# Rafting Desolation Canyon



## crestone (May 11, 2005)

I ran Deso last year in July, also in a 16ft Cat and I don't think that you have anything to worry about. On the majority of the "IIIs" I could have (and did) let the oars go and floated through just fine. In August, at a lower level, you may have to make one move but there is really nothing to be overly concearned about... make sure to bring plenty of bug juice though, the mosquitos are pretty bad for the first two days...


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## yojimbo (Oct 12, 2003)

Hmm, did this a bunch of years ago in 6 nights(?) with 2 kids, wife and bro-in-law on a 17' cat with a sit on top and a kayak for whoever to dink around in the flatwater. Rest of the time we piled them on the tips.

We were a pigged out boat and not terribly experienced, but as the oarhead, I didn't think any of the rapids were scary or dangerous. Some bouncy wavetrains. Some rocks to avoid. Pretty obvious. 

Tom Rampton's book has very detailed descriptions at different flows and I think maybe his website has GPS data. 

Here are the notes scrawled in my guidebook.

Nice petroglyphs at mile 80, Rock House Bottom.
Steer Ridge Rapid, mile 56.5, big debris pile at the top, we eddied out RR and left kayaks to run down later (trail down RR to the beach below). The run is far RL and then you have to pull hard RR to an excellent camp just below the rapid.
Rock Creek at mile 54 has good water and a really nice hike to old farm ruin along the meadow.
Belknap Falls, mile 49, big hole on the right.
Mile 37.4 Nice camp.
Mile 37 Wire Fence Rapid, nice camp. You can scout hike down and scout Three Fords from here. Run Wire Fence to the left. Some say it's a good rapid to swim.
Three Fords, mile 36.6, run is right, can scout from eddy before drop. You will see the tongue. At 3000 cfs, it was exciting but easy to pull off any rocks.
Rattlesnake Rapid, mile 22.5. Nice camp RL below rapid. Cool hike across the river, upstream and into School Section Canyon. Other camp RR above the rapid in the tammies.

Have a blast.


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## Mike Hartley (May 1, 2006)

Deso is a pretty ideal family run once you get past the swarms of bugs at the put-in. Plan on putting in a big mile day on your first day. The farther downstream you can get the happier the kids (and adults) will be.

Bear are frequently seen around Rock Creek with a couple of maulings to river runners. We had a bear wandering around our camp. Use common bear avoidance procedures.

There are a couple of places in the bigger rapids where you'd rather not be with kids. All are easy to avoid with scouting.

The airplane shuttle is beautiful. Draw straws for that one if you go that route.


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## dkrakel (Nov 2, 2003)

*deso*

deso is a great float for kids. we used to do it all the time with our boys, first in a 13 ft. otter and then with a 16' cat. we're going back this year but the oldest will be kayaking now.

everything can be walked around but i don't think you'll have to; it's all straight forward and pretty easy. you'll have to work pretty hard to get more than splashed. we always took a look at steer ridge and three fords. mostly to see where you can get the best ride or in low water for which rocks are going to be gone over. mostly the boys kept hollering for bigger water. great camping beaches, cat fishing for kids and wonderful warm water swimming. 

not sure what kind of flows you'll have by then. in higher water it may be more of a concern but in august, heat, low flows and wind are the big complications. i don't think at low levels there's a class 3 on the run save for coal creek which is only that because you have to make a move (or two) to avoid rocks. after we ran it at 800 cfs my youngest said he thought we should name it "jesus christ," rapid because that's what i kept saying all the way through it.

touch base with the rangers in jensen about the bears. our last trip we saw three at a distance but had no troubles although we did move camp once just to avoid the same side of the river. camp, cook and store food as if in yellowstone.

best,

dean


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## pickettp (Oct 5, 2005)

My group just rafted Deso from June 2-6. We had two families with a total of 6 girls between the ages of 5 and 14. The rapids were exciting for our group but not too difficult. My 5 year old daughter slept on the cooler pad for quite a few of the rapids.

