Utah 2021

Saturday, June 12

We met at 11am to do a final sort of food and gear.  After the cars were packed, we ate lunch and took off about 1pm.  Traffic did not cooperate and we averaged 40mph for the first 3 hours.  Traffic finally got better once we passed Sacramento.  We had a short gas and snack break in Auburn and took off again for Nevada.  When we arrived at Lahontan State Recreation Area we set up camp near the lake and the dinner team prepared Caesar salad, grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and frosted sugar cookies.  After dinner, we had guitar and mandolin entertainment.  Dave F. set up some astronomy viewing and taught all who were interested.

Sunday, June 13

Today was a very very long driving day. Breakfast was baggy eggs with DIY ham, cheese, salsa, and burrito. Dave gave a nice Scout’s Own, we loaded up the cars, piled in and took off shortly after 8:00 a.m.

Our first stop was the Hickison Petroglyphs. We went on a nice hike and looked at the various carvings done by Native Americans more than a thousand years ago. Then we sat at some nice picnic tables in the shade, ate our lunch and took off again about 1:00.

We drove to the Nevada Northern Railroad Museum in Ely and had a great time climbing in and around all the engines and workshops. We even got a chance to watch one of the old steam engines puff back into the station.

We departed shortly after 4:00 and drove to Oak City, Utah where we stayed in the Oak Creek group campground. We arrived about 8:30 p.m. mountain time and quickly produced hot dogs and mac and cheese for the very hungry travelers. The campground itself is beautiful, right next to flowing Oak Creek and nice craggy rocks.

Monday, June 14

Cooks were up early today to prepare dutch oven pizza for breakfast. Breakfast was ready by 9 and was amazing.  The 5 pizzas had a mix of Chicken, BBQ or tomato sauce, mushroom, peppers, black olives, and/or pepperoni.  We also had sliced honeydew melon and cran-mango juice.

We were somewhat delayed getting started so Dave filled in the time with training the youth for the River run. We left before 11 and headed for Black Dragon Canyon petroglyphs.  On the way, we ate a sandwich lunch at a scenic overlook where we saw Native American jewelry and pottery.  We continued on and got to the canyon about 3:30.  It was hot (109) but we hiked out to amazing petroglyphs and rock features. At 5 we arrived at the Moab Aquatics Center for showers.  After showers we were supposed to head to Ken’s Lake outside Moab and cook a dutch oven dinner.  However, it was 111deg and we were worried about cooking a long meal in the direct sun.   We opted to stay in Moab and eat at an amazing BBQ place on their outside patio in the shade. After dinner we drove to the lake and prepped for the 4 day canoe trek which would start early the next day.  There was a forest fire over the ridge from us and helicopters flew overhead getting water from Ken’s Lake until sunset. 

Tuesday, June 15

Overnight some smoke from the fire settled in camp making an orange sky at sunrise.  Breakfast was grab-n-go bagels, cream cheese, muffins, Svenhardts and cran-mango.  We left camp at 7 just as a mile long line of fire tanker trucks were headed to Ken’s Lake to fill up and head to the fire. 

We arrived at Tex’s Riverways in Moab at 7:30, staged all the gear & food and filled large water containers and all water bottles for the trip.  We took off in 2 vans, each with a rack of 5 canoes and headed to Ruby Ranch.  The hour long drive over washboard dirt roads was slow but ended at the banks of the Green River.  The river was silty green, wide and flowing about 2.5 mph at ~6000cfs.  We staged the gear and canoes by the river, built the canoes into catamarans and ate lunch.  Many small lizards kept us entertained. At about 1 we launched our canoe catamarans and headed down the Green.  It was well over 100F but we kept relatively cool by filling our hats with water and pouring it over our heads.

The flat bottom land area by Ruby soon gave way to majestic sandstone canyon walls. Frequent water fights between canoes kept the temperatures at bay.  Finding camp spots was a little harder than expected but, after covering about 10 river miles, we found a perfect spot overlooking the Green River with some trees for shade and next to the red rock sandstone cliffs.  The cliffs provided shade from the direct sun.  Dinner was chicken fried rice and peach cobbler. We had swim call between dinner and dessert and ended the evening with loud singing and a few antics.  

Wednesday, June 16

The sky was bright at 6am but many slept in till 8am. The high temp Tuesday had been 109F but this morning it was a ‘cool’ 75F.  While we were striking camp the cooks made breakfast burritos with eggs, bacon bits, bell peppers, hash browns, and beans. Leftover peach cobbler was dessert for some.  There was not even a morsel of food left when the meal was over. 

We launched shortly after 10 and continued down river. A few water fights later (about 1) we found a nice place for lunch where we could have a swim call and then a hike to petroglyphs and then another swim call. 

We found and stopped at numerous locations with historical inscriptions from the 1800’s.

We picked a camp spot on a large sandbar across from the “Launch Marguerite” inscription.  Dinner was pasta shells with a meat & vegetable sauce and dutch oven brownies.  We sang songs before going to bed.

Thursday, June 17

We got an early start on the river today  Breakfast was blueberry pancakes and eggs.  We struck camp quickly and got on the river headed for bowknot bend. It’s a place where the river makes an 8 mile loop back on itself and is trying to cut through.  We landed at the knot and made the climb to the saddle between the two bends of the river. The hike was very hot and steep but the view was spectacular.

