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Couch Surfing the Canyons
On the Green River in Utah's Labyrinth Canyon, either you float and think, or you float and drink
GETTING STARTED
LAUNCHES 1) Green River State Park is located in the heart of Green River, Utah. Take either exit for Green River off I-70 and proceed along Main Street until you hit Green River Boulevard. Turn south. Ranch both charge a small fee for launches. Ruby Ranch: 435-650-3193, Green River State Park: 435-564-3633
TAKEOUTS
If you have two vehicles, you can run your own shuttle prior to the trip. Otherwise, in addition to renting out boats and river gear, many outfitters in Moab will provide a shuttle service. Try Tex’s Riverways (435-259-5101) and Tag-A-Long Expeditions (435-259-8946).
PERMIT GUIDEBOOKS
2) Crystal Geyser is located south of Green River. From Moab, take exit 164 for Green River off I-70 and turn left at the overpass. Once across the freeway, turn left along the frontage road. At the interpretive sign for Crystal Geyser, turn right and follow the road for 4 miles to the river. The route is well signed.
3) For Ruby Ranch put-in, take exit 173 off of I-70 and drive south for 14 miles. The route is signed. Green River State Park and Ruby
It is a stretch of river that allows for intense introspection, a dive into one's sense of self and purpose that corresponds with the deepening of the canyon. This is especially true when the last beer can is crumpled and sandy in the bottom of the canoe and the boxed wine bladder is repurposed as a pillow.
In Labyrinth Canyon, either you float and think, or you float and drink.
This 68-mile, flat-water stretch of the Green River (between the town bearing its name and the Mineral Bottom takeout near Canyonlands National Park) allows for the poles of the human mental experience: escapism and introspection. On our trip, we ran the gamut from talking a friend through a complete U-turn in life (including leaving her love-interest and completely abandoning her current Ph.D. program path at Stanford), to discovering the bottom of a bottle of Seagram's by lunchtime.
Hardly a riffle stirs the waters on this redrock riverway, and depending on weather and flows, paddling isn't often necessary. In a way, it's surrender to the river canyon, trusting it to take you into its depths on its terms. Instead of calculating your route through the desert landscape- as so many canyon country adventures require - the river is your guide. It's a chance for absolute presence in the midst of morphing rock strata, riparian birdsong, and the machinations of your own mind.
There are three different put-in options for Labyrinth Canyon. The most popular is Green River State Park in the town of Green River. We launched four miles downstream at Crystal Geyser. Yet another option is 19 miles further at Ruby Ranch. For those with time constraints - or a desire for extra time to hike enticing side canyons - I recommend putting in at Ruby as that's where the most stunning stretch of Labyrinth begins.
However, our launch site allowed an up-close look at Crystal Geyser, one of five cold-water geysers in canyon country. Crystal was formed by the intersection of a man-made drill hole from the 1930s and a high-pressure catchment area at the subterranean end of the San Rafael Swell. The cascading terraces of orange-hued tufa below the geyser are gorgeous and provide a stark contrast to the grey-green Mancos shale badlands that make up the first 20 miles of Labyrinth.
Our group fully embraced the vacation mindset the first two days, and we only made 25 miles total. Though there were rewards and discoveries to be found at this pace - finding bits of dinosaur bone and petrified wood in the Morrison Formation, along with arrowheads, rock art, and even a pack of wild dogs at lunch one day - had we known what lay ahead of us, we would have saved our slowness for later.
Beyond Ruby Ranch, red canyon walls appear and slowly rise above the riverway. Gaping side canyons beckon - Tenmile, Keg Spring, Twomile, Horseshoe, Hell Roaring and more - all worthy of exploration, even if only for a couple hours. We spent a layover day camped at the popular Trin-Alcove Bend, home of Three Canyon which derives its name from the three immediately visible branches of the drainage. The longest branch - the one with running water fed by a spring several miles up-canyon - is definitely worth the walk. It continues for about four miles before boxing out, but in the interim, hikers are treated to towering red walls, a lush riparian zone, and several narrow and terraced side canyons (which contain poison ivy, so watch out). Up one such canyon, we were treated to a rare encounter with two roosting great horned owls. One calmly allowed us to engage in a stare-down for ten minutes before flying away.
All of our camps were spectacular. Beyond Three Canyon, we camped at Bowknot Bend and just above Hell Roaring Canyon. Each campsite allowed plenty of space to spread out, and we always had excellent views from the groover (though, at times, others on the river had excellent views of us on our throne). Since we ran the river during the spring break window, there was a fair amount of canoe traffic to contend with. However, we still enjoyed long expanses of solitude and quiet . . . on the groover and otherwise.
Another area worth a quick hike is up the ridge at Bowknot Bend. Here, the river travels nine miles only to return to within 600 yards of its starting point at the neck of the oxbow. Hiking up this ridge provides expansive desert views and a look at this long and lazy bend in the river.
Birdlife is abundant on the Green, and we enjoyed encounters with bald eagles, osprey, prairie falcons, mating pairs of Canada geese, and a blue heron rookery replete with six nests of canoodling herons. Cliff swallow homes dotted many of the canyon walls, though it was too early in the season to enjoy their swooping aerial feats.
On a strange side note, we also encountered numerous dead cows - 16 total - bloated and beached on sandbars. On day two, we came upon a live cow stuck in the water, her legs mired in the mud. Though we tried valiantly to pull her out, lashing our three canoes together and paddling against the rope around her neck, she didn't budge, and we had to leave her to her hypothermic fate. This bit of cowboy canoeing was both the most ridiculous and poignant moment of the trip.
Beyond contending with wild dogs, drowning cows and life's big questions, Labyrinth is the ultimate effortless vacation. On our trip, we began referring to the canoes as "aluminum couches." Just sit back, relax and enjoy the quietly rewarding ride.
Contributing editor Jen Jacksonrecommends river-based couch surfing as a therapy for all that ails you.
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