Colorado

We had a nice time packrafting this run, and were happy with our choice to run it as a two day trip. If I had the time, I would always choose two days.

We were warned that scouting is difficult because the rocks are slippery Schist, this is true. If you are a kayaker who is used to catching small eddies and hopping out of your boat on uneven terrain, scouting was still straight forward at about 4,000 cfs if care is taken. The exception was Marble Canyon Rapid, which felt like the first notable canyon rapid (start right, then either stay right or move left for smaller waves at our flow). If you are in a raft, it may well be a better idea to study the rapids online before your trip or follow someone who knows the run down, especially for the line at Skull.

The ranger was a good resource for information, and good at his job.

Uploading BLM campsite photos from https://www.recreation.gov/permits/621744

Uploading an annotated picture of Skull Rapid at low water.

The picture is from this press release; author unknown: https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Article/view/article\_id/672/  . Annotations mine.

My buddy and I ran Westwater 12/6/20 and 12/18/20.

12/6: air temp was 11 degrees F at launch time. We were cold, but, despite iced over eddies and floating slush, the run was clean, and we laughed all the way home.

12/18: air temp was 31 degrees F at launch time. Right around Little Wild Horse Rapid, we saw our first river-wide ice bridge. We portaged on the ice without incident. We crossed half a dozen other ice bridges before we entered the canyon.

The rapids are always a blast, and we had no problems. But, as the water slowed around the bend below Last Chance Rapid, we found ourselves facing an ice field stretching on as far as we could see: at least 2-3 miles. We attempted to walk this ice field but it turned to soft slush about a half mile in. It wasn't humanly possible to paddle, wade, swim, walk, crawl, or generally move across the slush. We pulled our boats out river right (hoisted up the cliff for me, ouch), and hiked 15 miles back to the put-in.

I did not recognize that the Colorado would form ice in these quantities. Although we were fine, we (1) were healthy and well-prepared, and (2) were lucky. I have since seen posts rumoring that ice bridges can form INSIDE the main canyon, which sounds like an incredible, terrifying hazard.

My recommendation to anyone attempting a winter run: check the Cisco gauge. If you see water temps consistently a few degrees over 32, a run may be awesome: we saw this before our 12/6 run. If you see the water temp flatlining at 32, think about doing something else, unless you're willing to risk a helluva day.

Just ran at 10000. There is a hole on the right that is large in surprise falls. At this level in the raft it was impossible to break the v wave laterally in Skull. The wave before skull hole was huge. It reminded me of Lava on the Grand. For big raft go down the V headed left and hit the large wave on its left side then pull like hell to miss the magnetic wall. The wave will naturally pull you left. You can't break the 2 to 3 foot wall on the left side of the V with an Oar rig it is just too large. Smaller boats and catarafts can do it and not have a problem. Everything else is read and run and great fun with big hits. There were no trees or other obstacles to miss. Bring a motor if you can to go out the last 5 miles.

Great trip! there were some awesome hikes to an amphitheater and the BLM ranger Bob was rad. We did the trip in 2 days but you can lap it in a weekend. At around 4000 Scull was super easy, but some of the other rapids were bigger than I expected! Hitched a ride back to the put-in with some nice folks after finishing the last 5 miles of flat water (definitely save some beer for that part). Fun trip! Video of the bigger rapids here -> https://youtu.be/VmTN1BQARYc

Running left of the hole at Skull.

Littel Hole Camp on the Colorado River - Westwater Canyon

About to enter skull

From one dory to another, Kinzie the super dog dances her way down another Westwater trip

just below Cougar Bar

I flew into Salt Lake, picked up an RPM from the University of Utah, and drove with friends down to Westwater for a great weekend overnight trip.

Check out www.allaboutrivers' description of this reach.

A scenic section near the end of the run.