Desolation and Gray canyons; Green River, UT

A seemingly tranquil scene.

We drove through the night, paused for some reminiscing and a nap and made the putin. (No, not that Putin. The place where we launch the boats. Stoopid auto-correct.) 

We got in the day before launch. We were greeted by a hungry hoard of tiny blood sucking monsters. These horrific little winged terrors would slowly drive me insane due to my inability to find my bug spray. The rest of the group, my crew of merry blood donors, kindly shared with me and assured me that the citronella candle that I brought was working. In my week willed state I clung to that placebo with a desperate white knuckled grip. Luckily the team lead had the foresight to reserve a bug hut or sleep would have been impossible. 

The cliffs below Sand Wash.

There is something about sandstone cliffs. The sharp angles and square peaks are so different from the rain washed forests I have chosen as my home. The vitamin D deficiency developed by nine months of rain a year will keep me coming back to the desert even as I remember why I left. Sure is pretty..... AaaaghH!!!1! Fucking mosquitos! 

We pushed hard on launch day and managed to get 18 miles in. The BLM guy, who told us the bugs weren't bad this year, also told us that it would be better in the canyon. I lit my candle and ,thankfully, found my bug spray. I then leaned on the oars and tried not to compare the bugs here to all of the other rivers I have ever been on. I did well enough with the first, but the second proved the bigger challenge. 

It sure is pretty though.

This trip had lots of hikes up into side canyons along the way. A lot of people have made this canyon home over the years. The native peoples who lived here left long before the first white people showed up. They managed to write a few notes that would last though. The notes are called petroglyphs. In some cases they seemed to point the way to dinner. Something that would be a great help to people living here without the modern tools that I take for granted. In others they seemed fanciful and inscrutable. 

A map of the canyon. Note the "you are here" circle at the bottom and the branch in the canyon above.

Petroglyphs are glyphs carved into sandstone that has had a natural oil seep above it. The oil stains the sandstone and the ancient artists use rocks to break the top oiled layer of stone revealing the lighter unoiled stone. Imagine if your post-its lasted a millennia or two. 

I imagine the top of the picture showing that you can take lone, or very young animals with a rock, but will need a bow for groups or adults.

There are times during the trip that I wondered how anyone could live here. It's pretty clear that it's the only place in the area that anyone could live.

There is only a tiny strip of green next to the water. Everything else is a barren brown.

This was clearly where someone slept in the past. 

More postits. It's less clear what the message was.

Mushroom rock is a major landmark. It's where the last two pictures were taken.

Some did a bit more than just live. At least one person set up a moonshining operation. He had a little spring behind his cabin. I am not sure what was used for wort. Maybe cactus, or maybe sugar or grain was brought in.

The front view of the moonshiner's house. He built it under and overhang in the rock. A trail leads around to the back where a spring was flowing.

This old gas tank was part of the still. 

The wood burning stove and the inside of the "cabin."

The front window and various artifacts.

The biggest panel of petroglyphs was at rock creek ranch. It was also where I got poison Ivy. Karen is right about me. I am not a good noticer. 

You can tell these are really old by the way the oil has started darkening the lines.

Desolation canyon is aptly named. It beautiful, but inhospitable.

Good bye Desolation canyon.

We saw SOME wildlife on the trip; two bears, a beaver, and some mountain goats. I was only able to get pics of the goats though.

Can you spot the goats?

Grey canyon has a bit of a different feel than Deso. The rocks were different, and the water picked up the pace. We saw all of our big rapids there.

This plateau marks the end of the trip. 

Eight days was a long time to spend in this canyon. I had plenty of beer and whiskey, but not enough ice. We did come up with an invention or two out of the experience though. I'll save that for the "grand" unveiling and another post.

Keep the rubber side down my friends.