Trip Report
Green River: Franklin to Auburn
The Palmer gauge was reading 2,200 CFS. This was a Class III reach at this level. We put in at Franklin bridge and took at at Flaming Geyser. River time was 2.5 hours. Very fun, active, level.
Logan DeGrand
- Sun, Mar 23, 2025
- Green River: Franklin to Auburn
- Packrafting
- Successful
-
- Road suitable for all vehicles
-
At this elevated flow level the put in at Franklin was mostly submerged. The steps carved into the rocks allowed us to scurry down and get in knee deep water and wade over to the wide flat rock on the left from which to launch. From there we did a quick ferry to center, rode the tongue down center and through some whirlpools on the way to river left to eddy out and collect the group.
The take out at Flaming Geyser is a dream. A huge eddy river left. Pavilions to get under in the rain to pack up gear and change. They even have an indoor bathroom. There is hardly cell reception though.
We learned by calling the Howard Hansen Dam engineer that they had started a construction project on the dam the day before our trip and opened the release. This is what caused the flow to rise in a straight line from 800 to 1600 within minutes 2 days before our launch, and to jump vertically from 1600 to 2200 the night before our trip.
2,200 is close to the upper limit of flow that I would want to do in a packraft. We could not eddy out and scout from shore any of the drops in the first mile. Boat scouting turned out to be okay and the most apparent line always worked out. In the first 1/2 mile there were one or two drops that were class III. Even below the Kummer Bridge there was one drop we scouted from shore and a couple sizable wave trains with laterals and many holes on the lead in that would be beyond most class II paddlers. The consequences of a swim in many places also made this a Class III day.
A fantastic day. No swimmers. If anyone had popped out it would have been a very long swim in many sections where there were no eddies. Considering the pushy water and big eddy fences it was great no one in our group of 6 swam. There was a handful of wood hazards. Nothing that was hard to avoid. 
It felt like a completely different river from the other times I floated this reach. At low water, 350CFS, it was technical and fun, easy to scout from shore if needed. At a medium flow, 1300, it was an easy class II cruiser the entire way.
There were numerous ephemeral waterfalls running down the high canyon walls from recent and current heavy rains. 
A fun day was had by all. 