For more detailed information, you should check out the utahrafters Yahoo group.

Phil


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## emptysea44 (Jun 2, 2008)

*Desolation in August*

Just completed a seven day trip through Desolation 5/18 thru 5/24. We had four IKs and no raft support. River flow doubled that week from around 10k to over 20k. Waves were big but rapids were very straight forward at these levels. As a first trip we had some concerns about finding the right lines and followed some other parties through the harder rapids: Three Fords, Wire Fence, Coal Creek. You'll have a few more rocks to dodge at lower levels, but should not have any real trouble. Descriptions and tips in the Rampton guide appeared to be accurate. 

One thing everyone agreed on was the importance of going right after Steer Ridge Rapid to avoid the flipper hole in Surprise Rapid just below. This is easily accomplished. No worries. have fun.


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## Beardance42 (May 12, 2008)

Agree with most of the above. I've run Deso 12 times, and the only rapid I look at is Coal Creek. Long rocky entrance and a ledge pourover at the main drop that can be an issue at flows 1500-3000. It's not difficult, but worth a look to get your line. It'd be a _very _long afternoon to walk anyone around Coal Creek, and there's really no need.

Stay left at Wire Fence, hit the drop straight, not much to it. 

Three Fords is usually the kickiest rapid - it's worth a look if you've never done it, and especially if the flow's below 1200 or so. Scout's the right, pull over at the beach after Wire Fence and walk down. You'll see the path. 

Steer Ridge is long - scouting left will reveal the entrance and first 50 yards, but that's about it. Surprise Hole does come up near the bottom - it's easy to miss, but keep an eye out. 

Enter center-left at Belknap. The hole at the upper right can be a bit sticky at lower summer flows. 

Chandler always surprises me - good waves, fun ride. Easy but be sure the kids are holding on. Same with Swasey. 

The rest of it is a splashy rock garden at Aug flows, almost all the rapids are fairly slow. 

It's a great trip, pretty easy whitewater, nice camping and terrific scenery. Enjoy!


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## Geoff773 (May 20, 2008)

I did Deso last August in a 16' cat, 1 boat trip and the only trouble I had was I read a channel wrong (not enough water to get the cat through) and one rapid that I can't recall the name of. Even that wasn't bad I just ran it too far left and got stuck on a couple rocks. It's an easy read and run and the biggest worry in August will be popping on oar on shallow rocks. The bugs weren't even bad last August. 
The scariest part was actually the amazing lightning/hail storm that blew in on us with very little warning. We threw a tarp over the boat and let the storm blow us upstream while we had cocktails. Nothing a little booze didn't make better. The hail bounces off the tarp and the lightning lights it up. Not a bad way to float, even if it was upstream at that point.
Have fun.


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## Beardance42 (May 12, 2008)

Yikes...I just realized I gave advice to someone who ran Deso _two years ago. _

emptysea44 - did you have trouble finding decent camping the high flows you just ran it at? I had a 5/29 launch that I traded in for a 9/22 date instead, partly out of concern that all the good camping would be 6' underwater....


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## emptysea44 (Jun 2, 2008)

*No problem w/ camping BearDance*

No expansive sandbars like I saw in others trip photos, but of plenty of nice sites, some with small sand beaches. Jack Creek, Three Canyon, and just below Steer Ridge were the best.

I didn't notice the date on that post either.


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## Kendarflugen (Jan 31, 2006)

*Naken on the Green*

Hey emptysea... were you the dude that got naked at our camp on Tuesday 5.20?  It must have been you or one of your "partners".

What was up with that?


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## roxy (Mar 29, 2007)

*Kid's beach*

Right below Cow Swim is a great sandy beach for fun kid activities. Layover there if you have time.


