Dinosaur River Expeditions to Honor Famous Explorer for Anniversary Celebration
Industry: Travel & Leisure
Locally-owned Vernal, Utah river rafting outfitter to organize and sponsor John Wesley Powell anniversary event with river trips commemorating the explorer.
Vernal, UT (PRUnderground) March 25th, 2019
Nearly 150 years ago, John Wesley Powell explored the western frontier, alerting America to its wonders. Today, Dinosaur River Expeditions is joining other organizations from Vernal, Utah to commemorate Powell’s journeys in and around their hometown with an anniversary celebration.
Dinosaur River Expeditions is the only locally-owned and operated whitewater rafting company in Vernal, offering thrilling guided river rafting trips in Utah and Colorado. The company is helping to organize and sponsor the John Wesley Powell River Festival honoring the explorer. They will also offer Powell-themed rafting trips, taking guests along some of the routes that the explorer once travelled.
The festival will take place June 17-22 and will offer live music, speakers, a craft beer garden, kayak and paddleboard demos, a Dutch oven cook-off, bounce houses, and art exhibits.
Tyler Callantine, owner of Dinosaur River Expeditions, said he is excited to be sponsoring this event in honor of a man to whom he feels a strong kinship.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been exploring the rivers in and around Uintah County, but they never lose their magic,” said Callantine. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what it would have been like for Powell to explore them in their pristine beauty in 1869.”
Powell’s journey took him and his crew through the canyons of Flaming Gorge, Lodore, Desolation, and the Grand Canyon. It was the first cartographic and geologic survey of these areas of the desert Southwest. His accounts of his pioneering travels helped fuel the country’s westward expansion.
Callantine said that many Utahns are unaware of the close ties between the Powell expedition and Uintah County. Powell and his crew lost their first boat in the rapids of Lodore Canyon, and one member of the crew, Frank Goodman, left the expedition to settle in Vernal, Utah, and raise a family there.
Callantine and his wife, Jennifer, draw on their more than 25 years of river guiding and rafting experience to take guests on exhilarating adventures on the Yampa River as well as on the Green River through the Gates of Lodore. They offer single or multi-day adventures. They provide meals, safety equipment, and transportation to and from departure sites so guests can simply show up and enjoy.
They also offer picturesque hiking tours around Vernal with views of Native American rock art, fossilized dinosaur footprints, natural arches, and more.
For more information about the John Wesley Powell River Festival or Dinosaur River Expeditions’ river rafting adventures, call (800) 345-7238 or go to www.DinosaurRiverExpeditions.com.
About Dinosaur River Expeditions
Family-owned Dinosaur River Expeditions offers thrilling whitewater rafting adventures in Northeastern Utah. The only locally-owned and operated outfitter near Dinosaur National Monument takes guests whitewater rafting in Utah along the breathtaking canyons of the Green River, through the Gates of Lodore, and along the mighty Yampa River of Colorado.
