# Upper Rio Grande Details?



## cadster (May 1, 2005)

My recollection was the north side of the dam box was steep. The Weminuche Pass trail on the south side of the river also gives access to the box and I'm thinking that side isn't as steep.

If you want harder whitewater on the upper Rio, it reportedly is found above the reservoir and that might be a better place to put in the access effort.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

ZGjethro and some others reported finding two gorges in the miles ABOVE the reservoir a number of years back. Supposedly put on and ran a gorge, a brief interlude in the Brewster Meadows area, and then ran a second gorge down to the reservoir. If i remember correctly the word was IV+/V-, with a couple of wood issues, but it was supposedly worth it. Ill see if I can find the post....

EDIT: http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/rio-grande-headwaters-20071.html

thanks to DES and ZGjethro and Cinnamonster and everyone else for their efforts and contributions!


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

*Upper Upper Exposed!*



cadster said:


> If you want harder whitewater on the upper Rio, it reportedly is found above the reservoir and that might be a better place to put in the access effort.


I was up at ThirtyMile Friday and Saturday running the Box Canyon and decided it was worth a few hours time to go up and do some scouting...

We only looked at the lower gorge, but here are some pics showing both the character of the whitewater and the geology:

The geology was clearly volcanic in nature, with a rather deeply inset canyon surrounded by rotten "pinnacles" making both scouting and escape rather difficult.









Much of the whitewater appeared to be III-IV in nature with minimal wood.




























There were a half dozen or so more defined drops that I would call IV-IV+


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

and then there were a handfull of moves that looked to be V- to possible solid V




























There were also some very pretty waterfalls just dumping randomly into the canyon










Overall it seemed to be a high quality 4 mile run.


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## GearDog (Jun 3, 2009)

*Logan...*

Great pictures, thanks for taking the time to post these. I got just a couple of questons, if you don't mind?

When you said you were up at "thirty mile", were you refering to 30 Mile Campground?

When you said you were running "the box canyon" were you refering to the box canyon between the Rio Grande Reservoir and 30 Mile Campground?

So from 30 Mile Campground what road did you travel on to get to the place these pictures were taken? We drove about an hour past 30 Mile Campground, past the Rio Grande Reservoir and simply turned around and went back to camp. Was this the same road you were on to get to the place these pictures were taken at?

Thanks again Logan, Lenny.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Yes Lenny, I am referring to 30 Mile Campground. Phil, Jackson and I drove up Friday night, camped, then scouted and boated on Saturday.

We boated the "Box Canyon" (that's what it's labeled on the map) that passes through the northern edge of the Weminuche Wilderness. We put-in at 30 Mile (only to add some mileage) and took out at the Crooked Creek access just below the canyon mouth. Here is a couple pics from in the Box Canyon (they dropped the flows on us to 467, was hoping for 867...):





























We drove up the Stoney Pass Road (FR 520) past the reservoir. The lower gorge ends just above the res. The best place I could figure for a take-out was the Ute Creek Trailhead.
Just beyond the Lost Trail Creek Trailhead the road climbs up onto a bench, several hundred feet above the river. If you drive down to some of the dispersed campsites you can scramble down to where you can look into the canyon. 5.3 road miles up from the Ute Trailhead the road drops back down near the river. There is a 4wd road that drops to the left and down to a campsite at river level. It seemed to be a good put-in.










Hope that helps clarify things a little more.


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## Phil U. (Feb 7, 2009)

Fun trip, good report, Logan. I could be mis-remembering... but 
I think the distance to that riverside access turn off was 3.5 miles. Also, to add to the data, that access appeared to be at the top of a lower gorge/canyon section. Logan's scouting pics are from that section and to my eye it looked to have the potential to be a pretty sweet run. We turned back at that point but the maps show a relatively flat? and open? section above this, perhaps a good intermediate run, and then another gorged up section above that, starting at the confluence of Pole Creek, the Rio G. and another creek whose name escapes me now. Very beautiful area up there and I look forward to a a longer mission in the future. Oh yeah, the beetle kill is devastating in the section we ran. There is going to be a lot of wood in there soon. Still pretty green up watershed.
P.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Phil U. said:


> Fun trip, good report, Logan. I could be mis-remembering... but
> I think the distance to that riverside access turn off was 3.5 miles.


Your probably right about the mileage Phil...seeing as how you were the driver , but I thought I remembered somewhere over 5 miles on the shuttle, putting it around a 4 mile run.....I could very well be wrong on this though.

I would definitely like to go back there and get in it with you Phil, especially if we could find a guide that had ran it before....


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## cosurfgod (Oct 10, 2003)

We are looking of having a bachelor party up here this weekend. The flow is currently 938cfs but it is supposed to drop. We are planning on boating the ~8 mile section below the res.

How is the whitewater? More fun than 500 cfs on the ark?

Is it any good if they drop the flows to 500? We have rafters that are good to go on class III and maybe some light IV.

I know the section above the res. is sweet and there will be a group of kayakers exploring that as well.

Any beta on this section would be help full.


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## Phil U. (Feb 7, 2009)

Not as fun or as hard as the Numbers. We saw a couple rafts in there at the 487 level. They seemed to be fine. Please post a TR if any of your party do catch the run above the res.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

I would agree with Phil. Not as much action as most the runs on the Ark. Comparable to Bighorn Sheep Canyon as far as difficulty. Scenery is a step up from anything on the Ark imo. I have ran it down as low as 250 and still had a good time. I would say the best flows are 450-800. Things start to flush when it gets over 800. 

Please let us know what happens with the run above the res.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

Should be a good flow. Like Logan said, anything over 400ish is good.

That sure was fun a couple years back at 1650 or whatever it was


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

yetigonecrazy said:


> Should be a good flow. Like Logan said, anything over 400ish is good.
> 
> That sure was fun a couple years back at 1650 or whatever it was


Yep it was fun, but over too quick. With that run I like to work it, eddy hop, take in the scenery, surf a little....that really high water run was fun, but I think medium/low is best for maximum enjoyment


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## suigeneris (May 25, 2004)

*rio*

Just boated it at 1000cfs on Sunday. Gorgeous valley and wilderness feel away from any road. There are surprisingly still frozen water falls on south side of canyon facing north. I agree that the play was mostly washed out but still a few spots. We actually had a blast as it was fast moving in a beautiful canyon with no paddle-out. No crowds either as we had the whole river to ourselves. 

Enjoy before it's gone.


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