I'm planning a south to north traverse of the Wind Rivers for the end of August. I recently purchased a packraft and want to incorporate some paddling into the trip.

I intend to start at the Big Sandy TH and eventually packraft the Green River from Beaver Park (or wherever I'm able to put in) and float down to the Green River Lakes. Time permitting, I would like to continue downriver from the Green Lakes TH for an as yet undetermined number of miles.

My map indicates that the Green River Road (road used to access the Green River Lakes TH) parallels the river for quite a few miles as the river bends south back toward Pinedale. I had a brief conversation with someone at the Great Outdoor Shop in Pinedale and he said there are some rapids downstream from the Green River Lakes (and that the shop does not permit canoe renters to float the river because of too many instances of canoe damage).

I'd like to know what to expect downstream from the Green Lakes TH. My guess is a generally slow river with a few rapids that I should be able to handle with my packraft. So far I've been unable to find any information on this stretch of river on the internets. My tentative plan is to float several miles downstream and either hitch back up the road to the Green River Lakes TH or walk if necessary.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There are a lot of rapids, log jams, etc. on the Green River below Beaver Park. About halfway between Beaver Park and upper Green River Lake, the Highline Trail comes out of the dead lodgepole forest into open flat meadows with oxbow bends on the river, and that's where you'll want to put in. While I was camped above the upper lake nursing a sick dog a couple of years ago, a number of people were coming up the river and going back down in inflatable canoes. I was tempted to ask for a ride until I considered the combination of dog toenails and inflatable boats!

I haven't seen the river below the lakes except from a car. Beyond the National Forest Boundary you will have private property issues, but if you're prepared to cope with some rapids and maybe a little portaging, I would think you'd be OK going down to the boundary. Please note that this is a supposition on my part judging from the general terrain, not from experience on the river!

If it's not a weekend, you may have problems getting a ride. You might have to arrange with the Great Outdoors Shop for their shuttle to pick you up. Since there's no cell phone reception until you're almost to Pinedale, you would have to arrange this in advance.

There are lots and lots of lakes up in the high country waiting for your packraft! Enjoy!

Edited by hikinggranny on 07/20/2011 19:04:21 MDT.

There was a quite long video of a guy going upstream in a small canoe he used a long pole rather than a paddle to push himself Try a search for canoeing kayaking or fishing the greem river or GR lakes area

From what little I saw from the road, it look do-able to me only if you are experienced. The rougher sections I saw looked like shallow rock gardens, maybe CII-technical. From the road, I could not tell if the difficulty level bumps it up into a CIII. Water levels will make or break it.