Desert Writing Workshop with Craig Childs
April 28 – May 4, 2024
Our days will involve 2-3 hours of writing instruction by Craig Childs with readings at night, plus Lauren Bond as a naturalist on hand. The rest is floating a remote flatwater river in canoes, paddling, hauling camp to high-ground, walking canyons with daypacks, and listening to the echo of our steps. Poets, fiction, nonfiction, scientists, naturalists; every style of observation and writing is welcome.
7 days, 45 miles of canoeing, daily writing instruction,
delicious food, 19 participants max.
Guides: Craig Childs, Daiva Chesonis, Lauren Bond, Monika Denise, Cate Burnett
Pricing: $2895, $1000 deposit, payment plans upon request.
The deposit and cost of The River’s Path Canoe Adventures are non-refundable. We strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance through our partner Outward Travel to protect your investment.
Meet Craig Childs
Writing Instructor & Author
Craig Childs will be your instructor. He has published more than a dozen books of adventure, wilderness, and science, including House of Rain and The Secret Knowledge of Water. His most recent is Virga & Bone: Essays from Dry Places. He has won the Orion Book Award, the Galen Rowell Art of Adventure Award, the Spirit of the West Award for his body of work, and thrice the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. He is a contributing editor at Adventure Journal Quarterly, and his writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, and The New York Times, the latter calling him “a modern-day desert father.” He brings a lifetime of experience field-writing in dry country.
Meet Daiva Chesonis
Daiva Chesonis is a fiercely proud Baltimore-born daughter of Lithuanian immigrants, transplanted to Colorado in 1992 to build Telluride’s gondola transportation system. Although birthing chairlifts was not part of her initial goal after a Cold War-era B.A. in Russian Studies, she decided to bed down in the dead-end box canyon to see what would unfold. She became a snowboard instructor, owner/operator of Vision Design, Art Director at Telluride Magazine, founder and 5-year director of the Telluride AIDS Benefit Fashion Show, and a traveling minstrel for Mountainfilm on Tour. In 2005, she earned an M.A. in Diplomacy and International Conflict Resolution, mostly for fun. Most recently she was co-owner of Between the Covers Bookstore in Telluride for over a decade, during which time she co-founded the Telluride Literary Arts Festival, currently dormant. From 2019 to 2022 she was the San Miguel County Poet Laureate. In her spare time, this mom of one amazing adult can be found writing and performing poetry, floating slow western rivers, wandering local and Lithuanian forests on the hunt for mushrooms, and finding herself wonderfully lost in the deserts and canyons not far from where she and her always-writing husband Craig Childs live off-grid just outside Norwood, Colorado. Her first book is set to publish sometime this century.
What to Expect – Overnight Canoe Trip on the Green River
While the exact itinerary will change based on the theme of the trip, some things are common for all trips down through Labyrinth Canyon:
We’ll canoe a total of 45 miles down the Green River through the steep canyon walls of Labyrinth Canyon in Utah. The trip begins at Ruby Ranch (located just south of I-70) to Mineral Bottom (located near Canyonlands National Park). Four to five days of paddling will be interspersed with layovers at wilderness campsites along the canyon. Paddle days are usually 7-15 miles each or about 3-5 hours of gentle paddling. The river has no rapids and hardly any current. It is muddy and shallow (except for high water in May and June)
While in camp, in addition to our theme program activity, we may swim, take short hikes or explore side canyons. After we all pitch in during camp setup, we’ll have plenty of free time to relax, enjoy our surroundings and have the opportunity to get to know each other as we experience the beauty around us. Then we’ll come together each evening around the campfire.
The River’s Path guided overnight canoe trips involve staying deep in the wilderness with no electricity or cellular reception, and in case of an emergency, evacuation will be done via rescue boat or helicopter. If you need to have medically necessary equipment that uses electricity or need to stay in contact with someone at home, the guides will have a texting device available. Please contact Lauren Bond at 303-859-7174 or lauren@theriverspath.org to discuss.
Temperature changes quickly and can be unexpected, so it is important to bring items from the packing list in case of any drastic changes. Rain and thunderstorms can pop up at any point. Temperatures for each month can range from the high 60s and low 30s for March to the high 100s and lows in the 70s for August. Please see the NOAA graph for Labyrinth Canyon monthly weather averages.
The section of the Green River we will be on is considered a Class I river with no rapids. This is essentially a flat water trip.
Each canoe accommodates two people and they include two Crazy Creek camp chairs with backrests. Canoes will carry all of the personal gear and camp supplies.
The River’s Path will supply 2 dry bags, one large and one small, for your personal gear.
Group gear provided includes: canoes, paddles, life jackets, canoe seat backs, camp chairs, full kitchen setup. Supplies provided include: all food, shade canopy and river toilet with a privacy shelter.
Your personal camp gear that you are responsible for includes: tent, tarps, sleeping bag, and anything else you need that is not provided. That being said, we highly recommend you approach this with a minimalist mentality. Everything you bring, along with your canoe partner, must fit on your canoe. We will supply you with a complete packing list.
While many adventurists kayak the Green River, the amount of gear, supplies, and coolers of fresh food on our journey requires canoes.
The River’s Path will provide food and drinks for all meals and snacks. We can accommodate most diets including vegetarian, vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and dairy-free. The water is too muddy for most portable water filtration devices, so we will pack all drinking water.
If you have other needs or concerns, contact the trip guide, Lauren Bond at 303-859-7174 or lauren@theriverspath.org
It’s important to note that this is a collaborative experience. To form a strong community and have an even more powerful, life changing, memorable experience, each individual in the group will participate and share in camp responsibilities. Everyone helps with setting up and taking down camp, unloading and loading canoes, cooking meals and cleaning up. Each individual must bring their own tent, sleeping bag and pad, as well as other items on the packing list. Those using a hammock must provide an appropriate setup for that.
During your trip through the Labyrinth Canyon you’ll find a slow meandering river with steep colorful canyon walls, amazing side canyons (and maybe evidence of ancient civilizations), incredible stars, unforgettable sunsets, and a hushed serenity you’ll find no place else. No matter where you look you’ll see the unforgettable and awe inspiring colors and sounds of nature.
You might consider long sleeved shirts and pants, bug lotion and head netting if you are extremely sensitive to bug bites. Birds like golden eagles, peregrine falcons, canyon wrens, screech owls, and more can be seen along with small animals like beavers and larger ones like desert bighorn sheep and deer.