Dirty Devil

Typical boatable flows for the Dirty Devil are prior to irrigation season when water is NOT diverted - and temps are cooler.

I did this river early May, 2010. The flow, low, was between 25 and 50 cfs. I enjoyed the trip, in a 14' Dagger Caption Open Canoe. This included walking some 50 miles of the 70 mile trip - barefoot in the sand. I am not sure what flows I had at each specific point but I will definitely do this again. There is 'quicksand', but with a boat at hand it was not a safety issue for me in any regard.

I took two weeks to do it, including hiking the hard to access side canyons. The typical routine involved guiding the boat with a bow line and needing to pull every 50 yards or so over a riffle in the sand. A no rocker, no keel boat would be an advantage for this section. I 'carried' a cooler and most of my water for the entire trip.

The few rapids were at the mouths of canyons, these were all either runnable or easily lineable. Towards the lower end the Tamarisk from the lake channelizes the river and there are also springs adding to the flow. I would take out at Sheep Springs, a high clearance access up from Hwy 95 at the lake, if Powell is low. The mud channelization in the lake bed is unpredictable with consequence - perhaps first of which is the muck you would be failing to walk in.

The best put-in is at the Hanksville Dump road. This is truly a unique trip.