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## Beardance42 (May 12, 2008)

Jack has three good sites, Cow Swim is a terrific beach. My late wife (with whom I did 11 of those 12 trips) always wanted to get Cow Swim when we were out there. Another decent site where I stayed last year (with my current wife, still new to this rafting madness) is at Florence, right side between the first rock garden and the second little rapid. Great view of Florence Creek canyon and Broken Finger arch.

Geoff - the trip we did last year (late Sept) also had some interesting weather. A cold front had moved through the afternoon before launch day, that night was in the 20's. Day 5, we got hammered by the strongest winds I've ever encountered in 20 years paddling, in upper Gray Canyon. I've had windy days out there, but this was biblical. It was blowing the tammies flat, sandblasting us off the island and kicking up 3-4' swells. I think we made 3 miles in 2.5 hours - camped at Rabbit that night, next day was sunny and completely still and we rowed out in under 4 hours.


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## emptysea44 (Jun 2, 2008)

*Not me, I swear!*



Kendarflugen said:


> Hey emptysea... were you the dude that got naked at our camp on Tuesday 5.20?  It must have been you or one of your "partners".
> 
> What was up with that?


That would have been Dan from California. I'm still embarassed by his behavior. That was short day for us and Dan was hitting the booze pretty hard. We ended up having a few personality/style conflicts on that trip. Suffice it to say that I won't be paddling with two of my three "partners" again in the future. Hope you had a good trip in spite of that crude intrusion. Maybe you could clear something else up for me. I was told Dan had also made some offensive comments to one of your group. True?


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## Kendarflugen (Jan 31, 2006)

emptysea44 said:


> That would have been Dan from California. I'm still embarassed by his behavior. That was short day for us and Dan was hitting the booze pretty hard. We ended up having a few personality/style conflicts on that trip. Suffice it to say that I won't be paddling with two of my three "partners" again in the future. Hope you had a good trip in spite of that crude intrusion. Maybe you could clear something else up for me. I was told Dan had also made some offensive comments to one of your group. True?


Well I guess we shouldn't hold you accountable for Dan's actions...

I think he did tell a couple of the women on our trip "Nice boobs", or something like that... just before he walked to the shore and stripped down. In the end, the whole incident was a source of many laughs. We were definitely amused that he did the tuck when y'all walked down to the river to round him up :-D 

And, yes, in spite of having a short, pudgy, hairy, drunk dude invade our camp, we all still had an excellent trip. You should also know we nick-named Dan "the Wild Man O'Borneo". HA!


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## bawood (Oct 5, 2006)

*Deso at 23,000*

anybody run it over 20, if so, what is the camping like? I'm headed out next week.


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

Haven't done it quite that high but if it makes you feel any better, camping was awesome at 15 and I know people who've done it at 30 without any problems, too.

COUNT


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## flyfish (May 17, 2007)

*Deso- @ 23,000?*

We are also putting on next week. I have not done this section yet. Any info about the trip at high water would be appreciated. Sounds like camping should not be a problem. I'm thinking most of the rapids are actually easier now, somewhere I think I read that it is hardest in the low teens; true? We are going in a 16' raft, my 6 year old is going. She is smart and comfortable on the boat and around water. We ran the Moab Daily May 24-26 at about 38-40,000.
Any holes, ledges or other raft flippers I should be especially prepared for.


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## Aquaholict (Mar 3, 2008)

I worry about the misqiotos much more than any of the rapids.


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## Kendarflugen (Jan 31, 2006)

flyfish said:


> We are also putting on next week. I have not done this section yet. Any info about the trip at high water would be appreciated. Sounds like camping should not be a problem. I'm thinking most of the rapids are actually easier now, somewhere I think I read that it is hardest in the low teens; true? We are going in a 16' raft, my 6 year old is going. She is smart and comfortable on the boat and around water. We ran the Moab Daily May 24-26 at about 38-40,000.
> Any holes, ledges or other raft flippers I should be especially prepared for.


