Running the Green River Through Desolation and Gray Canyons in Utah

Oh, Deso! I’ll always have a place as warm as the desert in my heart for you.

The Green River through Desolation Canyon in Utah is wildly beautiful. It’s a harsh landscape, requiring careful attention to bug and heat management, but few other places have made me feel so much like I’m out in the wild.

Rainbow on Desolation Canyon — *Desolation Canyon rainbow, the upside to a sudden squall*

Part of one of the largest Wilderness Study Areas in the lower 48 states, Desolation Canyon is remote. At night, when you’re staring up at the endless blanket of stars over the canyon, the insistent grip of civilization starts to loosen.

Deso is a classic Western big-water trip. It’s almost never too low to run, if you have enough time. At typical midsummer levels of about 5,000 CFS, it isn’t a bad choice for beginning river runners and kids because it starts at Sand Wash with an ambling pace, then builds up to Class II and Class III rapids toward the end—a great situation for honing your paddling skills over the course of several days.

General nature of Deso
Downsides of Deso
Upsides of Deso
Desolation Canyon trip tips
Planning your Desolation Canyon river trip

General nature of Deso

Rowing on Green River, Desolation Canyon, Utah — *Learning to row on Deso*

Deso has traditionally been an 84-mile run between the put-in at Sand Wash to the take-out at Swasey’s Rapid. In March 2017, a safe boat passage was opened through the Green River Diversion (Tusher Dam) between Swasey’s and Green River, so you can now extend the trip to 96 miles and take out at the Green River State Park Boat Ramp.

Red rock in Desolation Canyon, Green River, Utah — *Red spires of Desolation Canyon*

You won’t encounter any rapids on Deso for the first 15 miles past the Sand Wash put-in. Depending on the flow, you’ll roll along at a good clip, but know that upriver winds in the afternoon could thwart your plans for making your mileage goal. It’s always a good idea to shove off from camp fairly early each morning (advice we rarely follow ourselves, but recommend anyway).

Although most of the river serves up mellow but fun haystack waves, a couple of rapids toward the end command respect. (See the recommendations for detailed river guides toward the end of this post for more details.)

Joe Hutch Canyon (also known as Cow Swim): At midsummer levels, Joe Hutch is a Class III. Take a look at this one so you can identify the fairly narrow entrance chute, stay off the rocks on the left, and watch out for the big hole at the bottom: Rafts can usually punch it, but I can verify it will flip an IK with no fanfare. And any swimmers should strive mightily to stay right of the wave train to avoid ending up washing into some big rocks on river left. We had a tense several minutes once when a paddler flipped her IK and ended up behind those rocks. For an excellent, detailed description of Joe Hutch at both high water (25,000+ CFS) and at lower water (5,000 CFS), check out the notes from Harry Dundore on the American Whitewater site.

Wire Fence: This is a fairly straightforward, read-and-run wash with a big hole at the bottom. Although there’s a good recovery pool at the bottom of the rapid, pay attention to paddlers in canoes and IKs who might flip in that hole.

Three Ford’s: This is the one we used to think about the most, until we got schooled by Joe Hutch a couple of times. We always scout this one. As you approach Three Ford’s, the river bends sharply to the right and you can’t really see the best place to enter unless you look at it from the trail above. From that vantage point, you can easily identify the best entry point and see that your best path is through the big waves through the middle. Be prepared to scoop up some IK and canoe paddlers who might flip in the bottom hole.

Whitewater paddling through Desolation Canyon, Green River, Utah — *Good, clean haystack waves in Desolation Canyon*

Downsides to Deso

As much as we love Deso, it’s essentially remained a backup trip for our river-running crew for a few reasons:

Getting to the put-in. Requiring a long slog down a washboard road frequented by oil rig traffic that eventually turns into a bumpy, sandy wash (hence the name), this journey makes you worry about the state of your tires, wish for higher clearance, and despair that the cash you set aside for the shuttle driver’s tip won’t be quite enough.
The put-in. Known affectionately among our crew as a “bug-infested hellhole” (but not the only spot to win this designation), the put-in has a “primitive eight-site campground” (the Bureau of Land Management’s words, not mine), which the agency has supplemented with four screened cabins so you can sleep through the “frequent mosquito plagues.” Reservations for the screen cabins are increasingly competitive, so we generally plan to spend the night before launch in a hotel and then rig as quickly as possible on put-in day to minimize bug exposure time.
The heat. Because we’re hard-core about such things, we’ve always run Deso in July or August to ensure maximum daytime temperatures at or near 100 degrees. Deso taught me a hard lesson about how to avoid heat stroke.

