Flaming Gorge North End. Car Camping and Day paddles…Wed July 9th thru Tuesday July 15

Overview: This is a flat-water outing.  The plan is to car camp and do day paddles in the area of the confluence of the Black’s Fork Arm and the Green River Arm.  This area is on the north end of the reservoir, about 5 miles above the Buckboard Marina (which is accessed from the west side of the reservoir).  We would do 1 day up the Green River Arm, 1 day up the Blacks Fork Arm, and 1 day south toward Buckboard.  There are a couple of outings that would require driving to different access: The inlet that is west of Buckboard and ‘bird island’ that is accessed from the Brinegar/Holmes Crossing access (about 5 miles south of Buckboard) and is a half-day or so paddle. 

Camping:  We have in mind a couple of possibilities for car camping:

(1)   Remote camping at the end of a gravel road that would put us just south of the confluence.  The road (Road 11) is fairly good, though there is a steep section at the end.  I have driven it in my Subaru Forester and trucks pull trailers down there so it’s not too bad.    The upside of this is that we can easily access WY 530 and drive to another access point on the west side.  The downside is that there is no outhouse, so we would each have to carry out our own human waste.

(2)   Camp at Lost Dog access.  It is 13 miles down a gravel road but it does have an outhouse.  The downside is that it’s a long 13 miles so it’s not conducive to driving to another access for a day outing.  The other downside is that it might be busy on a weekend.

Boat Permit: Wyoming Boat Inspection and Wyo AIS Sticker.  See https://wgfd.wyo.gov/fishing-boating/aquatic-invasive-species-prevention for further information. 

Note that our plan is to only paddle in Wyoming but Utah (south end of the reservoir) has its own AIS requirements.  See https://stdofthesea.utah.gov/ais/non-motorized/. 

Fees:  All of the Flaming Gorge access points, marinas, etc.  have a fee which is covered by the National Parks Senior Pass.  

 Shuttles: No shuttles needed.

 Drinking Water: Bring your own drinking water.  No water is available at either site though we have pumped water from the reservoir on our various self-supported trips.

Food: All food is on your own, but a pot-luck happy hour would be nice.

Wind and Start Time: In the past few years, on self-supported trips, a strong wind came up early (like by 10 – noon), so we started getting up at 5:30, no cook breakfasts and cold-brews only and were done by noon.  Wind may still be an issue even though our plan is to do out-n-back trips.  Hard to say what it will be like this summer. 

Sun: It can be hot in the afternoon and there is not much shade so a sunshade or Noah’s Tarp would be handy

Drive Time: It generally takes us 6+ hours to get to camp from Longmont.

Contact Anne to sign up. anne_fiore at yahoo.com