Animas

I'm a little surprised there's no information here on this run. It's not a super complicated run and recently San Juan County has announced plans to actually develop a river access point at Cedar Hill 550 Bridge (https://www.daily-times.com/story/news/2020/12/26/cedar-hill-soon-have-raft-launch-site-animas-river/4030200001/).

It's been a couple of years since I did this run, but here's a quick report for those interested. 5/19-20/2018. Flow 900cfs>700cfs. I was on a SUP with a group of folks in kayaks, canoes, and rafts on a trip organized by the San Juan Citizens Alliance in Durango, CO. It was a super fun, easy run starting at some private property (with permission) about 4.5 miles or so below where the new Cedar Hills access point will be. At those levels the river was primarily class I/II chop water with a few larger boulders to dodge from time to time. There was one dam at mile 7.5 (from the 550 bridge access) that had a passible channel center-right and was mostly portage-able on river left (I wouldn't want to deal with a raft through there, but my SUP fit just fine). Chop water continued the rest of the way and we camped at the Ruins RV Park and Campground in Aztec. They are directly on the river, so we landed right at our campsite (make sure to make arrangements first!). The next day we continued down river finding a few larger wave trains and some more boulders, but still all Class II. There were more rock weirs below Aztec and at 700cfs it was pretty low. I can't imagine trying to do this run any lower than 700. There are more bridges as you pass through Aztec, but the entire run was absent any fencing at that time.

The next major obstacle is the Penny Lane Dam. This dam was responsible for several drownings before being re-engineered. It is now run-able (SUPers will want to remove any fins, the water runs just a few inches deep over the concrete fence) or you can portage around on River Right through the parking lot.

Below Penny Lane Dam is more of the same before you get to the Farmington Whitewater Park (technically Class III).

The easy access to the put in/take out/and campground in aztec make this a super easy overnight trip where you don't really even need to carry your equipment with you. You can quickly and easily shuttle each day to avoid leaving a car at the put-in overnight (I would recommend that).

Hopefully the new access point will help encourage more recreation on this stretch of river - it's great for beginners and those looking to learn multiday trip skills.