Capmp Site Notes for Green River Trip

Our trip was in May, with a very high water level of about 20,000 CFS. At lower water levels, there may be a lot more sandy beaches available for camping. When we went there were none! Without a sandy beach, you had to find a hole in the tamarisk that would lead back to the higher river benches. These holes were few and far between. A couple of other   things were brought to mind. We had strong afternoon upstream winds winds every day. Wind waves on the river of up to 12 inches high! We saw canoes stopped dead in their tracks because of it, so it might be good to start early in the day. River water was not fit to drink or filter. We camped one night with a commercial canoe trip, and each tandem canoe had 10 gallons
of fresh water on board. We carried ours also, but with the raft it wasn't a big issue. It is possible that in September, the water could be somewhat clearer, but it is also possible that the fall rainstorms could have
already stirred up the water by that time. A good set of heavy duty pruning shears could prove to be very helpful, in case getting through the tamarisk becomes an urgent desire! At our water level, there were very few large camp sites that would
work for a group of 10 canoes. We have marked those that would on your map,
and will include notes for each site here.
>
>Mile 91.3 river left. Large camp up on the bench. Private and
little used. Large tamarisk trees form a great wind break for the camp. It is a bit of a walk back through the tamarisk to a large flat grassy area, but well worth the look. Pull over and take a good look around before passing this site in favor of the Trin-alcove bend camps. There is some good hiking leading to the top of the cliffs above the river by going back upstream a  little. We thought it was a great camp, would recommend that you check it out.
>
> Mile 90 river right. Trin-alcove bend. large and/but way overused. Some long term campers seem to have taken possession when we stopped there. There seemed to be two main camp areas. The smaller one would be cramped and dusty for a group your size. A good place to hike for an hour or so. If you bet on this camp and it is already taken, the next potential one that we saw is at mile 86.4.
>
> Mile 86.5 river left. Large flat and open. Don't remember this one well, as we just noted it's large size as
we went by. Seemed to be mostly flat on a rock shelf outcropping . Don't remember that tamarisk was an issue for this one.
>
>
> Mile 81.1 river left. Very small crack in the tamarisk leads back to  great camp. A wonderful camp that could support your group size, but.....not a very good place to unload (at least at the river level we ran it at). At lower levels, could be a sandy beach to stop at, but we had to drive in hard and hang on to the tamarisk to get tied up. Super hiking above the camp
to pristine country that showed absolutely no sign that humans or cattle had ever been up there.
>
> Mile 80.4 river left. Ten Mile Canyon Not much information on this one, because we didn't stop, just
> scouted from the river.

>
> Mile 79.4 river left. Not sure it is big enough for your group unless a lot of sand beach opens up.
>
> Mile 75.8 River left. Hey Joe Canyon. Really cool large camp. Sort of a series of individual camp sites set into tamarisk
"caves". This is also a popular site, so getting there early would be good. Has
some good hiking back along a road/trail to some mine sites, that have
petrified wood embedded in the roofs. Protected from the wind and sun because of
the large "old growth tamarisk" if there is such a thing. Potential disadvantage   is that most people want to stop there for a look see, even if they won't camp there.
>
> Mile 66.7 river right. Middle of Bowknot bend. Another camp that could support a group of your size, but the individual tent sites would be a little dispersed. As with the camp at 81.1, the opening in the tamarisk is not large, so it might take some
maneuvering to get all the canoes landed and unloaded. Once up on the shelf though, there is plenty of room. We did a lot of hiking here. A road/trail leads back up the side of the hills to a series of old uranium mines, complete
with old power equipment, trucks, pumps etc.
>
> Mile 62.6 river right. Oak Bottom. Long narrow open bench with no shade. This one is on the back side of the bowknot at the narrow side.

>
> Mile 61.3 river right, Small camp up on ledge Don't think it would support your group size.
>
> Mile 59.3 River right. Horseshoe canyon. Best site on the river for large group. Wonderful camp, lots of spots, reasonably clean running creek and  easy to unload the boats. Lots of great petroglyphs! We hiked the entire dry horseshoe, which made for a great adventure (it's a long hike but well worth it if you have the time). This was our last camp, and we saw
nothing below here and Mineral bottom that looked like it could support your
group. We did see a couple of very small potential camps in Cottonwood Bottom,
but once you leave Horseshoe, you might as well go on down to Mineral Bottom.
>
> Well, there you have it. Our recommendations are:
Monday night mile 91.3 river left
Tues. night mile 86.5 river left
Wed. night mile 75.8 river left Hey Joe Canyon
Thur night mile 66.7 river right uranium mines (if you can get the boats in)
Fri night mile 59.3 river right Horseshoe Canyon (a must)

Again, with lower water levels there may be some beach camping, but the real problem is in getting back past the beach to the higher levels of the benches up off the river because of the incredibly thick tamarisk.  Bill & Cathy

p.s. Don't forget to look for the petrified wood.