The second day we were in Dinosaur National Monument we decided to raft the Green River, hoping to cool off. We drove to Vernal, UT to the outfitter's warehouse where this dorky picture was taken of all of us with our hats and our helmets.
On the way to the put-in point we stopped at an amazing petroglyph site. This petroglyph shows two figures perhaps with fish. In the Fremont culture the women had short hair while the men had long hair and wore earrings.
This panel showed a man on the right with an atlatl (like a Chuck-it for throwing spears) in his right hand and a turtle in his left hand.
This panel was very interesting. On the right the squiggle might be a map of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Above it is the only man in sidewise relief. In the bottom center the wave may represent the explosing of a star and nebula in 1150. The same figure is found all over the world. The man with the concentric circles probably shows his life (inner circle), death (outer circle) and some important event (middle circle). Below the map is an upside down figure with only two circles. Perhaps this is a child that died young.
This is the most famous petroglyph in the monument. In the lower right is a mountain sheep head on.
The Green River has Class II and III rapids, just enough fun to keep things exciting. The water temperature was perfect (Bob and I both slipped over the edge of the raft to float). The current was pretty good so we only needed to paddle occasionally. The scenery was fantastic - beautifully colored rock.
Here is our guide Chuck, from Telluride CO. He was a delightful young man who had floated this river since he had been a child. He was very good at getting us through the rapids. The other raft with four people was guided by one of the managers who was not as skilled and got hung up on rocks. We stopped for lunch under a large cottonwood tree where they prepared a deli sandwich buffet.
More scenery from the river and the canyon (1,500' deep). There were a few other rafters, but otherwise we were on our own. It was a delightful, relaxing way to spend a day.
When we took out, very near our campground, we were bussed back to Vernal where we drove on to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. It was beautiful at the south end, but ugly up north where we camped. The Green River was dammed in 1964. There were two other dams proposed for the Green in the area where we floated that were stopped when David Brower negotiated for them to be abandoned in return for not objecting to the Glen Canyon Dam (a decision he rued for the rest of his life). I have been reading "Cadillac Desert" which looks at the "greening" of the desert and the huge number of bad dams that have been built by the Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of Rec. Just below Grand Teton National Park is a dam that almost burst due to poor design.
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