Dolores

The Rico gauge jumped to 840 (a rare opportunity), and the Dolores gauge to 2770, so it seemed like the day to run the entire Upper Dolores from Rico to Dolores. I think the gages were reading 765 and 2620 when I passed them. At the put-in, the  weather was clearing... but then less than an hour later, there was lightning and hail. Needless to say, the river is not only very cold but very fast at high water, and this river always has its share of strainers (today, none were river-wide). At high water, the river is mostly class II with quite a bit of class III; I would rate the Stoner Stampede and the diversion dam as class IVs (even at normal flows I would not consider taking an open canoe on this river, but people do run it in whitewater canoes).

I paddled from Rico to Big Rock (section 01) in 04h:06m, (7.9 mph), and the 40.8 miles to Dolores Beach (sections 01-02) in 05h:13m (7.8mph).

With four 15-minute breaks, that means my average moving speed was about 9.7 mph. Especially considering my breaks, this probably isn't a speed record....