Desolation Canyon camping on Green River, Utah — *Heat management on Desolation Canyon*

The first 25 miles. Deso starts slow, but then delivers some respectable whitewater in the last couple of days. As such, this is a perfect trip for inflatable kayak or SUP paddlers, kids, and people learning to row a raft.

So, no river is perfect. Now, on to the many good sides of Deso.

Upsides to Deso

Sheer beauty. The scenery, the relatively mellow whitewater, and abundance of gorgeous beach campsites make this one of the most relaxing trips we’ve done—except for the times we’ve been in a hurry. If you decide to do Deso, allot at least five or six full days (for typical midsummer water flows). You’ll be glad you did when that upriver wind starts to howl.
Short hikes to pictographs and petroglyphs. Various people have lived in Desolation Canyon in the past few thousand years, including Fremont and Ute tribes, who left behind some amazing artwork on the canyon walls. You can see several of their installations within short, kid-friendly hikes from the river.

Desolation Canyon petroglyphs, Green River, Utah — *Desolation Canyon petroglyphs*

Bighorn sheep, wild horses, and black bears. All sorts of wildlife call Deso home, but it’s hard to beat the sight of a herd of sheep adroitly skipping across the rocks—unless it’s a glimpse of a black bear cooling his behind in an eddy.
Constantly regenerating beach campsites. Deso doesn’t have designated campsites. You just roll along and pull over when you see the perfect sandy beach. The beaches come and go, depending on the water level. Most nights on Deso, we forego tents and just throw our bags on the sand. You’ll never sleep under a more dazzling array of stars.

Desolation Canyon beach on Green River, Utah — *Deso beaches are ample at lower water levels*

Rock Creek. On Day 4 of a typical Deso trip, just when you’ve about had enough of heat and sand and 75-degree water, you’ll come to Rock Creek, a clear and head-splittingly cold stream that obligingly brings your core body temperature down a few notches.
Haystack rapids. Most of Deso’s rapids are good, clean fun. You’ll want to take a look at Joe Hutch and Three Fords, especially at high water. But for the most part, the whitewater is non-technical, unobstructed haystack waves.

Sandy beach camp on Green River in Desolation Canyon — *Jumping off the sandy shelf at “Phoenix Beach,” one of the Desolation Canyon beaches that come and go depending on the water level*

Desolation Canyon trip tips

Deso has some unique qualities that you’ll want to prepare for to make your trip more comfortable, safer, and more fun. (Check out our guide to river trip planning here.)

Bring more water. Your crew will drink more water on Deso than on any other river trip you’ve done, and because the Green is full of sediment, you won’t easily be able to filter water. Plan to bring about a gallon of water a day per person. You can filter water from Rock Creek—when you get there on Day 4. But keep in mind that because of its fine properties (including shade and clear water) Rock Creek is a popular stop. Although you might not have seen another group on the river up to that point, somehow you’ll all end up at Rock Creek at the same time. You’ll find it hard to keep those other groups at bay for the time it will take to filter multiple gallons of Rock Creek water. (For tips on choosing the best water filters for river trips, plus tips on carrying water on multi-day tips, see 3 Essential Water Filters for River Trips.
Bring sun shirts and pants. Bring sunscreen too, of course, but you’ll soon grow weary of maintaining a sunscreen layer sufficient to thwart that hot old Deso sun. It’s far easier to keep cool with a light, long-sleeved sun shirt and lightweight pants. I even forego Chacos and wear closed shoes so my feet don’t burn.
Encourage frequent dunkings. Getting in the water several times a day is the best way to ensure you won’t get too hot. The first time I ran Deso, I drank a lot of water (I thought) but spent most of my first two days above the waterline and ended up with a wicked case of heat exhaustion.

Cooling off in Green River, Desolation Canyon — *Best way to cool off on Deso: Get in the water*

Bring bug spray. The further downriver you go, the less prevalent the bugs. But during the first couple of days, you’ll need to show those mosquitoes who’s boss. Wearing long sleeves and pants helps, too. And keep your tent tightly zipped.
Be prepared for rain. With all the talk about heat, you wouldn’t think it ever rained in Desolation Canyon. But it does, and the rainstorms can be fearsome, bringing winds that send tents cartwheeling into the river. Even on nights when the stars are plenty and you’re sleeping on the sand, keep a tarp and some wearable rain gear handy.

Planning your Desolation Canyon river trip

Here’s a quick rundown of tips and resources for planning a Desolation Canyon river trip.

