Animas

The Santa Rita Park rapids have been completely redesigned, to my liking. At low water the left chute may be the only navigable way through the first man-made constriction. At high water the center chute provides a conservative run through the next series of drops. The left chute at all levels provides a much better ride although mid-rapid maneuvers are required.

I was passing through town recently and ran from the 32nd street park to the whitewater park at 1100cfs. I definitely concur with the description on the two tricky bridges. When the river takes a hard right under the train bridge, I ran the river left line and it was the most technical part of the river with lots of holes and boulders. I also ran the middle line on the Main St. bridge and it was pretty hairy. Most of the water is going through this middle section and rolling off the left wall. The entire right side is moving to the left (reminded me a bit of the weird stuff you get at the bottom of Grand Canyon rapids) and where they meet is a nasty boil line that took my boat down. It would definitely be worth getting out scouting the left line to verify it's clear and running it. The rest of the run was pretty much a nice class I float, until things pick up at Smelter.

This is what Smelter looks like at high water. It can easily flip rafts.

Smelter at low water still offers some play.

This rapid is immediately below Smelter in the WW park. It offers some decent surfing, and at high water it is one big stopper wave.