# Attention all Dolores Runners



## Paco (Aug 3, 2007)

It's been said before, but bears repeating as the as the frenzy builds:

Be good stewards and representatives of the river running community, and, maybe even more importantly:
*SPEND MONEY!*

We want the locals to see a benefit to their communities in using this water for something other than growing beans in the desert. They will have a much better chance than us of being heard by the powers that be, if they start demanding more reliable releases, to keep the river folk coming, because we are a boon to the community. 
Buy some food, snacks, beer, gas. Even if you could get it cheaper by waiting until you're back on I-70. Think of it as your lottery/permit fees for this particular trip.


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## superpuma (Oct 24, 2003)

Great !! I like the way you think.


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## mtnkasper (Apr 28, 2010)

*Speaking of permit fees---*

Hey friends!!!
In lieu of a permit fee consider donating to the Dolores River Boating Advocates (Dolores River Boating Advocates). I'm new to the Dolores as well as the politics surrounding the lack of water in its glorious channel, but it seems those folks at DRBA are doing great work that we're all benefiting from this season.

This on top of supporting local businesses in the area of course.

ain't no time like river time.....


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## Droboat (May 12, 2008)

*Dryland Beans Good - Alfalfa Bad*

Buy some pinto beans in Dove Creek to eat on the river as celebration this year. Buy extra beans to help keep dryland farming limping along until after cavitation takes down McPhee Dam after a warm April rain in a big snow year. Stay in the Paradox Inn as a Bedrock layover. Explain river life to folks at the Gateway Inn when you smell up the place getting lunch on the way home (or better, as a shore lunch heading on down to Moab).

Do a bit of research to make sure dollars are going toward good folks and post good and bad experiences here so we can know who to support and who to avoid. 

Know the history before casting blame and steering dollars away from the bean farmers who fought the dam alongside boaters and greens. Get last-minute boating gear in Dolores or Cortez or Durango. 

Among the correct people to blame for damning the Dolores - water hoarders, alfalfa farmers, welfare ranchers, Dolores Water Conservancy District, Bureau of WrecktheNation, Southwest Water Conservancy District. "You have to understand, these people are the salt of the earth. The common clay. You know -- morons." 

Excerpt from an NPS online book that is worth printing to share in camp.
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/rmr/river_of_sorrows/chap2.htm
Dryland farming enthusiasm resulted in the introduction of two important cash crops, pinto beans and potatoes which increased the variety of cultivation within the Valley. Pinto beans yielded a high return and could be grown without irrigation. [24] The beans were planted in June and harvested between September and October. Neighbors assisted one another in the harvesting process.


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## Droboat (May 12, 2008)

Dove Creek Bean Farmers – Edible Southwest Colorado













"Growing dryland beans is a clever business. Farmers can easily save their own seed. There are no costs in irrigation equipment, labor, or the water itself. Dry beans store and ship well. And, bonus: the bean plant, in the legume family, creates its own fertility via bacteria that attach to legume roots and convert airborne nitrogen to a usable form for the plant. When the beans are harvested, stalks left on the soil surface add nitrogen, an essential plant nutrient, to the soil. This is one reason most dryland bean farmers don’t use fertilizer. Other reasons: adding fertilizer to dry ground burns plants, farmers rotate beans with winter wheat (the stubble of which, left on the fields after harvest, adds nutrients), and many Dove Creek bean farmers are certified organic and can’t use typically available fertilizers.
"And yet, this clever business may be a dying business. “When I was a kid, there was a farmer on every 320 acres,” Dan Warren says. Warren is a third generation dryland bean farmer with 3000 acres. Now, most farmers operate at least 1000 acres to make a modest living. Rhonda Waschke, who farms with her husband, Billy, remembers when harvesting four to five 100-pound sacks of beans per acre used to indicate a poor year. “Now you get that, you think you’re in heaven.”"


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## Kirks (Oct 6, 2011)

Interesting article, thanks for the link. Are dryland bean farmers thinking of using irrigation in the future as insurance for dry years? seems like that would be a solution for them unless it's entirely not economical to do so. They also probably don't have senior water rights even though beans have been farmed in that region far longer than alfalfa.

