Brown’s Park: Fishing the Outlaw Trail

This last weekend, I loaded my 14-foot fishing cataraft in my truck and picked up my buddy Wade Graham from the airport. We drove through Evanston to Dutch John and the Flaming Gorge area. We rigged the boat at Little Hole after arranging to shuttle my truck down to the take out above Lodore. The B and C sections follow the Green River through Browns Park, one of the main stops on the old Outlaw Trail between Wyoming’s Hole-in-the-Rock and the Robber’s Roost Country. I have long dreamed of visiting this place; ever since I saw pictures in Redford’s book “Outlaw Trail” of him and Ed Abbey rafting down a pristine Green River. It seemed to be one of the last wild pockets of the West and it lived up to, and exceeded my expectations.

The first afternoon was spent moving slowly down the river, aiming our fly rods at eddies and pockets full of big healthy trout. Mostly German Brown, with a few Rainbows were what we saw. Caddis and big hoppers were the best bet. On day one we hooked up maybe 6, including a very healthy 20 inch Brown that we kept for dinner that night. We found a splendid camping spot under an ancient Ponderosa and across a giant deep pool from an Osprey Nest. Moose, Merganzers, lots of Ospreys, Kingfishers, Vultures, and families of Otters half-playing and fighting over a big trout are some of the local fauna we observed in this tailwater ecosystem.

Trout Quesadillas for dinner.

On day two, we got a slow start. I spent a few hours fishing the rocky shore below our camp and brought two fish in for breakfast. When we finally got going (with something like 15 river miles ahead of us), it was mid morning and the river was pretty quiet. We saw three other people…. period: A drift boat guide with a few paying customers passed us. I followed them through Red Creek Rapids (a class III), passed them and then we were alone.

Except for the cloud. A storm developed over the Uintahs and despite winds aloft, it hung over us the whole day.We were drenched on the river to the point where it was somewhat miserable for a bit; slow water, heavy rowing into the wind and soaked to the bone shivering.  After adding some layers, we powered through the Browns Park section without fishing or even stopping. Our original plan of another night on the river got sacked when we realized that cloud wasn’t going anywhere. We just headed for the truck. We hit the take out just as the cloud dropped another bunch of water on us and we derigged in the rain. On the drive out, we saw a bunch of pronghorn and got a great glimpse of the river from above. It was certainly a five star wilderness experience for us. We capped the whole experience off with a burger in Vernal observing the local culture.