After climbing down we got back on the river and continued 4 miles around the loop of the bow.  We found a good landing spot for lunch and everyone played in the river. We continued down the river enjoying the lush green tamarisk against the red rock cliffs.  It took a while to find a good place to camp so it made a long canoe day.  This left a relatively short paddle for Friday to get to our pull out point.  The high temp was 111F… Low 78.  

Everyone voraciously ate a dinner of chili & cornbread. 

Friday, June 18

This was the last day of our run on the Green River.  We were up and eating oatmeal and hardboiled eggs by 6:30.  It was a beautiful 78F with wispy clouds overhead.  A rain squall passed us in the night without getting us wet.  We struck camp quickly and loaded the boats. Before we left camp we took a short hike to the location of an inscription from Julian in the 1800s.  What we found was graffiti covering it entirely.  We all were sad to see such damage in a remote area on a historic artifact.  We hiked back to the boats and took off for Mineral Bottom, our extraction point for the trip.  We were ahead of schedule so we took a leisurely float in silence for part of the journey to reflect on the trip. Only the sounds of flowing water and bird chirps echoing off the steep canyon walls could be heard.  We landed early at Mineral Bottom and methodically emptied canoes and organized gear for pickup.  We disassembled the canoe catamarans and washed everything we’d rented in the Green River.

Tex’s Riverways picked us up at mid day and we started the long drive up the windy dirt road carved into the canyon walls. After 90 minutes we were back at the outfitter in Moab and civilization.  We repacked gear and people and at 1:30pm headed to a park where we ate lunch under a giant sycamore tree providing welcome shade. It was a relatively cool 106F.  We drove to fill up our gas and found It was a bit of a shock being back in the hustle and bustle of a tourist town. We drove 1 hour to our campsite in Green River State Park, checked food inventory, went shopping for groceries, had a fun swim call while the cooks made hamburgers for dinner.  Jan provided excellent ice cream for dessert.  Everyone got a chance to take a shower.

Saturday, June 19

The sky was bright at 6am but everyone was allowed to sleep in until almost 8 am. It was 74, cooler than any other day in Utah.  We had one more day in Green River State Park so no gear was struck. The cooks made egg and sausage bagel sandwiches and fresh strawberries.  We prepped for a whitewater kayak day on the Colorado River.   Lunch was eaten at a park in Moab including meat or cheese or Nutella or PBJ  on Pita, bread, or tortillas.  We arrived at outfitters at 11:30.  After check-in we were outfitted with PFDs and helmets and left on an hour bus ride to the put-in point for the kayaks. After a safety briefing we launched on a class 2+ section of the river.  We had a mix of double and single kayaks.  We spent the afternoon running a very fun section of the Colorado River and all our kayak teams navigated and read the water well.  We even assisted some other rafters and kayaker’s that needed help. 

After returning to Moab we visited a large rock and mineral shop in Moab.  Back at Green River camp, we enjoyed a beef and vegetable stir fry dinner. The youth had brownie bites with whip cream for dessert.  After vespers at ten we all settled down for the night.. 

The high today was a cool 99deg.

Sunday, June 20

This morning the temperature was a comfortable 67deg.  Cooks made French toast, bacon, & cuties.  After a quick group meeting we jumped in the cars and took off  for Kanarra Falls. With one gas stop we arrived at the trail head for the falls at noon.  We ate a sandwich lunch, while a taillight was changed in one car before heading up the trail for Kanarra Falls. The hike was nearly 2 miles and almost 600 ft of elevation gain. The temp was in the high 90s and the first half of the hike was exposed to the sun, so a little hot.  Soon we reached the creek and we hiked in and out of the water going up the trail.  That was fun and “cool” literally and figuratively.  Within 100 yards of the as yet unseen falls the temperature dropped about 10deg down in the creek bed.  We came to a high wall sandstone channel and hiked the last 150ft in the creek bed labyrinth until we reach a 20ft waterfall. Next to the waterfall was a log ladder so we could reach to the top of the falls and enjoy a space with a cascade of water. We played around for a while in this amazing cathedral but eventually had to hike back. Our total time at Kanarra Falls was 4+ hours. 

We drove on to St. George (the nearest large town) and ate dinner at the Habit Grill.  After dinner we proceeded on to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. This week has been exceedingly hot in this part of Nevada and temperatures reached 117F as we got close to our camp area. The youth were in good spirits and enjoyed all the volcanic formations around our campsite. 

Monday, June 21

Overnight was very warm with the low temperature at 94F. We had a fox visit camp in the middle of the night but it was easily scared off.

It was light and warm early so everyone was up early.  We struck camp quickly, had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, and left by 8 am. We drove 4 hours to the town of Beatty, Nevada near the ghost town of Rhyolite.   We toured the ghost town and talked about its history. We ate lunch in Beatty and then enjoyed ice cream dessert. We drove another 4 hours to the South Tufa Area alongside Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierras and hiked along this beautiful restored lake. We drove another hour and a half to Topaz Lake, set up camp and had hot dogs with chili for dinner. It’s was a lovely 70° there with a very strong breeze. 

Tuesday, June 22

We had a fully cooked warm breakfast and then drove to Truckee so that we could run the Lower Truckee River in the afternoon. The rafting trip was a fun class III run with lots of rocks to dodge around.  After running the river we had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and began the last leg of the drive home to Belmont.  It was a fabulous trip, well organized by Pat and Dave, and well executed by the Venturing Crew. We all had a great time but were looking forward to being home.