Spring is Coming! - Canoecopia

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“Rooted in the outdoors since 1976”
Whitewater Adventure
MO KAPPES
and
ALI DWYER
Every December, my friends Patty and Allen send a Christmas letter regaling
me with the adventurous trips they have taken the previous year (hut trips
in Colorado, rafting in Idaho, scuba diving, etc.). This year, the letter
included an invitation to join them on one of those awesome trips … an eight-day
whitewater paddling adventure through Desolation Grays Canyon on the Green
River in Utah—a Class II-III section of the river. They would raft it, and I would
paddle a solo whitewater canoe. With anxious excitement, I accepted the invitation
and convinced my partner, Ali, to join in the fun. This was one of those trips you
just can’t pass up.
We were the Midwest contingent, joining Patty and Allen and ten of their
experienced rafting friends who had logged countless days on rivers more technical
than the Green. I had paddled whitewater before, but not big Western water. Ali had
only encountered riffles.
As well as experienced rafters and paddlers, the folks on our trip were awesome
to be around! They were supportive, welcoming and fun and ready to teach us
about the local flora (those cactus are sharp) and fauna (mountain goats are scared
of bears), the ways of the river (she flows mightily) and how to eat well (every raft
has a 100 quart cooler).
May 15th found us in tiny Vernal, Utah, at the mouth of Desolation Canyon. As
we waited our turn at the put in, we watched uprooted trees float by on the swollen