Green River in Late March/Early April

[SimpleMan]

Not sure about Salt permits and looking for a backup idea for the week that straddles March and April. Anyone floated Labyrinth or closish sections of the Green during that time of year?

[caseybailey]

We had cataract all to ourselves last year at that time. It snowed a bit on us, but was an awesome trip.

[Randaddy]

I floated from Dutch John to Dirty Devil March 20-April 24 last year. We had snow in Lodore March 26, snow in Deso April 4, and great weather by Labyrinth April 14-18. Just plan a layover day and use it when the weather is the worst. If it's late March you shouldn't have problems with ice unless it's been unseasonably cold. You might call rangers and check before you drive to Utah.

[fiya79]

I've done the green early green river to mineral bottom through labyrinth. march 15-20 2006.
The ranger was training a new ranger and gave us the full shake down. it was very annoying but we had all the gear in good order. he really got hung up on our 'backup means of propulsion' or something like that. basically if we broke an oar how would we get to shore? the other oar. If you let a motorboat on the river with a coleman paddle as a backup certainly the other oar counts? No. We finally dug an old paddle out of the car and passed inspection.

Now on to what you actually care about:

the flow numbers have fled my memory but it was really slow after the first few miles. My very pregnant wife and I took our two beagles and a 14' raft. the wind blew hard every afternoon and we had to row to make any forward progress. we finally ended up floating early, taking a long lunch and floating late. not a bad way to go. the first day is kind of blah scenery wise. the other days are cool.

There were two canoers putting in with us. I would say canoeists but there were definitely canoers. We launched first and they launched just after and passed us. we passed them at lunch and didn't see anyone after that. They may have been dodging the rangers based on their sudden appearance and blazing speed.

We wore everything we packed. It snowed on us twice but other times we were down to swimsuits. Typical S Utah spring break weather.

The river would have been suitable on just about any type of craft. Dead flat after 2 miles of small riffles.

The only real key is the shuttle. the company we chose in green river wasn't realy up and running yet. They only had 1 driver comfortable driving a trailer in plus we were their first shuttle of the year and it was a bit of a hassle. They did deliver in the end though.

We would do stillwater next time

[BarryDingle]

I did Labyrinth in March,two years ago,i think.Its flat as flat can get but i still had a great time. There was only two of us,we launched from Green River State park. Didn't really see anyone til we saw some canoers rigging at Ruby Ranch. Lots of solitude on this float. Scenery gets good once you make it to the trin-alclove area. Kind've on your own as far as campsites go. We made due just fine. Still chilly during the day,i think one day was t-shirt weather. I don't really remember any huge problems with wind when I was there. It was pretty calm actually. I remember camping on a beach/sand bar on the final curve of Bowknot Bend and seeing a wicked green meteor in the sky that night. Very Cool. The climb up to the saddle on Bowknot bend is also worth it