Southwest Rafting & Kayaking

This course is a two week river expedition on the Green or Yampa rivers in Utah. Students experience a progression of whitewater skills as they move from rafts into smaller craft like sit-on-top kayaks. This course is appropriate for a broad range of motivated challenge-seekers.

Green River courses begin where the river enters the imposing Gates of Lodore. Red sandstone escarpments rise up 2,000' above the river as it carves a 45-mile course of placid flat-water and challenging rapids through three dramatic canyons—Lodore, Whirlpool and Split Mountain.

The Yampa River is the last major un-dammed river in the West. Each year its spring flood provides three months of white water excitement as it tumbles 50 miles through Dinosaur National Monument. This stretch is characterized by sandstone land forms, pictographs left by Fremont Indians and big rapids, including Warm Springs (considered one of the ten big drops in the West).

All courses then continue down through Desolation and Gray Canyons on the Green River. Here, spectacular rock formations, ancient Indian ruins and abandoned ranches, including McPherson Ranch (once frequented by Butch Cassidy’s Hole-in-the-Wall gang), await explorers. The tiered rock walls of Desolation give way to the earthy bluffs of Gray Canyon, creating a sudden contrast in scenery for the last 25 miles of your journey

The Outward Bound Difference
At Outward Bound, you learn a tremendous amount about wilderness travel, safety and outdoor ethics, and much about yourself: how you adapt to change and deal with stress or challenge, how you work with others and realize your potential as a leader. In every segment of your course the focus is on technical, environmental and safety skills, but the emphasis is on developing as a person and as a group. The trust and camaraderie that develops between you is the key to your patrol’s success, and half the meaning of your Outward Bound course. Through shared adventures you learn to accept and respect one another’s differences, minimizing each other’s shortcomings, while maximizing each other’s strengths. Some people have a natural aptitude for route-finding; others discover a knack for cooking tasty meals, or tying knots or mediating disputes. Each member of the patrol makes a valuable contribution to what becomes a smoothly functioning team, capable of feats that would be unthinkable for an individual member. Through miles and miles of travel, through sunshine, thunder, wind and rain, you all become each other’s friends and heroes.

Successful completion of your course demands mastery of skills, trust, fitness, confidence, tenacity, leadership, initiative and compassion. The promotion of these qualities, and the discovery of what’s in you, is the purpose of Outward Bound. We look forward to your participation in this unique and challenging adventure.

Course Description
The course begins on the Green River or the Yampa River. From there you begin a 4-5 day paddle rafting expedition through Lodore, Whirlpool and Split Mountain canyons, all within the bounds of Dinosaur National Monument in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. During the initial phase, your instructor introduces you to the routines and skills of the river lifestyle: environmental ethics, outdoor cooking, shelters, paddle rafting and captaining, key safety principles, whitewater rescue and first-aid. Your physical comfort in the outdoors improves with your increasing “know how” and self-confidence. By the time you reach your first river camp it is apparent that you and the other members of your crew have far more ability than you initially thought.

The greater part of most river days is spent paddling through magnificent canyons, working to position and maneuver the boat between obstacles in the many moderate rapids and the occasional major drops you encounter, or drifting peacefully with the current through placid sections, relaxing and soaking up the grandeur of the canyons. Almost daily, you explore side canyons, and hike to see fascinating archeological, geologic and historic sites. In places, the rims rise thousands of feet above, enclosing you in a remote world of rushing water, delicate ecosystems and unbelievable beauty.

On the raft, you learn and practice all the skills and techniques needed for successful paddling and captaining on the river. You learn commands, rudder strokes, how to see obstacles in the current from far upstream, and how to anticipate the force of the current from far enough upstream to be able to position your boat to avoid obstacles. You learn a new vocabulary of river terms, including sleepers, holes, tongues, eddies and standing waves, as well as learning a great deal about how to “read” the current from both boat and shore. You discover that developing rhythm, power and finesse as a crew requires precise timing, communication and teamwork.

After completing the first leg of the journey, you step out of your raft and into our small craft fleet, a combination of sit-on-top hard-shell kayaks and rafts. Sit-on-top kayaks combine stability with maneuverability, and provide day after day of fun in the 85 miles of Desolation and Gray Canyons. As you learn to guide these sleek craft, you draw on the river-reading skills you developed in the last section to help you position successfully navigate the river. You learn the new skills specific to kayaking: eddy turns, bracing, surfing, and self-rescue. You again travel close together and spot one another through rapids. With these boats, however, everything depends on you: your effort, your planning, and your decisions. Each rapid run brings a new level of confidence and great sense of accomplishment.

NOTE: While rafting itself -riding down a rapid- is not as physically challenging an activity as backpacking, you do need to be adequately fit to paddle aggressively and to enter and exit the raft (you should be able to get out of a swimming pool without using a ladder). You should also know that hiking is an almost daily element of the course.

To enroll in this course click the enroll button next to the course dates that work for you. To shop comparatively on line visit our Advanced Course Finder or better yet call one of our expert Admission Advisers at 866-467-7651. Course tuitions listed below do not include our Application Fee or Transportation Fee.

Region: Utah

Activities: Rafting, sit-on-top kayaking, rock climbing, service, solo

Additional Information:
Application Fee
Transportation Fee

Dates	Days	Age	Location	Tuition	Course	Enroll
05/26/08 to 06/09/08	15	18+	Utah	$2795.00	VRO841
06/09/08 to 06/23/08	15	16-18	Utah	$2795.00	VRN842
07/29/08 to 08/12/08	15	16-18	Southwest - Utah	$2795.00	VRN846