Flaming Geyser State Park, Washington, United States

5RebeccaHP 5:00 PM Jul 27, 2020

How to Float the Green River
I floated the Green River today with two friends, we were all adults. We parked a car at Whitney Bridge Park, which comes right up in my navigation with just those exact words (I live in Sumner). As we pulled out of the Whitney Bridge Parking lot ( we were the only car parked there at 10:30 on an 85 degree weekday) the experienced floater in our group pointed out a large white barn above the river, and she said we would know it was time to get out when we saw that bridge. We put our towels in the car we left there and all of our floaties, river shoes, life preservers, water bottles and other river float essentials (waterproof phone cases was essential, I only had a ziplock bag, and it worked fine, but I would prefer something with a way to connect to my person like the ones my friends had around their necks) went into the other car which we drove into Flaming Geyser State Park. We had cash to pay for the $10 day parking fee. Once we entered the park, we drove deep into the park until you could either turn around or park. It's the end of the driving road. So we parked there and walked down to the river and off we went. We brought bungee carabineers to attach ourselves together, but it wasn't helpful and made it kind of hard to steer and such. So we quickly abandoned that plan. We brought child-size kayak paddles and that was SO helpful. It was just nice to be able to steer easily and paddle one way or another. I highly recommend having a paddle. Only one of us had been on this excursion before, and she opted not to wear a life preserver. I and the other newbie did wear life jackets, but at the end of the experience, I'd say it didn't' seem super helpful or necessary, water was shallow and not too cold and rapids were hardly rapids. The ideal kind of tube to have is one meant for river floating and has a built-in headrest. That is what I had and it was so comfortable. We put int the water at 11:05am and we were back at the car at 12:45pm. We floated along pretty good, only paddled to make forward progress maybe once or twice for short stints. We had a few times we had to stand up and walk into deeper water becuase it got really shallow. When we saw the barn on our left, we paddled to the right bank of the river just across from the barn and before the bridge, and we climbed out. We realized after that we could have taken our on the other side of the bridge which would have been right by the parking lot where our first car was parked. I had a blast, it felt safe and I am so glad I went on a hot day. The water was cold, hard to ease in at first, but once we were going I never cared about the water temp again. I highly recommend!

4Satchell888 5:00 PM Jul 31, 2021

Tips for floating or paddling Green River in Flaming Geyser
We just floated the Green River on July 31st and had a great time, though some hazards. Here are some useful details: Parking, used 2 cars to shuttle: Take out: Whitney Bridge Park Put In: near Flaming Geyser inside the state park River Float: about 3.3 miles on the river, about 2-3 hours with breaks You can also take out in the state park, near the park entrance bridge for a shorter easier float (maybe 2 miles?) We used inflatable SUP and inflatable whitewater kayak. The stretch within the state park is pretty easy but a few shallow rocky areas. We saw plenty of people tubing this stretch. Once you get out of the park, the stretch to Whitney Bridge Park was a little more treacherous. There were about 3 shallow rocky areas with some small rapids. Probably not suitable for tubing or children. Very difficult on a SUP (even sitting down, due to shallow rapids and rock gardens). Kayak got stuck a few times on the rocks as well. This stretch might be better earlier in the season with more water flow, but would not suggest it from late July on. Staying within the state park is a better bet! All and all very fun day, just a little more difficult than we expected for that last stretch.