In Pinedale you must stop at Wyoming Fish and Game for the mandatory invasive species sticker. Nobody inspects your boat or gives detail on transmission of invasive species. They collect $15 and give you a sticker and a receipt. I'm all about mitigating invasive species damage, but this doesn't seem like the way to go about it. On the bright side, they had really good maps of the upper river, including all the private land and river miles, for free. So the $15 invasive species tag was made up for by the high quality map. This map is available on line here, but the one Fish and Game issues is printed on Tyvek and laid out really well. Green River Float Map

Also noted from the Fish and Game folks and the Forest Service was the bear problem. The area north of Highway 191 is full of bears, brown and black. (If you aren't bear savvy, brown = Grizzly.) There are also black bears in the area from Flaming Gorge Dam down to Split Mountain. Around the Wind River area there are mandatory bear precautions in effect in all the FS and BLM lands with regard to food storage in bear proof containers. This year was especially problematic. With the far-below average snow pack, bears were not able to find normal food sources in the highlands and were down in human country, desperate for food. The area was also ravaged by pine bark beetles, probably more than half the trees were dead. Hard times on the upper Green.

Pinedale is a perfect base to wash up, rest, and resupply. It's the only significant town in the region. The river runs from the upper lakes sixty miles to the north, to Fontenelle Reservoir 90 miles to the south, pauses at Fontenelle Reservoir, and runs another sixty-six miles to Green River. In that entire area, only Pinedale and Green River are "real" towns with stores, gas, motels, and other amenities.

At first glance Pinedale appears to be just another little town on another little highway out west. We found three beautiful highlights in this town that deserve mention for their charm and quality. The Log Cabin Motel is downtown, a block north of the main street. Reasonably priced, clean, homey, comfy, it was a nice place. And it is within easy walking distance of highlight number 2, and my favorite thing about Pinedale, The Rock Rabbit Cafe. The Rabbit is an eclectic diner with fantastic food, great service, wonderful vibe, and hands down the best place I ate on the entire trip. That's saying something, Moab is an old haunt of mine and has some pretty good chow. The Rock Rabbit is as good as anything in Moab. Caveat, I only had breakfast there. Twice, and it was great both times. I cannot speak for their lunch and dinner, but breakfast is usually a pretty good indicator of how a restaurant works. Other food options we tried were bland and boring small town food. Go to the Rabbit.

Pinedale also has a Laundromat, a good grocery store, and highlight number 3, the Museum of the Mountain Man, well worth a stop. The Museum has a very interesting collection of relics from the first four decades of western exploration. Green River, Wyoming also has a very nice museum worth a couple of hours to anyone with a spark of interest in the American West. For those interested in history, the Pinedale area was the heart of the Mountain Man Summer Rendezvous area, and the most popular spot for the famous event is right along the river, just below the 191 bridge. Further south, Green River is near where all the famous northern pioneer routes, as well as the Pony Express and the first transcontinental telegraph, crossed the country. This is due to the proximity to South Pass, the easiest route across the Rocky Mountains.