More than 140 years after Major John Wesley Powell started his historic expedition from Green River, a 64-year-old Michigan man is attempting his own trip down the river.
Starting from Expedition Island Friday, Dean Unick plans to canoe his way more than 1,200 miles to Lake Havasu, Ariz., a trip he expects will take about three months. He said he’s had to file for nine permits for the trip and will be forced to navigate around three dams along the course. The first of which will be the Flaming Gorge Dam, followed by the Glen Canyon Dam near the border between Utah and Arizona, and finally the Hoover Dam in Nevada.
Originally, Unick planned to start from the Green River Lakes last week, however an unexpected set back caused him to postpone his start. When Unick arrived in Rock Springs last week to pick up a custom canoe he had shipped from British Columbia, Canada, the boat was crushed. After placing some last-minute calls to the manufacturer, Unick decided to personally take the salvageable pieces of the boat directly to Canada to be placed on a second boat he commissioned. That second boat was completed Monday, and Unick drove directly to Green River.
This is the first time Unick is attempting such a long journey. Other canoe trips he’s taken have been down calmer rivers, ranging around 120 miles. Unick said he anticipates more treacherous waters during his journey, especially through Cataract Canyon in Utah. However, while he said the initial excitement of the journey has given way to determination as a result of his setback, he still looks forward to canoeing the river.
“Maybe it’s the simplicity, but I like being in a canoe,” Unick said. “Put me 25 miles away from the nearest light, under the stars and I’m a happy man.”
Much of his trip will be spent on his own, however he will meet a friend at the entrance to Stillwater Canyon in Utah and the two will navigate their way through the canyon.
He’s also relying on meeting people near the dams he will visit for help moving his equipment. The dam he thought would be the worst to travel around was the Fontenelle Dam, as he believed he would be alone when pulling the canoe out and having a three-mile hike around the dam.
Canoeing is a lifelong hobby for Unick. He took his first trip in a canoe when he was 10 years old. The experience was memorable, despite the fact he didn’t know what he was doing at the time. Unick said he rented a canoe from a shop about 20 miles away from his family’s home in Michigan. In preparation, he read the two paragraphs about canoeing in his Cub Scout handbook. The morning his mother dropped him off at the lake, problems immediately started coming up for the young Unick. His mother left before signing a waver for Unick to rent a canoe. The clerk eventually relented, deciding to accept the signature when Unick’s mother returned later that evening.
The other immediate problem he encountered was the fact the two paragraphs about canoeing he read didn’t even serve as an introduction to using one. Not understanding how wind affects a canoe along with not knowing about the ballast and other important bits of information resulted in Unick being unable to control the canoe. Unable to keep a straight line with the river, he would hit both banks and it collided with a fisherman’s canoe three times as he attempted to navigate around it.
Running out of food and water before noon, he was tired, hungry and dehydrated by the end of the day. He also sported a nasty sunburn from his day on the river.
“My thighs looked like baked hams,” Unick said. “I was hungry and dehydrated and I’ve loved canoes since then.”
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