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 We
made our way down to Fontenelle Reservoir. The reservoir was about
half full. That was pretty good in that it meant we were able to
take advantage of a current for perhaps three or four miles longer than
we expected. But it was in the end a challenge for us to
overcome. The reason is that we had scheduled with a shuttler to
shuttle us around to the base of the dam from the Fontenelle Recreation
area. The recreation area had a boat ramp but due to the
excessively low water, the closest we could get to the ramp was about
half a mile out on the dry bottom of the reservoir bed. When I
called the shuttler and explained where we were he said that he wouldn't
drive his truck out onto the bed of the lake. I asked if he had a
four wheeler or something - and he said he had a six wheeler. I
asked if he could bring it and he obliged. We go out on the bed of
the lake and pile the boat and other gear into the back of the six
wheeler and after a few trips are ready to go down below the
reservoir. (It seems that we had an alternative boat ramp that was
closer to the dam but... we learned that too late.) I did a little
fishing here but didn't catch anything. We also began identifying
birds as we went along. We were able to positively identify 48
birds but we saw some more than that.
We headed down to Green River, Wyoming where John Wesley Powell and a number of future river runners started their trips down the Green and Colorado. On the way down we saw something very strange, a big horn sheep along the river that didn't move a muscle. We floated past it and it just didn't move at all. We theorized a bunch about it but we still aren't sure if it was dead on it's feet, just a very still animal, or someone had stuffed it and placed it there for some kind of research. These were the theories we came up with to explain it! Anyway, we landed in Green River at Expedition Island. During the first week or so, Angie began to suffer from a rash on her hands and feet. We haven't figured out if it's something in the water, being dirty, being in the wind or washing a lot. But when we got to Green River we tried to go the clinic in town (about a three mile walk). We got to the clinic as they were closing but were able to get an appointment for the next day. We stayed overnight in a motel in Green River and walked the next morning to the clinic. The doctor prescribed cortisone cream which worked well over the next few days. We also got General Delivery mail at the Green River Post Office. Getting mail in the middle of nowhere is fun. We floated the boat down a little more to Myron Stratton park and walked up from there to the Smith's Grocery store where we bought fresh supplies to carry us over until we got through Dinosaur and could resupply in Vernal, Utah. |
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