San Juan

We ran this on Aug 10 to the 13th. The flow was 650 at the put in on day one and around 550 at the take out on day three. We were in a 18 foot cataraft gear boat and numerous duckies and small craft. The large boat hit sand bar several times along the way but pushing out each time was not to bad nor too long. The rapids were rocky but a combination of luck and pushing got us through each one without too much difficulty. Ledge rapid has a nice surf hole at this water level. Cottonwood camp which is normally a favorite was blocked by a sand bar. No mosquitos, no biting flies were encountered.

Flow at the start of the trip was 430 cfs, peaked at 1100 cfs the next day, and then slowly dropped to 700 cfs at by the end of the trip.

We ran this section at around 4,500 cfs. For fully-loaded open canoes, there are class II sneak routes, but the center wave trains and holes for the larger rapids, e.g., 8 ft., would be class III.