Flyfish-
I ran it a couple of weeks ago. That's the only time I've been on the section. It went from about 10k at launch to about 23k on the day we took off the river. I agree that you shouldn't have a problem finding camp sites. There were some decent sized wave trains, but nothing crazy. You may want to scout Steer Ridge, Wire Fence, Three Fords... I have done Moab Daily at around 20k+. Deso/Gray definitely has more waves/holes/rocks than the Daily, but again, I wouldn't be too worried. Just keep heads-up and be ready to pull away from corners, holes, rocks. There was a lot of debris. Whole trees, etc, even around 16-18k. No bugs, though. I didn't use bug spray at all and didn't get bit once. I think the mosquitoes only hatch after the water goes down and there's stagnant water. You'll have a blast!


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

And maybe a quick look at Rattlesnake from above. Though I mainly recommend this because right above the rapid on river right is one of the best camps we had and is the perfect place for your last night.

COUNT


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## yogi (Mar 7, 2007)

*Road to Sand Wash and a Prius*

While we're on the topic of Deso -

I've got a permit for late July. Assuming the road is dry then, does the road to the put-in / take-out seem suitbable for a Prius with relatively low clearance and smaller tires?


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## rsmiller (Jun 28, 2004)

Yeah you can get that little car in there.... The road is fairly well maintained with all of the oil development.

You might get run over by a big truck though.


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## Fall line (Jun 4, 2008)

I've got another Deso question. I'm on a permit for late June and was wondering how much the flow will drop from now until June 30.


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## emptysea44 (Jun 2, 2008)

*Check out the USGS streamflow site*



Fall line said:


> I've got another Deso question. I'm on a permit for late June and was wondering how much the flow will drop from now until June 30.


Hard to say. Check out this site for statistical averages for your dates. Keep in mind that this year is higher than average.

USGS Real-Time Data for Utah_ Streamflow


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## latouche (Jul 12, 2005)

*deso*

We had a permit for this June 2nd but gave it up and did the Dolores instead. Deso was running 23,000. We also have 2 little ones. I only know Deso from 2,000-5,000 and the class III rapids are more like class II, easy to get around. There are trails if you want kids to walk around, mainly on the left side of the river. I would suggest a permit to camp on river left from the Reservation, this way you will have more options. The bugs at best are horrible!! Call a woman named Melanie at River Transport in Vernal, UT. They have a lot of knowledge about the river flows and runs. Have fun!


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## Fall line (Jun 4, 2008)

emptysea44 said:


> Hard to say. Check out this site for statistical averages for your dates. Keep in mind that this year is higher than average.
> 
> USGS Real-Time Data for Utah_ Streamflow


 
Yea thanks i've been looking at that site. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to look up last years flow drop during that period. Plus like you said this is a much bigger year. Anyways looking forward to the trip, can't get here soon enough.


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## Fall line (Jun 4, 2008)

latouche said:


> We had a permit for this June 2nd but gave it up and did the Dolores instead. Deso was running 23,000. We also have 2 little ones. I only know Deso from 2,000-5,000 and the class III rapids are more like class II, easy to get around. There are trails if you want kids to walk around, mainly on the left side of the river. I would suggest a permit to camp on river left from the Reservation, this way you will have more options. The bugs at best are horrible!! Call a woman named Melanie at River Transport in Vernal, UT. They have a lot of knowledge about the river flows and runs. Have fun!


Thanks for contact info we will probably give her a call. I'm going with an experienced group but i'm a newb and we'll have my 3 girls with us.


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## Ponderosa (Jan 25, 2008)

Heres a link to another gauge that is pretty easy to get historical data from. I feel that Deso is actually easier at high flows because you don't have to contend with rocks. Should be a great trip.


River Conditions


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## emptysea44 (Jun 2, 2008)

*USGS site*



Fall line said:


> Yea thanks i've been looking at that site. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to look up last years flow drop during that period. Plus like you said this is a much bigger year. Anyways looking forward to the trip, can't get here soon enough.


