The camping trip is on and the dates have been selected (August 11-13th). I suggest everyone take the 10th off to travel, due to us wanting to leave early on the 11th. We will be renting out rafts (4-5 per raft), floating down the river during the day, and camping at camp spots at night. As backpack and Car campers, this is the best of both worlds, as the rafts do all the work. On Sunday, we pack up and complete the rest of the float then our cars are waiting for us. The more the merrier, we just need to know beforehand so that we can get additional rafts if needed. We have a max of 24 people per campsite.
Dates are August 11-13th!
Next Steps:
- Lock in dates
- Pay deposit
- Lock in camp sites:
- 1st choices = Mee corner / Blackrocks #5
- 2nd choices = Mee Canyon / Blackrocks #4
- 3rd choice = Cottonwood #5 / Blackrocks #8 or 9
- Lock in Rafts (must have campsites)
- Figure out Raft assignment
- Figure out your travel Fly/Drive
- Figure out your gear/food
More Details
First-day float Friday – 15-20 miles
First Camp spot – *Unknown*
Second Day Float Saturday – 2-4 miles
Second Camp spot – *Unknown* (it’s a short float but the first camping spot has some great canyon hikes if folks want to stay back and the other rafts can head to black rock. The second camping spot is the best swim spot with cliff jumping)
Last day Sunday the company will come to pick us up at West water with our cars.
Food – Since we are all coming from different locations, Denver or the Mountains. Id figure we’d food prep either by boat/car your or location. Some of us have been on this raft, so we have just prepped all of our food and eat it cold. Some are familiar with backpacking and wanting to bring a Bunsen burner. That is allowed and the only source of fire due to the fire ban (Not sure if there is a fire ban this time around, will update when it gets closer). Id suggests you talk to the folks you are riding with what food to bring. It will be 6 meals. Friday lunch to Sunday breakfast. Also, each boat should have a day cooler. This is so we limit the number of times we open the main cooler and keep the ice intact for three days. We will get bags of ice for each day and liquor on the day of launch.
Drinks – As for booze, light beer, Mexican beer, and bitch pops (Trulys/White Claws) only. I do not see a “no glass” rule here: https://www.recreation.
Please, no craft beers. Folks always bring them but then go after the Mexican beer and bitch pops. They end up warm and waste space. If you Truly think you want a craft beer, just buy Truly lol. Kidding, A six-pack of craft beer may work for yourself as a night drink but that is the max for the entire trip. This is a quantity over quality type trip.
What to bring individually:
- Each person/boat needs to figure out what tent they will be sleeping in and who in your group is bringing the tents.
- Pillow, sleeping bag, sleeping pad – we are on rocks/sand
- Hammocks
- Water bottles – and we will need maybe 2 or 3 gallons of water per person.
- Chairs – Please bring your own chair
- Boat shoes. Water shoes. Whatever you are wearing during the day, you will be wearing shoes in the water at least when we get off and on the boat. It happens a lot. We enjoy a good island stop.
- Dry hiking boots. At night we are in the desert. You will want dry shoes in the rocking space. Also if you want to do a hike.
- Night wear – sweats/track pants. long sleeves. light jacket It looks to be in the 60s but I’d bring long sleeves and comfy pants to avoid bug bites.
- Fresh clothes – I always end up overpacking by bringing different outfits for each day and night and just end up wearing the same thing. But what’s important is fresh underwear and socks for each night. And fresh suits if needed.
- Daywear – swimsuit or shorts. If you get burnt bad a sun hat for sure. And rash guard/sun-shirt/dry shirt whatever you call it
- Bandana or sarong. Some sort of fabric you can get wet. It’s a great way to keep yourself cool. It’s going to be the high 90s in the desert during the day.
- Day Cooler – we do not want to keep reopening the main cooler. Each boat should bring their own day cooler for that day’s booze, water, and food. And a fresh bag of ice. The raft cooler will hold next days booze, water, food, and ice bags that we will repack morning or night, not a peak heat.
- Cooking wear – if your boat is going to cook – Bunsen burner only. Fire ban in effect.
- Sunscreen
- Sunglasses
- Face wipes, toothbrush, shampoo if you want to wash lol
- Wet Wipes (biodegradable) /Shovel/Trowel – believe we can Mcgruber those. btw you cannot go to the bathroom on the sand. Either go in the water or Mcgruber it.
- Bug Spray
- fully charged speakers – if you have one or two bring them (waterproof only)
- Saved music on your phone – There is no service!
- Goodies :):):)
- Anything great for the darkness – glows up
- headlamps or flashlights
- batteries things to recharged
- squirt guns
- Rafts – that have some way of being tied to the large raft. It needs a plastic handle or something plastic the rope can tie to.
- Dry Bags – stuff doesn’t get so wet but if the rafts did flip, what would you not want to get wet.
- Easy up for the second-day shore. Since we are there most of the day. (I believe Jeff and Diana have one they will be bringing) Could maybe use one more.
- Fishing Equipment if that’s your gig
- Anything else water/dessert-related fun I am missing
Group Gear/Extra Gear
| Items | Who Bringing | # of items |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-person Tents | Travis | 1 extra (3-4 person) |
| EZ Ups | Balti | |
| Carabiners (link) | ||
| Metal Shovel | Travis | |
| Speaker Boom* or | Travis | 1 UE |
| Speaker Large** | ||
| Solar Charger** (Link) | ||
| Large Battery** | ||
| GoPro | Travis | (3) Hero 11 mini, 360, Hero 8 |
| Throw Bag | ||
| Med Kit | ||
| Grill? |
| Boat # | Person 1 | Person 2 | Person 3 | Person 4 | Person 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | |||||
| #2 | |||||
| #3 | |||||
| #4 | |||||
| #5 |
Links
