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• Green River-Lodore Canyon
• Green River-Flaming Gorge
• Yampa River
• White River
• Weber River
• Bear River

About the Yampa River

To float the Yampa River is to discover a Diamond In The Desert. At the Deerlodge launch site you are surrounded with old homesteads and bucolic pastel vistas. Meandering through breath taking tawny sandstone and racing through thundering rapids your journey passes by a multitude of secretive places drenched in history, and beauty. Along the way your guides will share their knowledge of the “River’s Secrets.”

An abandoned homestead and corrals peer from shore, hidden and aloof from the world. Caves that sheltered the mysterious Fremont People invite your exploration. Peregrine falcons call from their nests high above on walls draped with desert varnish. At Harding Hole, a hike up a slot canyon ends with vast panoramas of the canyons below. Paradise after paradise slips by as the Yampa River lulls you into its magical grasp. Downstream the booming of rapids with names like Teepee and Warm Springs change your pace and fills the day with anticipation and excitement.

As the Yampa River joins the Green River at Echo Park, one can literally feel the monumental and complex issues that raged to save the canyon during the mid-1900’s. In the most significant conservation battle of all times, a dam was stopped and two river canyons saved. Here, in the heart of the planet, petroglyphs from a long passed civilization grace the walls. Caves and hidden shelters purvey cool escape from the desert heat. A several mile hike passes intricate pictographs, an abandoned ranch once operated by the Chew Family and ends at a cave habited by desert hermit Pat Lynch. On return to the Yampa River the omnipresent slender Steamboat Rock nearly circled by a stunning river meander, oversees the landscape.

From Echo Park your journey enters Whirlpool Canyon, Island Park and finally Split Mountain Canyon (see Lodore Canyon). A trip down the Yampa River, the West’s last undammed river, merges relaxation and excitement in your discovery of this Diamond In The Desert.

• Adventures & Experiences Near the Yampa River:
• Visit the world famous Dinosaur Quarry in Dinosaur National Monument
• Drive or bike to the historic J. Morris Ranch on the Cub Creek Tour Rt. in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument
• 4WD or bike to Echo Park & the Yampa Bench Road in the heart of Dinosaur Nat'l Monument
• Hike the Desert Voices and Sound of Silence Nature Trails in Dinosaur National Monument
• Drive or Bike to the Cliff Ridge Hang Gliding Launch Site on the Blue Mountain Escarpment
• Drive to the Harpers Corner Overlook to view the canyons you have traversed
• Visit the Utah Museum of Natural History in Vernal, Utah
• Drive to view petroglyph panels in scenic Dry Fork Canyon
• Eat a hearty River Runners meal at the Dinosaur Brew Haus

• Books to read regarding the Yampa River:
• Dinosaur River Guide; Buzz Belknap & Loie Belknap Evans; Westwater Books
• Dinosaur’s Restless Rivers; Wallace R. Hansen; Dinosaur Nature Association
• This Is Dinosaur: Wallace Stegner; Roberts reinhart, Inc.
• Riverman, Roy Webb; University of Utah Press
• Raven’s Exile: Ellen Melody; Henry Holt & Company
• Cadillac Desert: Marc Reisner; Viking Press
• Prehistoric Rock Art; F.A. Barnes; Canyon Country Press
• Prehistoric Indians; Barnes & Pendleton; Canyon Country Press