Paddling the San Juan River

 Monday, I went to Eric's house, put my canoe on the roof of his car, and headed for Nick's house. We left Nick’s with raft and trailer at 10 am. We had a 1.5 hour delay for construction at the Eisenhower tunnel. With a relatively late start and the construction delay, we had no way to get to the put in before dark. We decided to stop at Dalton Springs campground about 9 pm. This is a very nice campground west of Monticello, at about 7000 ft elevation, so it was blessedly cool.

Tuesday. We picked up a convenience store breakfast in Monticello, and met our group at the Sand Island boat ramp. Our group would be 9 people and seven boats, with Don and Sonia in an inflatable kayak, Eric and Nick on the raft, and the other members in various craft, mostly inflatable kayaks. I had the only canoe. We got on the water at 10, not bad for a first day. Stopped after 8 miles at Big Stick. It started to rain at dusk. We saw turkeys and donkeys.

Wednesday we were on the river at 8:45am; a good start, which was typical on this trip. We ran four foot, 8 foot, and Ledge rapids. I saw a river otter, and we saw many Bighorn sheep.  We stopped at Lime creek camp, mile 21 at 3:30. There were a couple of rain showers. Several of us sat in the water and chatted. About 10 pm, we heard a roaring, and someone yelled flash flood. The almost dry creek was a raging current, with my canoe securely tied to opposite side. In the morning, I waded across the creek to get my boat. All the boats were secure, and we had no loss of gear.

The famous rock formation of Mexican Hat

Thursday. The river was clear above Lime creek, and bright red below. The rapid at Gypsum creek rapid put water in my boat; I had been wondering if I should have brought my electric bilge pump. We stopped at the 7-11 in Mexican Hat for water and treats.  The raft hangs up on rocks occasionally, as do we all. We all hiked to Mendenhall cabin, on a saddle at a gooseneck. We arrived at mile 37 camp about 3 pm. Another hot day.  I think that this was the day that I saw a beaver tail, before it slapped the water and disappeared. The ants at camp 37 were a pest.

Friday we were on the river at 8:15. Some hiked partway up Honaker trail. We saw more tagged and collared bighorn. In fact, almost all the bighorn were tagged or collared. Our preferred campsite was oven hot, so we kept going. We camped at 56.5, paddling almost 20 miles; this was a long day, and tiring for everyone.

Raft stuck in Government rapid

Don and Sonia in Government Rapid

Saturday was to be a short day, so we got on the river at 9.  We took a hike/scramble to look at a pour over at Johns canyon. We ran Government rapid; the raft was spun around by rocks and ended up stuck on a rock, but Nick and Eric worked it off. We keep seeing a nice kayaking couple from Ridgeway. Otherwise folks ran it, but bounced off some rocks. Camped at Slickhorn C, mile 66. It was broiling hot but the water was our refuge. Some of us even walked across the river to the shade on the other side. The shade soon arrived in camp, so we fixed dinner. While eating, the rain came. Some took a hike up the canyon in the evening.

Eric in Slickhorn

Sunday morning some of us hiked up Slickhorn Canyon, which is a slickrock ravine, kind of unique. We were on the river about 9:30 am. It was 10 miles of shallow water with sand bars to Oljeto Wash. I dragged and towed my boat quite a bit: the raft passenger got out and pushed. It was again very hot. We stopped at Grand Gulch for lunch. We arrived at Oljeto camp about 2:30. Some folks took a walk up Oljeto wash.

Monday morning at 6 am, our camp was a flurry of activity and packing. We had only 8 miles to go, but were concerned about headwinds. Surprisingly, on this trip we did not have any significant difficulties with wind, the dreaded “W” word. The river was milky, like a latte, gritty, with visibility less than one inch.  It was shallow; I got stuck frequently. There was no wind, and we made it to take out before 11. Eric, Nick and I made a wrong turn on the drive out, my fault; we stopped in Blanding at the A&W, which curiously included a bowling alley.  After a very long time on hold, I got a tent reservation at the state park in Fruita. The showers are now free, and felt good, although not really hot. Roger joined us there, but got his campsite at the  gate, as there was an attendant; I shared a tent site with him. Dinner was at Fiesta Guadalajara.

Lance, Eric, Roger, Richard, Don, Sonia, Becky, Kelly, Nick

Tuesday we were on the road about 7:30 am, after stops at McDonalds. We refueled in Grand Junction and Arvada. The drive home was uneventful.