Rafting the Green and Yampa through Dinosaur requires a permit

The Green and Yampa rivers carve some of the best-known whitewater canyons in the West, and the stretch through Dinosaur National Monument is a bucket-list float for many boaters. The two rivers meet at Echo Park deep inside the monument, and trips run for days through canyon walls with no road access.

Every river trip inside Dinosaur National Monument needs a permit. High-use private permits for multi-day trips on the Green and Yampa go through a lottery. Low-use trips and one-day trips use separate reservation paths, and short play trips have their own permit. Private trip leaders and boat operators also need experience on comparable whitewater and the required equipment. A guided trip uses an authorized outfitter’s permit instead.

This matters even if you are new to the area: the Yampa is one of the few large rivers in the region that still runs mostly undammed, so its flows rise and fall a lot with the season’s snowmelt. That affects when trips can run and how hard the water is.

Start with the National Park Service permit page for the exact section and season you plan to run. It lists the current lottery window, reservation route, fees, equipment, and launch rules.