That sinking feeling - Homemade Canoe Trip, Green River (UT)

[Onslow 21]

The underlying issue here is just lack of knowledge, and poor judgment.  Any trip that takes place on a river with shoals, rapids, strong eddy lines should be planned carefully.  A maximum flow benchmark should be established well ahead of the trip by someone who has a has many river miles under their belt, and is flow literate.  The flow was 11,000 cfs.  A reasonable moderate flow for a river this size is 2000 cfs.  If one has no clue what a USGS gage is, and the relevance of flow rates, aforementioned person has no business planning a trip on such a river.  Looking at the sat. imagery, I would have suggested a 3000 cfs max for the float.

Sidenote:  A river that is as narrow as 150-200' wide flowing at 11k will probably have water velocities of 6' per second.  One can only imagine an unwary paddler unwittingly crossing an eddy line.....