Rafting in Dinosaur National Monument

On the first day, Dinosaur River Expeditions picked us up from our hotel early that morning and dropped our gear and us off. During the two hour drive to the river, we got a chance to get to know our fellow travelers. As we approached the river, we could see glimpses of the canyon below us. While I couldn’t see the river from the road, I noticed small waterfalls along the way, building my sense of anticipation.

Owner, Tyler Callantine, and his guides met us at the river.

Once our gear was packed on the boats and safety rules explained, we were off. Noah and my 12-year-old daughter, Layla, rode in the raft with Tyler and myself, while my 16-year-old son, Eesa, kayaked in the “ducky” alongside us.

Spending four days along the river was a truly immersive experience and every day we discovered more of the parks secrets and enjoyed different types of water. There were calm moments where we had a chance to spot wildlife along the river. We saw bighorn sheep and deer. Above us, the kids spotted osprey, hawks and bald eagles flying over the canyon. Layla and Noah gave them all names.

Our imaginations went wild as our guide, Callantine, pointed out certain rocks that looked like bears or monkeys. There was even a part of a canyon wall that looked like a pirate.

While I wasn’t looking specifically for an educational trip, the river trip was an opportunity for the kids to expand their world. In addition to the raft, Callantine and his guides pointed out safe parts of the river for kayaking and paddling through the whitewater. The kids jumped off rocks into the water and swam and floated through the river’s currents.

Callantine would often pull the raft over to the shore to point out interesting spots along the canyon, including descriptions of those historic trips and the inscriptions they left behind. Noah, impressed by the information, later told me, “Early explorers were incredible! They went in whitewater in a wooden boat! They didn’t have all this!”

Callantine talked about his own connection to the river, including a great uncle, whose name is on one of the inscriptions on the canyon walls and different great uncle who was a renowned paleontologist in the area. In addition to his knowledge of the river, Callantine was able to interpret the different formations we saw, the geology, and wildlife.

Adventure, Customized

Eesa loves the outdoors. At 16-years-old, he loved the opportunity and challenge to navigate the waters by himself. In fact, he spent almost the entire trip on the kayak on his own. The mama bear in me was concerned at first, but Callantine had him ride in the raft when there were too many rocks. While Eesa rode with us through Hell’s Half-Mile or Disaster Falls he enjoyed kayaking through some Class III rapids, such as Moonshine on day four.

Callantine would call out directions to Eesa so he could avoid hitting rocks as he paddled through rapids. 

Layla enjoyed paddle boarding the most. At one point, as she paddled through some rapids, she got down on her knees to steady herself and prevented herself from falling off. She was so proud of herself. She was beaming and kept mentioning the incident.

She turns 13 at the end of summer. It’s a time in many girls’ lives where they struggle with self-esteem and image. These experiences will help her navigate teen years.

There’s no Internet in the backcountry, so Eesa and Layla left their phones back in Vernal. Layla had a Polaroid camera she used to take photos and Eesa had a digital camera. Before the trip, I bought Noah a one-use waterproof camera. 

When not navigating the rapids, the kids would take pictures of the river, canyon vistas and wildlife. That was the extent of our access to technology, for four days. There was so much to discover outside, the phones seemed happily forgotten. 

We ended our trip at the fossil quarry, where it began two years ago. It was like visiting an old friend. The kids reexamined the fossil displays. I watched other visitors, who were like us two years ago, coming to DNM for the first time. I wondered if any of them had experienced the river like we had or if like me two years ago, when the impression of the park was limited to a pit stop to look at dinosaur bones. After four days on the river, I realized that on our first visit we hadn’t even scratched the surface of what the monument had to offer. I now know its a place I can continue coming back to and have a different experience every time.

Inscriptions on the Wall

Throughout our four-day journey on the Green River, we stopped and examined inscriptions and pictographs on the canyon wall, connecting us with centuries of explorers and travelers on the Green River.

The inscriptions we saw dated as far back as 1838. Our guide, Tyler Callantine, told us stories behind the inscriptions, such as a fur trapper named Dennis Julien, who paddled upstream on the Green River. Another inscription belonged to Haldane “Buzz” Holstrom, the first person to run the river solo. Even Callantine’s own great uncle, Lee Kay, a wildlife surveyor for the Fish and Wildlife Department had an inscription along the river. 

My seven-year-old, Noah, summed it up best.

“People did amazing things!” he said. “Buzz just had a wooden boat and he went down all that way by himself. The other guy went upstream. It’s amazing how much people do cool stuff on this river.”

We also stopped along the way and inspected pictographs left by early inhabitants in the area. There was one that looked like a man holding a bow standing in front of a group of mountain goats. The image is believed to be around 800 years ago. 

The kids and I mulled over the possible meaning of the images we saw. We were careful not to touch any of the pictographs, but I found it incredible that these images survived outside in the elements for hundreds of years. 

While we were all impressed by the actions of those who came before us, we were also grateful that these places have been preserved for us to enjoy.