Bogley

nelsonccc · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 493 Location: Vegas Baby

Mike, Jarrod, Jarrod’s crusty father-in-law, and me did our annual canoe trip down the Green River. We put in at Mineral Bottom and got picked up at the Confluence with the Colorado river.

We adjusted the itinerary quite a bit in order this year in order to do more hiking. We did 20 miles the first and second days and spent Thursday night at Bonita Bend. Because we had camped there we were able to take more time and do the slot canyon hike that is in the area. It was tight and twisty and quite a bit of a challenge to up-climb. One pour-over required a three man assist with me at the top holding Mike’s arms while Jarrod yarded on Mikes legs to surpass the cliff. Lots of fun. We were able to turn it into a loop hike by coming down an old cowhand trail that was built to bring the cows through the cliff bands to the river. I’m surprised cows could make it down that; it was steep, loose, and treacherous. Too bad I was having so much fun in the lower/tighter section to take pictures but I did come to my senses in the end in time to take a few pics of the top area.

Friday we took in the Turks Head ruins and petroglyphs and pushed ourselves all the way to about 4 miles above Water Canyon. We stayed at a great spot with a tremendous view. We did this so that Saturday morning we could quickly get to Water canyon, secure a campsite, and do the 12 mile hike.

Saturday we took off, paddled for an hour, unloaded the canoe at the usual water canyon spot. Then we geared up for the hike. It involved 1200 feet of elevation gain over 3 miles. It’s very steep and loose. Think MIA exit times two. The final 3 miles were up on top and it was beautiful!! The rain storm made all of the colors POP and provided great hiking weather. We finally reached the river overlook and it was worth it! The views up on the top are fantastic. It was a great time even though the ranger we ran into in the middle of the maze totally ‘fat’ stereotyped me. She assumed that because of my size I must have been lost and that there was no way I could have come up from Water canyon. It wasn’t till I corrected her on her route info did she start to believe me. We came back that night to a Jambalaya dinner that Jarrod ‘created’ that almost required an emergency TEX (the shitter box) drop since the overrun of diarrhea nearly filled the first TEX. It was sure tasty but definitely burnt the pucker string on the way out just as much as it had the mouth on the way in.

Sunday we loaded up and went down to the same rock we had used last year and got out. We recorded another recorded return to Vegas in 7 hours.

Enjoy the pics.

Alex · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 2983 Location: SLC, UT

Looks awesome man! How was the weather? Looks pretty dark.

Jaxx · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 2637

What an awesome trip. Thanks for the pics. Why was the father in law crusty?

nelsonccc · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 493 Location: Vegas Baby

Jaxx wrote: What an awesome trip. Thanks for the pics. Why was the father in law crusty?

His idea of a canoe trip was to view the canoe as a vehicle. You get in, drive to where you are going and get out. I'm not sure he understood before hand that we would be spending lots of time in the canoe. He would get VERY frustrated when we would fool around (swim, splash, snack) instead of paddeling.

We had one major blow out when he was telling a story from when he was 18 and was abducted by aliens. He said they passed a wand around his body. I asked if they had molested him. He said no. I then asked him if the alien wand had been shaped like a penis. He freaked out and threatened to beat me between the eyes with a paddle.

I also found out on the last day that he had thought the Clorox bleach wipes in the toilet bag were baby wipes. He'd been wiping his ass with Lemon scented Clorox Bleach wipes for 4 days. Apparently this had significantly irritated his hemmroids. When Jarrod said that explained all of the lemon scented farts I thought we would have a full blown murder on our hands.

Reedus · Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 707

nelsonccc wrote: Jaxx wrote: What an awesome trip. Thanks for the pics. Why was the father in law crusty?

His idea of a canoe trip was to view the canoe as a vehicle. You get in, drive to where you are going and get out. I'm not sure he understood before hand that we would be spending lots of time in the canoe. He would get VERY frustrated when we would fool around (swim, splash, snack) instead of paddeling.

We had one major blow out when he was telling a story from when he was 18 and was abducted by aliens. He said they passed a wand around his body. I asked if they had molested him. He said no. I then asked him if the alien wand had been shaped like a penis. He freaked out and threatened to beat me between the eyes with a paddle.

I also found out on the last day that he had thought the Clorox bleach wipes in the toilet bag were baby wipes. He'd been wiping his ass with Lemon scented Clorox Bleach wipes for 4 days. Apparently this had significantly irritated his hemmroids. When Jarrod said that explained all of the lemon scented farts I thought we would have a full blown murder on our hands.

Sounds like my father-in-law. No way in hell I would ever go anywhere outdoorsy with him.

accadacca · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 9973 Location: On my Beemer

nelsonccc wrote: We had one major blow out when he was telling a story from when he was 18 and was abducted by aliens. He said they passed a wand around his body. I asked if they had molested him. He said no. I then asked him if the alien wand had been shaped like a penis. He freaked out and threatened to beat me between the eyes with a paddle.
:roll_lol:

Jaxx · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 2637

sounds funny now but at the time it was probably really annoying.

tanya · Joined: 18 Oct 2005 Posts: 6488 Location: Henderson

Is she crazy!!!! I think you are just right. :naughty:

rockgremlin · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 4550 Location: ***MOAB***

Almost a guarantee that next year I'll be on that trip with you.

James_B_Wads2000 · Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

Great pics! :2thumbs:

Where did you go once you reached the confluence? Did you hike out? :ne_nau:

James

goofball · Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 798 Location: vegas

wow. that looks like a lot of fun.

nelsonccc · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 493 Location: Vegas Baby

rockgremlin wrote: Almost a guarantee that next year I'll be on that trip with you.

Yep. I've heard that before. It doesn't matter anyways, we're not doing the canoe trip next year. We're going to Monterrey, Mexico next year. Are you in? We're going with a small group over Memorial day in 2010. Mike, Jarrod, Cody, and I are definately going.

nelsonccc · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 493 Location: Vegas Baby

James_B_Wads2000 wrote: Great pics! :2thumbs:

Where did you go once you reached the confluence? Did you hike out? :ne_nau:

James

Yep. We packed the canoes and our gear up over into the Dollhouse and to a truck we'd left there. NOT.

We hired Tex's to come pick us up at the confluence with a jet boat. Standard practice for the canoe groups. It lets you see both rivers. Lots of fun.

ststephen · Joined: 17 Feb 2009 Posts: 249 Location: Felton, CA

Great TR and pics!

I think I met that same ranger that gave you a hard time when we hiked this area a few weeks earlier. Short, petite and maybe 45-50 years old?

She was nice in helping us switch campsite reservations but she was wound a bit tight. At one point when she was looking at her clip board of reservations I went to sit next to her to figure out what my options were and she got very nervous about me not seeing any names on there. "You could be a stalker", she said. Right, I'm teaching my wife and son stalking techniques in the Maze.

Speaking of hiking out...when I first visited Spanish Bottom in '81 I only met one other hiker on my trip. He was hiking up out of SB after rafting from the town of Green River. He had a "portable" kayak that could be broken down and packed but it was still something like 40lbs. So, he left it stashed and was hiking out to hitch to his car and then would return to SB to fetch his boat.

A little easier now with Tex's available to pull you out the Colorado.