We're gathering all our musical instruments and going on a river trip. It's all the wonder of river running, desert strolling and warm riverside camping in combination with music in starlit sand amphitheaters. It's the camaraderie of a music camp and a river trip all rolled into one! Bring any sorts of instruments (dulcimers, guitars, oboes and ocarinas), your camping get up, your smiles and your friends and we'll bring professional guides, canoes, rafts, gourmet food and whatever other specialized equipment you might need on the river. No river experience is necessary. We'll teach you everything you need to know about camping and river traveling.

The 2008 edition of the Moons and Tunes Wilderness River Trip will be on Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River. We start just south of Green River, Utah and take out in Lake Powell.

We've waited many years to be able to do this particular run so fasten your seat belts and join the fun! Cataract Canyon itself is known world wide as some of the most interesting white water to be found. Before we get to Cataract we float peacefully through - Stillwater and Labyrinth Canyons. These take us into and through Canyonlands National Park and then we reach Cataract and have a full day of spectacular whitewater which delivers us to Lake Powell for some more blissful floating into Hite. Each day has it's joys - the white water is exhilarating, and the flatwater lends itself well to contemplative silent floating or a little music making on the boats. We decided to do a fall trip as a suggestion from guides about how beautiful the canyon country is that time of year. how it's a bit cooler for hiking and the water is a little lower.

LOGISTICS? We'll gather at Green River State Park in Green River, Utah, on Sunday, September 29 around 5 PM. We put in early the next morning. We take out six days, five nights later on Saturday, Oct. 4 late in the day and are returned to Green River where our cars are.

COST? The cost is $775 per person for 6 days, and this includes all transportation from Green River to the put in and take out, all food, all river gear, and all the fun you can have. You bring only your clothes, sleeping gear, and musical instruments. The fee is due April 1, checks made out to Bonnie Carol. Your spot is reserved when I receive your check. After April 1, the river company will begin to fill any spaces we don't fill. You may be able to decide later than April 1 depending on availability, but some years we fill up long before the due date.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? Please bring some. Any instruments that will fit in a dry bag and that won't be damaged by outdoor conditions are fine. We've had flute, saxophone, penny whistle, recorder, guitars, trumpets, drums, marimbas, mbiras, accordion, and dulcimers of all descriptions. Don't bring anything irreplaceable or invaluable to you, and fretted dulcimers or guitars need hard cases. I have some hard dulcimer cases to lend. The instruments ride on a raft in waterproof bags, and are most likely not to swim. However, outdoors environments are hard on things - sand, hot, cold, etc. I have two pretty good guitars and a Master Works hammered dulcimer available for everyone to use.

MUST YOU BE A MUSICIAN TO COME? Of course not. You'll have a fine time participating in all sorts of silliness, costumes, hikes, and river running, and people will entertain you with music day and night!

GUIDES AND EQUIPMENT? We will have professional river guides to run our rafts, cook our dinners, and help us have a safe and fun trip. The guides will also bring our boats, gourmet food and whatever other specialized river equipment we might need such as waterproof bags for your gear and life jackets. All you need to bring is your smiles and friends, your sleeping bag and tent, outdoors clothes, your musical instruments and anything else you'd like to contribute to the fun - poems, stories, costumes and ...

BOATS? We'll have rubber rafts in which we may ride and in which our gear is transported. We'll also have some inflatable kayaks for anyone who wants to have more fun. (More fun? How is this possible?)

EXPERIENCE? No experience is necessary - we'll teach you all you need to know to camp and run the river. Many people have come on these trips as their first-ever-in-their-lifetime camping trip.

WHITE WATER? We will have one day of some serious rapids and the other 5 days are peaceful floats.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE FUN DEPARTMENT:

I can't tell you what will happen on this summer's river trip any better than to describe other year's trips, and let you use your imagination. Each trip is different; all have been some of the best experiences of my life.

We've created dances on the spot (or on the sand, I guess would be a better description) from Sufi to step dance; we've had dulcimer playing zebras; there was a lover's waltz dedicated to two couples who joined us for anniversary trips; we had an evening of love songs, which included a poem from the great Western cowboy poetry tradition about the unbridled love between a cowboy and his horse; Kokopelli made a guest appearance to play a duet with our saxophone player for a lunch concert/dance on the San Juan River; we had a performance of stand-up comedy improv about nights in New York; costume parties have featured characters from a fairy princess to the creature from the black lagoon - whatever one could create from the contents of a dry bag and the treasures to be found on the riverbank.

All these extemporaneous events were set against the backdrop of what one expects to find on river trips - stars and sunshine, adventurous hikes, lazy afternoon naps, stunning desert river scenery, slick rock amphitheaters, and magnificent camaraderie. I'm getting anxious to get on the river as I sort thought my photos and memories of past trips.

If I've succeeded in tickling your imagination, please E-mail with any questions, or send those checks in if you're ready to go.

See you on the river in September!