Upper Gunnison 5-day Itinerary

Upper Gunnison River 5-Day Itinerary.

• Day 1: Meet your top-notch guide staff at the Pleasure Park, BLM launch ramp at 6:30 a.m. and start packing your dry bags and loading gear into the canoes.

• After breakfast, each car owner will drive his vehicle to our private parking location at the Whitewater take-out. Centennial Canoe will shuttle all drivers back to the put-in meeting point. This generally takes an hour and forty five minutes. While the shuttle is being run, everyone else will be packing gear and preparing to paddle when the drivers return. Upon their arrival to the put-in our guides will demonstrate paddling instructions and safety issues before launching. Shortly after launching, you will begin paddling the last portion of the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area with beautiful sandstone canyons.
  

• The next stop will be an archaeological dig site, called Eagle Rock Shelter, which includes petroglyphs and a pit shelter where people lived 13,000 years ago. The magic of this site is its possible story of human occupation, not just seasonal movement in and out, since shortly after the first Americans appeared on this continent.

• About eight miles downstream you'll make camp for the night and enjoy your first "Backcountry Dinner" prepared by the guides.  But first, Happy Hour will take place complete with hors d'oeuvres and wine.

• Day 2: After an impressive breakfast (not corn flakes!) you'll break down camp and paddle toward the town of Delta.  Shortly after Delta, you'll enter the Escalante State Wildlife Area, home to a variety of birds and animals. 

• By mid-afternoon you'll reach your campsite and have time to pitch your tent and relax while the guides prepare Happy Hour goodies and a great dinner.

• Day 3: It's time to head for the beautiful Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. Enjoy the thrill of paddling through Hail Mary Rapid (Class I rapid which is the smallest). Or, you can choose to skirt around the side of the rapid. Paddle downriver until approximately noon and enjoy lunch on the river’s edge, maybe catching a glimpse of an eagle or a desert sheep.

• When you reach Dominguez Canyon, you'll have time to pitch your tent and relax while the guides prepare for Happy Hour.  Time permitting, you can also take a short hike or bathe in the river.

• Dinner is served around 7 p.m. followed by campfire activities that may include games, singing, western tall tales, or guitar playing.

• Day 4:  Today is a layover day devoted to hiking the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area (depending on campsite availability).  Here you can discover ancient Indian petroglyphs and waterfalls, cool off and play in the water pools, and see wildlife. Many times lunches will be packed for the hike so you can explore this multi-million year old canyon to your heart’s content. Other activities during the day may include playing in the river, floating through a stretch of rippling water, and/or relaxing in camp. However, your guides may choose to move downriver. Factors that influence this decision are weather, pace of the group, campsite availability, etc.

• Day 5: You will break down camp after a hearty breakfast and paddle out of the majestic Dominguez Canyon where the scenery begins to turn much greener with vegetation. 

• After numerous water fights, river barging, joke telling, and just having good fun, you typically reach the Whitewater takeout between 2-4 p.m. after lunch on the last day of the trip. It takes about an hour to unpack gear, and then you're on your way home.