August 30 – September 2
Overview
- Difficulty: Casual
- Season: Fall
- Length: 4 Days
- Put In | Take Out: Ruby Ranch | Mineral Bottom
- Distance: ~45 Miles
Notes
Permits: If you’re ending at the Mineral Bottom takeout, the permitting process is simple. All you need is a BLM permit that can be filled out online (link) at no cost. If you’re continuing into Canyonlands National Park, an overnight permit is required
Trip Length: Continuing into Canyonlands turns this into a ~100 mile float from Ruby Ranch to Spanish Bottom. Be aware, there is no vehicle access to the takeout at Spanish Bottom, requiring a jet boat shuttle to take you back upriver
Vehicle Shuttle: Depending on your vehicle setup and time, you might consider using a shuttle service to move your car to the takeout location. We used Paddle Moab (link) and everything went smoothly. Keep in mind the shuttles do cost a few hundred dollars. Depending on your group size, the cost per person can be reasonable, but if you’re trying to keep costs down, you’ll need two cars and a couple of hours to “self-shuttle
Watercraft: This section of river is all stillwater and is typically canoed. Some people report strong headwinds that can make rowing a raft difficult. We still opted to use a 14′ raft and two paddleboards for a party of five and didn’t run into any issues. If you’re packing light, you could certainly get away with just paddleboard
Recommended Gear
After spending a few days floating in 90+ degree heat, I cannot recommend the YETI Ramble Can Cooler enough. If you’re like us and brought a few beverages to enjoy along the way, this koozie will keep your drinks cold while floating on the raft. This is a small but great addition to your gear list for the trip.
Trip Overview
For the past three years, my girlfriend and I have planned a float trip for a long weekend over Labor Day. In typical fashion with our busy schedules, we put off the planning until the last minute, limiting our options given late-season flows and permit availability. After digging around online for various trip options, we settled on floating the Green River. After a few last-minute calls to some friends, we assembled a crew of five.
We departed from Denver in two vehicles: my girlfriend and I in a van, and the three amigos in an old Tacoma. We left early as we had a few stops to make along the way, most notably, securing our raft for the trip. We arrived at Rimrock Adventures in Grand Junction where we rented a 14′ raft, frame, cooler, dry box, etc. Most people canoe this section of the river, but we opted for a raft and a few paddleboards. Now…we did not have a trailer so there was a bit of a question about fitting all the float gear in the bed of the Tacoma. After a slight game of Tetris, we had the raft (deflated) and all the other float gear packed into the bed. We snagged the last few essential items (wag bags, sunscreen, drinks, ice, etc.) and headed for the Ruby Ranch boat launch.
The Ruby Ranch boat launch is the typical launch point; however, you can start in Green River and extend the trip by another ~20 miles of not particularly scenic river. Ruby Ranch is a private launch so there is a cost ($10 per boat and $5 per person) to use the boat launch. I’d budget ~30-40 minutes or so once you get off I-70 to make it to the boat launch; it’s a washboard dirt road for ~20 miles.
After a sweaty ordeal of inflating the raft and two paddleboards in 95 degree heat, we set float in the late afternoon. The first few miles of the river transition from farmland to sandstone walls. Despite being late in the season, the river was still flowing at a few miles an hour without rowing (the river was flowing around ~2,000 CFS). We floated for a few hours before we started looking for a campsite. There are no reserved campsites on this section of river but there are a variety of sandbars or riverbanks. Now I’m not sure if it’s this way every year, but the mud was quite intense when we went. Every time we unloaded from the river onto the riverbanks, there was a section of mud that you would sink calf deep into and lose a sandal if you weren’t careful. We made camp that night on a sand bar (we timed it a bit too late and had to set up in the dark) and managed to get some great star gazing.
The next two days of floating were pretty mellow, consisting of floating, swimming, hiking, and generally relaxing. We even managed to fit in an impromptu game of sand volleyball with another group we ran into (would recommend bringing a volleyball if you can fit it in).
For the final day of the float, we planned to take out late in the afternoon, camp, and go pick up the Van that was still at the put in (we had two cars and opted to only have one shuttled). While we were in the last few miles of the float, we ran into a couple on paddleboards who had left their keys for their car at the takeout in their other car at the put in. We were flexible in our plans and offered them a ride back to the put in that evening. Now, the drive back to the put in was always going to be a bit tight. We had a 2001 Tacoma (two seater), five people (plus two new additions), camping gear, a 14″ raft, and two paddleboards…it was a tight fit. Of the two people we met, one elected to stay at the take-out to help with space. The Tacoma was squatting low, but we had managed to get all the gear and people loaded into the bed.
After climbing out a series of steep and narrow switchbacks, we had a few routes back from the take out to the put in. The easiest of which takes you on Hwy 191 to I-70. Given we had four people and gear in the bed of the truck, we opted to take “back roads” instead. We certainly didn’t appreciate it at the time, but this embarked us on a four-hour journey that normally should only take two. We were loosely following Google Maps directions, but at some point ended up off route. We found ourselves in the dark, questing through progressively rougher roads, with not much more than a “road” we were following on maps. While it’s still unclear what trail we were on, we saw a lot of signage for 4x4s and OHVs only. We encountered everything from rock crawling, to sand dunes, to heavily rutted out roads, and everything in between. While my offroading is somewhat limited, this was certainly the roughest trail I’d been on and was only further complicated by driving at night with a truck loaded well beyond its payload rating. After a bunch of group discussions questioning our decisions up to that point, we pushed on. Eventually, we made it back to the familiar dirt roads that take you into Ruby Ranch and made our way back to the put in. The additional companion we had picked up, probably scared for life, thanked us and jumped in his car to head back to the take-out. Our group, still recovering from the multi-hour, spontaneous offroading adventure, made a quick dinner before settling to sleep.
That morning, we broke down camp, packed up the remaining gear, and hit the road. We had a long drive back to Denver and a few folks in the group had flights to catch that night. We all had a great time floating Labyrinth Canyon and in typical Casually Alpine fashion, we managed to maybe get a little more than we bargained for.