Check out the BLM resources. As with any trip in an area managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, you should start your planning with a thorough reading of the BLM’s web site and posted information sheets. For Deso, key resources to check out are:
- Desolation/Gray information sheet, essential reading
- Desolation/Gray Green River permit site, which takes you to the Deso permit application site at Recreation.gov
- Desolation/Gray Canyons River Use Stipulation, a list of the rules about how to conduct yourselves on this particular river, including regulations about party size, required gear, and waste management
Read the published river guide books. We recommend buying every book available for any river trip you’re planning, as more information is always better.
- Desolation River Guide: Desolation & Gray Canyons, a Belknap’s Waterproof guide, features great pointers to wildlife, directions to petroglyph hikes, historical notes of interest, and quotes from the Powell expedition through this area.
- Guide to the Green River in Desolation and Gray Canyons, by River Maps. While not as entertaining as the Belknap guide, this one (as with all River Maps guides) gives you detailed, topographic maps with precise mile markers for rapids and camps. It’s waterproof, and the format is large enough that you can strap it on a cooler or other gear in front of you and keep an eye on it as you paddle or row along. The new 2nd edition includes the section from Swasey’s through the Tusher Dam boat passage to the Green River State Park Boat Ramp takeout.
- The River Knows Everything: Desolation Canyon and the Green by James M. Aton (photography by Dan Miller), published by Utah State University Press. Aton is on the faculty at Southern Utah University, an acclaimed author of several environmental histories, and a river runner.

Reading Belknap's Desolation and Gray canyons guide in camp — *Featuring photos of dead outlaws, Belknap’s guide to Desolation and Gray canyons is entertaining reading*

Choose your timing. The permit season for Deso is year-round, but the best times to float it are spring through late fall, and each season presents trade-offs in water levels and temperatures. The later in the summer you go, the hotter it will be and the less water you’ll have. Although winter trips are possible, the river can sometimes freeze over.
Check the predicted river flow for your targeted timeframe. Trying to nail down how much water you’ll have for a trip that you’re planning three or four months out can be difficult, especially for free-flowing (not dam-controlled) rivers. But you can run the Green through Desolation even at low levels—it will just take longer. The Green through Deso peaks at about 20,000 CFS, and drops to about 3,000 CFS in early fall. We’ve typically run it at about 5,000 CFS, taking 5 nights and 6 days. Here’s our guide for ciphering river flows. And here are a couple of river gauges to check:
- USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) water flow site. This lists current conditions for the Green River.
Apply for a permit during the application period (Dec. 1 through January 31 each year) at Recreation.gov. Permits are awarded through a lottery system. If you win the lottery, you’ll need to confirm your trip by March 15. If you miss the application period, you can often pick up a cancellation by checking Recreation.gov for available launch dates starting on March 16 each year.
Draft your mileage-per-day plan. According to Bureau of Land Management regulations, you can take from 3 to 9 days to run this stretch. Determining how many miles you need to make each day in order to arrive at the take-out when you planned to is critical for any river, but especially for Desolation Canyon as the situation will become dangerous if you run out of water, sunscreen, and/or food.
Identify your potential campsites for each night (but stay flexible). You can camp on any of the sandy beaches (except on the Ute tribe land, as noted below), but those come and go depending on the water level, and you’ll paddle through a few multi-mile stretches of canyon where there aren’t any great campsites. You don’t want to enter one of those stretches at 4 pm, when your crew is getting tired and hungry. So plan your days such that you’ll have sandy camps to choose from at around 4 pm each day, and you won’t have 30 miles left to paddle on your last planned day. Also note that as of September 2018, river runners can no longer camp on the east side of the river from the put-in at Sand Wash to Coal Creek on the Ute Tribal land. You’ll need to camp on river right through Coal Creek.
Plan your shuttle. Running your own shuttle for a Deso river trip is a huge drag as it’s about a 5-hour drive from Sand Wash to the take-out. Unless you have an extra day on the front and back end to fool with this, just pony up for a shuttle service to move your vehicles to the take-out. If you’ve never used a shuttle service before, check out our shuttle service tips section, which includes some handy pointers on shuttle service etiquette. Here are three recommended by the BLM, one of which is a flight service if you want arrive at Sand Wash in style:
- River Runners Transport, (435) 781-4919. This is the only shuttle service I have experience with: They’ve always gotten the job done with no mishaps. They also offer full equipment rental (including NRS Expedition Series self-bailing rafts) and guided trips on the Green.
- Wilkins Shuttle, (435) 789-0507.
- Redtail Aviation, (435) 259-7421. Redtail offers various river shuttles as well as scenic tours. The listed price per person for a shuttle from Grand Junction, CO, to the Sand Wash put-in is $212.

See the star-studded skies in Desolation Canyon

Some of the best memories in all my years of river running are of Deso. If you’re looking for sunny days, starry nights, some bouncy (but not too crazy) rapids, and endless sandy beaches, Deso should be tops on your list.