Gila

Put in at Old Saffford Bridge on May 12 2023 at 110 cfs, with an additional 160 cfs at the confluence with the San Francisco River.  I'd done the same stretch of the Gila at least twice before, but the river and rapids change with every high water.  We had five canoes and three IKs for a lovely overnight trip to the take-out at Dry Canyon 22 miles downstream, just below Bonita Creek.  BUT the 17 ft and 18 ft canoes had trouble in tight bits, often getting sideways and swamped on either rocks or strainers.  Flows were so low that the worry was not drowning but rather swamping the canoe and the aluminum canoes getting damaged while swamped (which did happen twice). Some rapids had to be lined, including the one in photo, above the confluence with the San Francisco - too low to run! I've run this at 500 cfs plus in a s15 foot Coleman canoe previously and although you needed to pay attention to every rapid it was doable with a few scapes.  On this 2023 trip we still managed to have a good time at these flows, but recommend future canoe paddlers to be in 15 ft or less canoes with experienced paddlers.  The IKs had no trouble. We saw only two solo IKs during our two day trip.  A beautiful river canyon with plenty of campsites. Remarkable recovery of riparain trees after the 1993 flood scoured the Arizona Gila Box - the cottonwoods are 50 ft tall.