# San Juan Fatt Falls Photos posted



## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Hi all, those of you who paddle the San Juan river in southern Utah and take out at Clay Hills know there's a large sign at the take-out warning folks not to continue downriver due to a riverwide waterfall. We went out to the waterfall last week and took some photos. The waterfall is on Jim Fatt's ancestral graizing allotment, hence the name Fatt falls. 

To see the photos, go to - Fatt Falls March 2009

Yours, Tom Martin
Co-Director, River Runners for Wilderness


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## tango (Feb 1, 2006)

fatt falls? shit i heard it was called satan's mullet.


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## raftus (Jul 20, 2005)

Nice shots. Looks runnable. Has it been done? In a raft or just kayaks? Or are there a bunch of jagged rocks under that frothy goodness just waiting to ruin your day?


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## El Flaco (Nov 5, 2003)

tango said:


> fatt falls? shit i heard it was called satan's mullet.


I like Satan's Mullet a LOT better.


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## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

raftus said:


> Nice shots. Looks runnable. Has it been done? In a raft or just kayaks? Or are there a bunch of jagged rocks under that frothy goodness just waiting to ruin your day?


lets fire that up raftus!


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## superpuma (Oct 24, 2003)

Tom Martin said:


> Hi all, those of you who paddle the San Juan river in southern Utah and take out at Clay Hills know there's a large sign at the take-out warning folks not to continue downriver due to a riverwide waterfall. We went out to the waterfall last week and took some photos. The waterfall is on Jim Fatt's ancestral graizing allotment, hence the name Fatt falls.
> 
> To see the photos, go to - Fatt Falls March 2009
> 
> ...


How was your trip?????
CFS??
Trip Report please


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Our trip was Great! Put in at Montezuma Creek the day after checking out Fatt Falls, and took out at Clay Hills on the 7th day. CFS was maybe 800, up and down a little. Hazel and I took the 16 foot bucket achillies, while Duwain, the San Juan Guidebook co-author, took his 13 footer self bailing HighSide. He didn't get out and push as much as we did :>)

We looked at all the camps listed in our San Juan Guide, noted the ones that had no use, noted two camps that we had missed previously, and will be updating the San Juan Guide later this year. 

We spent some time looking at the 1911 150,000cfs floodline driftwood, and were suprised to find out it was the result not of a big snowmelt, but from a September cyclonic storm. We could see that sort of flood again in our lifetimes. WAHOO!!

It was cold, freezing at night, but we had great weather mostly, only one day with wind that drove us to the shore (once), and lots of wildlife. Might have seen a river otter, but the sighting was quick, we got no photos, and it could have more likely been a beaver. 

Yours, Tom


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## CanyonEJ (Jul 28, 2008)

That's awesome... the 1911 flows. And with the 1923 Claude Birdseye expedition that had a 100,000+ cfs flood from the LCR while they were in Grand Canyon it's cool to know that we may still see events like that.


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## rivermanryan (Oct 30, 2003)

Looks runnable to me! Who would like to pick me up when I finish?

Interesting history on the 1911 event. I don't have any records earlier than 1914 at Bluff. Do you have any other information or references on that storm? I would like to learn more as the main part of my job is the manage the flows in that section of the river. It doesn't suprise me that it was a September event. I believe that is also the same storm that caused the record peak on the Animas where the Animas valley was completely submerged (think about that Dalton Ranch). With climate change occuring, this could happen more times than before. Interesting...


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## ritatheraft (May 22, 2007)

*Cancellation Permit!!*

Thanks to whomever gave up their 4/20 San Juan permit. After almost getting over the rejection of all ten of our permit party's app for a 4/18 launch I called on a whim while pumping gas this morning. "Oh... no nothing for April... wait, the 20th? How many people, I can give you 15?"


WHOOO HOOO!! Today was a good day.


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## Riparian (Feb 7, 2009)

ritatheraft said:


> Thanks to whomever gave up their 4/20 San Juan permit. After almost getting over the rejection of all ten of our permit party's app for a 4/18 launch I called on a whim while pumping gas this morning. "Oh... no nothing for April... wait, the 20th? How many people, I can give you 15?"
> 
> 
> WHOOO HOOO!! Today was a good day.


Nice! I got nixed... again. Have huge fun!


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## Phil U. (Feb 7, 2009)

Very cool pics. How often do drops like that occur in that type of geology? I can't think of seeing anything like that before.
Phil


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

tom - isn't this falls formed the same way as pearce ferry rapid? the river is now off it's normal course, so it was the backing up of the reservoir, and subsequent draining that caused it to take a new, non-natural course?


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## rivermanryan (Oct 30, 2003)

Yes, that is why drops like that aren't suppose to occur in that kind of strata


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## Tom Martin (Dec 5, 2004)

Yes, that is correct, except the rock at Fatt Falls is much stronger than the rock at Pearce Ferry. The Iceberg Canyon (Devil's Cove) nick point in Lake Mead will be the one to watch. 

You can google info on the San Juan 1911 flood, and yes, that's also when the Animas flooded. 

There are a number of links you will find, like this one:

Summary of Floods and Droughts in the Southwestern States

yours, tom


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## lalunalee (May 13, 2009)

i know someone who has run it!
that was in the eighties i believe, has it changed since then?
i seem to remember snibits of a story...


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