grand outdoors
’TIS THE SEASON FOR RIVER PERMIT PARTIES Words + Photo by Lindsay DeFrates
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he days are short, and the mornings cold
and crisp. Sometimes mist rises from the
and Lodore on the Green River, Westwater on
surface of the river as it winds its way west,
the Colorado and the Four Rivers up in Idaho, are
and snow deposits are accumulating in its high-
so adored by boaters that permit systems have
country bank.
been in place for decades. Permit caps limiting
In sheds and garages across Colorado,
the number of launches allowed each day are set
rafting gear has been patched, rolled and packed
by land-managers such as the Forest Service and
away for weeks in favor of winter toys. For many
the Bureau of Land Management based on how
avid boaters, January holds a special place in the
human traffic would impact the fragile, riparian
calendar: permit season.
ecosystem in these pristine, remote canyons.
Then, lotteries are held every winter to assign
That’s right, while winter grips the world
River stretches such as Desolation Canyon
outside, river runners are plotting summer
those coveted permits as fairly as possible.
launch dates and choosing favorite camps with a
few of their closest friends. Then, they toss their
exponentially over the last few years, and what
names into the virtual hat, along with tens of
used to be unlikely has now become next to
thousands of others, and wait to find out if they
impossible. In 2021, for example, applicants for
will win a chance to spend a few days on some of
the Middle Fork of the Salmon River lottery had
the most stunning stretches of rivers in the West.
just a .983% chance of success when over 22,000
people applied for just 205 launch permits.
The odds are not in their favor.
Interest in these rivers has grown
