get the mud off our shoes, then used our convenient natural shoe-drier.

After a disastrous 2 mile walk, a rock-gathering ceremony, and finding an old blanket, we loaded rocks and a blanket under the wheels to provide some traction. We made it through the precipice, and set camp at our favorite little spot.

Night 1
Death approached again, this time turning from the facade of a cliff to a night full of torrential rain. We were scared, cold, and unable to sleep.


Mountain Biking
We'd have enough of spontaneous conditions and uncomfortable sleeping positions, so headed out to some slick rock for a nice, sunny day of mountain biking!


Inevitably, on the way to the main road, our shoe-drying apparatus failed, and we were left to run all over the road retrieving our displaced items.

All appeared safe once again, until we were three miles out on a plateau of slickrock when it started to freak HAIL (in the middle of Moab). Winds berated us, kicking up sand into our defenseless eyes, and I was actually blown off my bike by their strength. Wind was the little in the big of things, and lightening was our most consistent fear. By the time we'd made it back to the car, the storm was over. But, we decided, our biking adventure was too.









The Sand Hill
Every VDG will remember the illustrious 'red sand hill.' It is 300 feet up at a steep, near-vertical climb. We stopped to conquer the challenge.




Night #2
Mom and Dad drove down to spend the night with us, but after hearing of our muddy, wet, and hail-ridden adventures, they checked into a hotel. Bliss. As you can see by Shane's listless rest.



On the River
We checked out of camp (the warm, cozy, hotel), and headed to the river front. In keeping with the theme of the trip, our air-pump broke, and we had to inflate 2 10-person rafts by hand. We all had a shot at it.






Lizzy wins the award for the 'loudest pumper.'

Finished
Five minutes from the finish of our lovely time on the water, it AGAIN started to hail! We rowed as quickly as possibly, ran across the beach, loaded the gear, and left to go home. I don't even think people in separate cars stayed to say good-bye. We were, quite literally, finished. Well, except for the squishy 4 hour ride home, with wet rafts and paddles on our laps.