Resources for Teachers

For Team D, this was our first morning on the river, putting-in at Split Mountain campground in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument. The whole group was very excited as none of the expedition members had ever rafted this section of the Green River.

Sampling pre-emergent aquatic insects is not always easy, especially on a river with little cobble substrate. Because of the high water from dam release, a lot of floating driftwood was making its way down river. We thought this might serve as important substrate for benthic invertebrates and tested a sampling method to look at species diversity and, maybe, dispersal

We spent the evening listening to the rhythmic sounds of an oil pumpjack straining at the efforts to connect with its Cretaceous past, accompanied by Pat matcing this rhythm on his guitar . Even in the presence of industrial oil extraction, the desert is spectacular at sunset.

This calm section of river flows through a National Wildlife Refuge where we observed a great deal of wildlife, including beaver, peregrin falcons, waterfowl, a coyote, bighorn sheep and American white pelicans

Although this section of the Green River in the Uinta basin lies between sections of dramatic red-stone cliffs of Ladore and Desolation Canyons, we did experience some profound geology. These cliffs are near the start of Desolation Canyon to the south.

Rigging the boats on chilly desert mornings is a slow affair. All our food and gear must be sorted, distributed and carefully packed among the six rafts to be able to accommodate its passengers and so it can all be easily found again when we reach our evening camp. While those responsible for their boat organize stowing of the gear, we enjoy the peacefulness of morning and

Early morning panorama of cliffs that signal the start of Desolation Canyon. This was our last, and probably most spectacular, campsite of this section of Uinta Basin. It was approximately 9 miles from our take-out at Sand Wash.