I will be happy to buy a bag of beans from Adobe Mills while down in SW Co running the Dolores this year. Can't wait!


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## grumper13 (Jan 14, 2008)

Droboat said:


> Buy some pinto beans in Dove Creek to eat on the river as celebration this year. Buy extra beans to help keep dryland farming limping along until after cavitation takes down McPhee Dam after a warm April rain in a big snow year. Stay in the Paradox Inn as a Bedrock layover. Explain river life to folks at the Gateway Inn when you smell up the place getting lunch on the way home (or better, as a shore lunch heading on down to Moab).
> 
> Do a bit of research to make sure dollars are going toward good folks and post good and bad experiences here so we can know who to support and who to avoid.
> 
> ...


Great post - thanks!


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## Droboat (May 12, 2008)

Kirks asked: "Are dryland bean farmers thinking of using irrigation in the future as insurance for dry years?" 
Don't know, would think no. Ask folks in Dove Creek and let us know how to keep them from using irrigation crack.

The reason most bean farmers opposed McPhee is they couldn't afford to buy into the Soviet Style federal water and land grab and redistribution project. Even the name sounds miserably Soviet - The Dolores Project. 

Bean margins were too slim in the 1980s to pay for water - I expect the same is true now. Lots of unallocated water in the system though, so Dolores District Paranoiacs might try to peddle excess water through any means: _Just try it, you'll love it for a couple years (until it bankrupts or kills you)._


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

Yeah, its interesting the whole money thing. Last year I got a flat on my trailer when camped at Bradfield bridge. No biggie, take the tire off, drop it off when doing the shuttle, pick it up on the way back. Amazingly it all worked seamlessly. Tried to give a few extra bucks as a tip and the guy looked at me like I was an alien. Pretty simple, give the extra to the guy that busted the tire. Its not like I'm going to stop trying to give them money, but what is up with that. Also I'd like to give a big shout out to DRBA. They have increased the level of communication between the water district and the rest of us which is huge. We know (sort of) whats going to happen. My big dream is that eventually that the Dolores will be run like the Chama. We'll up it to 1200 on friday and shut it down monday morning. Whats not to like about that scenario happening untill the end of June...July. Oh wait I'm dreaming. Play nice and tip well is my evil plan.


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## CBow (Aug 26, 2007)

I like the idea of managing the Dolores similar to the Chama. Set release days over a 3 to 4 day period every weekend during the Spring and early summer could extend a season of runnable water for a couple of months instead of the week or 2 we currently get, if any at all.


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## Paco (Aug 3, 2007)

Okay.....I respectfully retract any negative insinuations about bean farmers, but the gist of my plea stands. If better management of boatable flows is perceived as in the economic interest of those who live in the Dolores valley, flows will be managed better.

I think if they went to a Chama-like flow schedule, they'd have to go to a Chama-like permit system, because boating would be concentrated. Not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing. Don't think we'd know until we had predictable flows for a few years.

And, if an Admin reads this, maybe it should be moved- Access and Safety Issues? Or General Boating?


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## jthan (Mar 27, 2017)

Greetings. We're running the lower two sections of the Dolores, Slickrock and Paradox/Mesa, from Slick Rock put-in to Gateway take-out, early May, planning a 6 day trip for these 94 miles, 3 families. Is the water fast enough at these levels to make this a workable 6 day trip, just over 15 miles per day, with hopes for some side hikes? also, water potability, can dolores water be cleaned and made drinkable, and/or are there other good water sources along the way? finally, any good beta/info on rock art and ruins and other interesting spots along the way? thanks much! jonathan


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## Paco (Aug 3, 2007)

*As the frenzy builds....*

Bump


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## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

jthan said:


> Greetings. We're running the lower two sections of the Dolores, Slickrock and Paradox/Mesa, from Slick Rock put-in to Gateway take-out, early May, planning a 6 day trip for these 94 miles, 3 families. Is the water fast enough at these levels to make this a workable 6 day trip, just over 15 miles per day, with hopes for some side hikes? also, water potability, can dolores water be cleaned and made drinkable, and/or are there other good water sources along the way? finally, any good beta/info on rock art and ruins and other interesting spots along the way? thanks much! jonathan


River will be running 4 MPH +/- and there are 14+ hours of daylight, so 15 miles a day with hiking should be no problem. We are doing 6 days, Bradfield to Moab (200 miles), so 33 miles per day. A lot of old uranium mines in some of the side drainages, I plan on carrying all the water I eed. But I'm hoping there is water in Gateway, just in case!


