This weekend I will be hiking one of my last two remaining sections of the Green River Gorge towards my goal of hiking the entire Green River Gorge from Kanaskat to Flaming Geyser.
In 2001 I purchased my first digital camera and hiked 90% of the Gorge in order to photo document the area to promote conservation of this unique area. This year my goal is to hike the entire gorge as part of the photo documentary project www.greenrivergorgegreenway.org. It has been challenging and an incredible visual journey that I never get tired of.
Two weekends ago my husband, two dogs, and I hiked a section of the river gorge from Kanaskat down to a friend's house. Six hours of boulder hopping, bush whacking, swimming, and route finding on upland trails.
Taking a much needed break between the two rapids Mercury and the Nozzle. The two most notable rapids in the gorge.
The river gorge at low water is a completely different landscape of carved sandstone shelves, exposed boulder gardens, caves, and deep undercuts. My husband and I have rafted down the gorge many times before but always at higher water that covered more rocks and hid the sandstone labyrinths that lies beneath the deep green water.
Here is the infamous NOZZLE rapid at low water. Rocks choke the flow of the river through narrow slots between large sandstone boulders.
Every time I visit the gorge at low water I come away with a renewed respect for the inherit dangers of rafting this expert level of the river. I also come away with a desire to return again as I'm always amazed by every twist and turn in the river and what is revealed.
Looking downstream from a large boulder adjacent to the Nozzle.