San Juan River Trip Teaser

I was able to go on a 6 day San Juan River trip from Sept 22 through the 27th, 2010 (thanks Dawn). We had a diverse and fun group of people that had some sort of Flagstaff connection. Many were photographers too, but all you will see here are a few of my pics. Between all of us, we probably captured most of what we saw though.

Dawn rowing the first day (with Kurt and Laura)

I met the group at the Goosenecks overlook where we camped for the night. The next day we went to the put in in Mexican Hat and started rigging the rafts. We had 3 oar rafts, 3 inflatable kayaks, a hard kayak, and my pack raft for 13 people. While we were rigging it started to rain. Hard. Soon there was a red mud-fall across the river and the river started to have red streaks and rise. It probably came up close to a foot before we were all loaded and ready to go. I don't remember the name of the first rapid, but it was a lot more than I was expecting. I completely filled my raft (no spray skirt didn't help) and thought I was going to flip at one point. In fact one of the inflatable kayaks and the hard kayak did flip. After that it was easier going and we even saw the sun for a bit around lunch time. That night it rained hard again which brought the river level up again and then it dropped and came up the next morning. we spotted another inflatable kayak floating down the river in the morning and rescued it (and used it for the rest of the trip). After that we got mostly sunshine and warm weather and the river gradually turned a tan gray although it remained extremely silty for the rest of the trip.

This stick was only sticking out a few inches the last time I saw it (before it washed away)

Honaker camp at night

On day 3 we had a layover at Honaker and hiked up the trail a ways. Most of the trip was at a fairly relaxed pace with plenty of delicious food (I probably gained 5 to 10 pounds - a real float and bloat). There was plenty of time to take photos, blow bubbles, and hang out.

Kat under the shade umbrella

Kurt blowing giant bubbles

Honaker camp

Dawn points out where it is (along the Honaker trail)

Raechel running Government rapid (with Nick)

We saw plenty of bighorn sheep including one male who was busy managing his harem. Also lizards, beaver, dogs, great blue herons, toads, primitive man, stick men, and a few birds. There were also plenty of tracks in the fresh mud.Primitive Man

Bighorn Sheep

Stick Man

The Milky Way from our last camp

All too soon it was our last day and we had to pack up and paddle down the increasingly sand-barred river to the take out.

A good time was had by all, and we would have happily continued had that been an option.

Check out my San Juan River Trip web page here