Gila

Ran most of Kelvin to Cochran 20 May 2020. Parking at Cochran, it is easy to cross the water at ~420cfs (I am 6’ tall and water was just below the groin at its deepest) and gain the Arizona Trail. About 1 mile past Walnut Canyon, the Arizona Trail overlaps with the Grand Enchantment Trail, which runs all the way up to Kelvin. It is possible to access the river at several points along the trail between Cochran and Kelvin. Some options are Walnut Canyon, which drops you at the river 4 miles above Cochran, and an unnamed drainage just upstream from “The Spine” is another. The latter allows for putting in 4.75 miles below Kelvin (or just over 8 miles upstream from Cochran), which is what our party did. The description below is described by river miles below Kelvin.
The water flows at a respectable pace and there are no slow pools. 1 swift water section shortly below where we put in appears to be Class II. Our party chose the wrong channel (the left channel, which is very bony) and missed the most exciting rapid of the day (to clarify, the rapid is at the end of the right channel and not visible before the split). The 8+ mile float took us roughly 4 hours including at least 1 hour of working to clear a blockage.
There are countless sweepers and 2 river wide blockages. The first blockage is a low tree branch at RM7.75, which in our packrafts we were able to force ourselves under at 420cfs. Any higher and this would not be an option. The second is a fallen willow on one side with a fallen tamarisk on the other that collects driftwood in the center at RM8.9. This was the biggest challenge of our day. While one person scouted a portage, the other went to work with a folding saw on the tamarisk. After 30 minutes, neither person had achieved their goal. The riverbank is too thick with mesquite and tamarisk and the fallen tamarisk had too many submerged branches that prevented the sawn off branches from floating downstream. The focus then changed from the tamarisk to the willow. We were able to quickly remove the upward facing branches allowing us to float down to the half submerged trunk, “beach” ourselves on it, then portage over the top of the tree. The rest of the vegetation we were able to float through or under with relative ease.
From RM4.75 to Cochran, we encountered 2 barbed wire fences across the river. The first, at RM8, is a non-barbed cable high over the river with a singe strand of barbed wire hanging below its center collecting debris. There is a long straightaway leading up to this hazard and is easy to spot. Unless you’re not paying any attention and hit the single barbed wire strand in the center of the river, this doesn’t pose much danger. The second barbed wire fence is at RM9.25. It is at a section of river where the channel splits. It is easy to see the fence across the left channel before the split. Our party chose the right channel despite there being obviously less water and quickly realized the fence is across both channels. It is easy to get out and portage here since the fence has fallen flat at the bank at the channel is very bony. There are remnants of rusty old barbed wire fence on the ground in this area so pay attention to footing. Aside from the low hanging vegetation typical of this reach, the remaining 4 miles to Cochran are uneventful compared to the aforementioned hazards.