Howdy Fall Line,
This can be a tricky site to use the first time out. You can look up last year by choosing "daily statistics" from the drop down menu at the top of the page. Then check "discharge" and put in your dates. If you only want to look at last year, type in 2007, 06 (for June) and your days. Since your trying to get a sense of how fast it'll drop, try a 2007 start date a month before your trip and an end date a month after, or something like that. When it comes to prediction, looking at multi-year averages will be more accurate than looking at a single year.

HOWEVER... Not only is this year a heavier snow year, resulting in more runoff from the Yampa, etc. but wildlife managers are trying to improve habitat for the pike minnow by releasing more water from Flaming Gorge dam.There was a new plan in place for May-June 2008 to match to runoff from the Yampa with dam releases up to a total of about 18000 cfs. My hunch is that this explains the longer period of high flows this spring. There's some info on this at the Flaming Gorge Bureau of Reclamation website.

Bottomline: Should be lower by the time you get on the river. How much lower, who knows? As others have mentioned, most if not all of the rapids are more straightforward at higher levels and good camping is still available at 20,000+. If it stays high, the bugs shouldn't be quite as bad for your trip. Have a good time.


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## flyfish (May 17, 2007)

*Deso Trip Report*

Hi- 
We are back from a 7 day Deso-Gray trip (6/11-17). Flows were 23,400 at put in and dropped to approx 16,000 while we were there. For any who have not been this is an amazing trip with fun water and beautiful scenery. Camp sites were not a problem even with the high flows, there were plenty and almost all were really nice -- sandy beaches and big cottonwoods.
The river was cranking, 4-6 MPH, we did 12-15 mile days typically in 3-4 hours or less; includig hiking and scouting the usual rapids. Rapids were straight foreward, 3 Fords and Coal Creek required a good entrance but after that were fine. It would have been possible to flip but not really a worry if you wre paying attention to what was happening.
Bugs were only a minor nuisance at Sand Wash and on the first river night, we stopped at Flat Canyon but did not camp because it was occupied and buggy. Just below at Dripping Springs we had an nice camp that was bug free.
We did not see any bears or sign of them. Keep a clean camp and store your food appropriately and you should be fine.
If anyone wants more detailed info let me know, I'm happy to provide more beta if desired.

Enjoy the summer, Jim


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## rafterman2007 (Apr 24, 2008)

*Deso--Q's*

Jim: Can you message me?? I have a few q's about the trip--we launch very soon!
Thanks.......Zach


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## Beardance42 (May 12, 2008)

flyfish said:


> Hi-
> We are back from a 7 day Deso-Gray trip...


Glad you had a good trip, Jim. Deso is a cool run and a very special place. I have a permit for 9/22, hope I can use it. It would be my 13th trip. 

I suspect you're a bit spoiled running it such high water, though. You haven't really "_done"_ Deso until you've backstroked your boat down the upper flats at 2000cfs, with an upstream wind of 25mph, in 95 degree heat, swatting at horseflies.  

BTW, did you see or hear any sign of the oil/gas reclamation up in Nine Mile Canyon? It would have been truck/derrick noise and/or lights on river right in the first twenty miles or so. I'm pretty sure that project has started - haven't heard if any of it is visible or audible from the river.


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## flyfish (May 17, 2007)

*thanks*

I look foreward to a 'real' deso trip in the future, it's an amazing place. No, we didn't notice any effects of development while we were on the river. But I wasn't really looking for it either.
Hope you have a good trip rowing in the wind, swatting flies and dodging rocks in Sept.

Jim


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## Beardance42 (May 12, 2008)

flyfish said:


> Hope you have a good trip rowing in the wind, swatting flies and dodging rocks in Sept.
> 
> Jim


Hey - that's my idea of heaven.  

Actually, the bugs are gone by late September, and this year I reckon not too much rock dodging. Beaches should be nice and clean too, after all the high water....


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