Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world’s great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops…
– Norman Maclean

On Independence Day I’m taking a raft down the San Juan River again, for the first time in 20 years (by virtue of a BLM permit, which isn’t as easy to get as it was in 1989). I thought about finding a way to blog on the trip– last summer I followed an awesome blog of a Grand Canyon river journey, but it also sort of defeats the purpose of enjoying the wilderness. Instead, I’m just going to sketch out the itinerary now and do another post when I get back.

Mexican Hat is the launch point, and Clay Hills Crossing is the take out. Camps are indicated along the way.

The San Juan River begins in Colorado, flows into New Mexico, and then enters Utah near the Four Corners monument. Navajo Dam and, starting this May, the very expensive and controversial Animas-La Plata Project are diverting water out of the river before it gets to Utah.

The optimum river flow levels are 1,000-2,500 cfs (cubic feet per second). That’s 7,480 to 18,701 gallons per second. Below 1,000 cfs, the San Juan’s rapids can get pretty rocky. As of June 30, the river was flowing close to the 85-year median of 2,540. Today it’s down to 1,550.

In the old days, the San Juan was crazily unpredictable. According to the USGS, pre-dam flows for June 30 ranged from 52,000 cfs (1927) to 5 cfs (1934). The gage record is 70,000 cfs, but an even bigger flood in 1911 took out the bridge at Mexican Hat, normally 39 feet above river level.

Lots of preparation went into this little expedition. The last decision to make: what book to bring? I decided on The Big Sort by Bill Bishop. This fits my pattern of finally getting around to reading a book just over a year after it gets a lot of publicity. Bishop is the guy who said our democracy is falling apart because more and more Americans are living in politically like-minded groups.

I’m floating the last 58 miles of the San Juan, from Mexican Hat to the take-out point at Clay Hills Crossing. Below is a brief day-by-day summary.

Day 1 – The San Juan courses rapidly through 300 million year old layered fossil-bearing formations deposited by an ancient sea, dropping eight feet per mile. Upstream-migrating sand waves provide an occasional “surf’s up” moment. Lunch stop at Mendenhall Loop to visit the old rock cabin, and then camp upstream from the Honaker Trail. In the Goosenecks, a world-class example of an entrenched meander, the river flows five miles to travel just one mile west.

Day 2 – Hiking the Honaker Trail, which goes up to the canyon rim 1,200 feet above the river. The trail was constructed by Augustus Honaker in 1894 to access a gold claim. Honaker found very little gold in the river, just enough to make a ring for his wife. The right bank changes from BLM to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Camp somewhere near Johns Canyon.

Day 3 – Johns Canyon is named after John Oliver, a stockman who ran cattle there in the 1930s. He was murdered by a horse-thief. This canyon is a spectacular hanging valley a mile wide, dropping in a steep series of waterfalls to the river. Then comes a challenge: Government Rapid, a short rocky rapid rated as class III. Many boats have gotten into trouble here, including a wooden dory from the U.S. Geological Survey that sank in 1922, giving the rapid its name.

Camp just upstream from Slickhorn Canyon. Slickhorn is the most scenic side canyon along the San Juan. It features a series of limestone waterfalls and plunge pools. The remains of a misguided oil drilling venture can still be found, but the old jeep trail is only open to vehicles as far as Johns Canyon.

Day 4 – Hike a little at Grand Gulch. Steep near the river, the Gulch is fairly flat and meandering for miles and miles, and it’s essentially one great big outdoor museum of Ancestral Puebloan art and architecture.

When it was full, Powell reservoir came up to the mouth of Grand Gulch and inundated the beach. You had to do a lot of rowing at the end of a San Juan trip because the river current lost its momentum in the reservoir. Stop to hike up Oljato Wash, which requires a separate permit from the Navajo Nation. There’s an earthquake fault that cuts across the river here. Camp at Steer Gulch.

Day 5 – Only six miles to go. Stop to check out the mouth of Whirlwind Draw, with its sculptured slickrock pouroff. Take out at Clay Hills Crossing.

Anyway, that’s the plan. Happy blogging while I’m away.