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© 2004 Bonita Productions Inc.
Flag of Utah
Rafting Expedition at Split Mountain, UT
By Bonnie Neely
Photos by Bill Neely
I love to say that the little town of Vernal, UT, is located on one of the two north east corners of the state of Utah, just across the line from Dinosaur, Colorado, The area of the two states is great for studying fossils, for hiking to beautiful vistas, and for stimulating river expeditions. Located near the convergence of the Green River, which is truly bright green, and the brown Yampa River, Vernal is the place to choose your rafting trips, for a few hours or many days. The great canyons cut by these rivers rival the Grand Canyon for beauty, and the geological studies surpass any in the world because of the unusual uplift of the earth here. Your day or week on the rivers can be a leisurely sight-seeing experience, or a true geological and natural history study.
We selected Hatch River Expeditions because it is the oldest rafting company in the United States, established in 1929, and their experts have led over half a million successful outdoor adventure expeditions in its 73 years of operation. A little timid about white water rafting, we selected the one-day Split Mountain Canyon trip on the part of the Yampa River after it had merged with the Green. On the previous day we had hiked to the top of the cliff overlooking the "Y" shaped canyon where the two rivers converge, marveling at the way the brown and green waters met and merged, so it was exciting to be seeing the canyon from the water vantage point on the next day.
Hatch River Expeditions lead all sorts of river experiences throughout Utah, and are very well staffed and equipped. We were shuttled from the parking lot, which we had trouble finding at North 400 East, a little street one block North of Main Street. The bus took us and about 20 others first to the Petroglyphs, which were on a dry, baked mountain cliff. These Fremont Indian paintings were very interesting, depicting a wedding. I thought the characters looked like a space people in helmets. These are etched into the "rock varnish," where the rain residue through the centuries has colored the lighter rock a dark brownish color, so that the etched marks cut through to the yellow rock color beneath. The petroglyphs depict a culture that disappeared 700 years ago. Were these mysterious pictures just the grafitti of some teens from ten centuries earlier or were they some important historical records left for future civilizations to "read?" No one knows, nor do we know how the Fremonts disappeared. We boarded the bus again to go to river's edge. where the orange rubber rafts were unloaded and after being devoured by mosquitoes while we made our restroom run, we boarded the two rafts. Thankfully, our expedition leaders supplied repellent, but these were very aggressive mosquitoes! Wear repellent before you go! However, the pesky little bugs did not bother us at all on the river or at noon when we stopped for lunch.
Although you can select trips with Class Five rapids, the rapids on our expedition were only up to Class III, which had sounded tame enough until we got all the instructions about what to do if we were knocked overboard and have to be saved. We all wore life jackets and got instructions in detail enough to scare me almost out of going. But we had fun with white knuckles while our guide carefully and strongly steerred us around the big waves and swirls, dodging logs and rocks and cliff walls. The river was very full from snow-melt but was falling a foot a day because of evaporation. The current and rapids were very fierce it seemed to me. The high cliffs towered over 1,000 feet above us on both sides in all colors from white through many shades of yellow, pink, orange, and brown. We saw an eagle above at one point and the guides pointed out many geological formations that had names and periods. I didn't take notes because I was clinging for dear life, terrified that I might fall overboard and have to go flying down the rapids keeping my feet hitting the rocks first instead of my head, as we were warned. We had a great time and relaxed more and more as we went. We were very glad we had selected this expedition instead of others we passed.
We stopped after a couple of hours for the delicious picnic lunch on a sandy bank. Our guides magically produced the picnic table with coolers of sandwich makings, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, chips, cookies, veggie strips, and cold drinks. Though the day was hot, we were soaked through from the waves and the water was very cold. I was thankful for a dry running suit in my pack. We had another hour's rafting after lunch and arrived at a beautiful clearing and sandbar, where the bus met us and returned us to the Hatch Headquarters. Call 800-342-8243 or E-mail: info@hatchriver.com.
After our rafting trip we drove to down town of 
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© 2004 Bonita Productions Inc.