During the warm weather of Saturday, my party of five and I decided there was no better time to go kayaking down the Green River. After deciding that a short, one-hour float from County Picnic Grounds to the Island Park would be best, we started our journey.
The party I was traveling with consisted of my best friend JJ, my grandfather Jim, my 13-year-old sister Kylee, my family friend Tyndia and her 10-year-old daughter Destiny.
During this float there are several small rapids and a couple white water rapids, but the real challenge is the U-drop structure in between the start and finish points. This U-drop structure can be seen from the freeway when driving between Green River and Jamestown.
Our trip began peaceful. There were no complications and everyone was mostly dry and in their kayak with all of their belongings secured somewhere. When we reached the giant u-drop in our path we pulled over in our kayaks to make a plan.
A smaller chute that goes around the rapid seemed calm enough to use.
I went first with Tyndia following closely behind me. After being tossed around and spit out at the bottom of the chute, I was successfully stationed upright in my kayak. Tyndia, following after, popped out just in time to see the water pouring from the large u-drop twist topple my kayak.
I managed to hold onto my backpack that held mine and JJ’s phones, several water bottles and other items needed for the trip.
I towed my kayak behind me into the shallow area and turned to Tyndia. The next thing I saw was her tipping over as well. She burst up through the water, flipped her kayak to its correct side, then began pulling her kayak over to me.
My grandpa boarded his kayak and made his way into the chute after seeing us sit on shore. His plan was to go down the chute and beach his kayak at the bottom so that he could assist JJ and the kids. After also successfully making it through, he looked to us and began asking how we flipped. The cross currents flipped his kayak before he could finish his question. With three kayaks flipped and half of our belongings escaping down the river, I began chasing after our stuff. Shortly after returning with the majority of the lost items, Tyndia and I had lost sight of the rest of the group. We waited on shore to see if they were going to come down the rapid or not. Tyndia went to retrieve something from her kayak when she realized it had drifted off without her.
I then had to kayak a mile and a half alone, locate the runaway kayak, dock both of them, then start walking back to where my group previously was. After about 30 minutes of walking upstream and against the current, I ran into Tyndia who had started walking my way. We sat down for 15 minutes while the rest of the group caught up. Once everyone was back in a kayak we continued our trip and made it to the island about 30 minutes later. JJ and my grandpa flipped at the island right before leaving, bringing the grand total of flips to 5 throughout the whole trip.
Overall most of my party went home wet, happy, safe and only missing one shoe.
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