The river retains a fairly wild aspect until just above the Interstate Highway about five miles above Expedition Island, our take-out. We took out at Expedition Island around mid-day on June 11th and quickly tore down our boats. At this point, we realized we had made such good time that we had a day's slack to get to my Lodore Launch on the 16th, since the Flaming Gorge Dam to Lodore stretch was only about 45 miles.

Still, there was a lot to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, and of course, the shuttle. We spent a couple of hours in Green River, wandering through the small but excellent museum there. Anyone interested in the history of exploring and settling the west should stop there if the opportunity arises. Then we drove to Rock Springs, found a cheap motel (the Cody, $45 a night and not bad for the price), and set to catching up on e-mail, washing clothes, sorting and cleaning gear, and re-supplying.

Our plan for the next day was to set the shuttle for Flaming Gorge Dam to Lodore, and launch from FGD late in the afternoon. The drive was longer and rougher than I had figured, with lots of washboard gravel. Still, with long summer daylight hours, we were back at the dam around five PM, and we launched at 7:00 PM.