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Rich - do you have a super efficient camp set-up and take down procedure? Do you stick to very fast meals to prep and clean up from? It sounds like you are planning on moving down stream about 8-9 hours a day, add in some side hikes and lunch and that sounds like being on the water at 8 am and making it to camp at 7 pm. I've never been on a multi day that spent that much time moving downstream day in and day out. I'd love to hear about how you orchestrate your daily schedule, gear, and food to make that happen.


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## eddy hopper (Sep 17, 2007)

Rich said:


> River will be running 4 MPH +/- and there are 14+ hours of daylight, so 15 miles a day with hiking should be no problem. We are doing 6 days, Bradfield to Moab (200 miles), so 33 miles per day. A lot of old uranium mines in some of the side drainages, I plan on carrying all the water I eed. But I'm hoping there is water in Gateway, just in case!


I'm pretty sure the store and stuff at Gateway is open. You'll have no problem doing that trip in 6 long days. I did it in 4 days with about a 4.75 MPH average.
It's an awesome / epic trip with a short shuttle. Have fun!


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## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

Raftus, 

Not sure if it is super efficient or just lazy. Will be a small group below Slickrock (possible as small as a solo trip). No tent, no cooler, no groover (WAG bags), no scouting, no horseshoes or dutch ovens. Pretty much a backpack trip with my ultra-light cat. Breakfast & lunch will will probably be while floating. A JetBoil for coffee and a cot will be my only luxuries.
Will probably pull over in the early evening to fix a backpacker's freeze dried dinner and then float till dark. I really like being on the water as the day ends. 

I have wanted to do this type trip for a while and this seems to be the perfect opportunity. I did Bradfield to the San Miguel confluence in 1994 at 4k cfs and always wished I had completed the journey. There is something special about running a complete river to its end. Also it is 200 miles with only 3 main rapids so I don't want to spend two weeks on it while the rest of the rivers are going off. The argument for a slower trip would be to do a lot of side hikes, but I have a broken ankle and will probably still be in a walking cast, so hiking and hobbling around camp don't sound so good.


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## Rich (Sep 14, 2006)

eddy hopper said:


> I'm pretty sure the store and stuff at Gateway is open. You'll have no problem doing that trip in 6 long days. I did it in 4 days with about a 4.75 MPH average.
> It's an awesome / epic trip with a short shuttle. Have fun!


 
Wow, four days, now I am feeling like I might be slacking!
What level was it running for that trip? Was it this year?
Thanks for the info about Gateway, forgot there was a store there.
Hope they have ice cream!
Yeah, I was going to run to Dewey Bridge until I realized it is a shorter shuttle to Moab.


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## eddy hopper (Sep 17, 2007)

Rich said:


> Wow, four days, now I am feeling like I might be slacking!
> What level was it running for that trip? Was it this year?
> Thanks for the info about Gateway, forgot there was a store there.
> Hope they have ice cream!
> Yeah, I was going to run to Dewey Bridge until I realized it is a shorter shuttle to Moab.


They had ice cream when we stopped in four years ago I think it was. Dolores was running about 1,400 picked up about 800 on the San Miguel, then about 25,000 and 30 mph headwinds on the Colorado. Early starts are key, actually ate breakfast and lunch on the boat. 

Like I said, It's an epic trip. we ran 68 miles on the first day. It's a fast moving river.


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## jporter59 (Apr 21, 2009)

Rich wondering when you are thinking about going, I have no problem with being in the drivers seat from sun up to sundown, that's what headlights are for... Let me know I have a Yampa May 2-8 but other than that I'm flexible.


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