# San juan late September?



## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

Rivers in Utah are experiencing an epic drought. River will likely be at 400 cfs or lower. That can be a lot of work for Mexican Hat to Clay Hills. Government Rapid may not be a smart place for a 3 year old at that level as it is relatively technical and can easily lead to be wedged on a mid-river rock for a while. The last miles will undoubtedly require dragging the raft through the shallow channels left by Lake Powell damage.

Sand Island to Mexican Hat can still be manageable at those levels. 

I did the lower stretch last fall and would not do so again. Too much work and too many opportunities to damage a raft. But others disagree.

Phillip


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## bbette00 (Aug 30, 2009)

I just got back yesterday from the San Juan and it is really low. I was in a ducky and had to walk a few times. There is no way a raft can run past Government rapid. A canoe or ducky might. Good Luck!


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## Mountainrambler (Aug 24, 2013)

*Thank you*

This forum is great...I just joined yesterday. That was exactly the info I needed...I will NOT be rafting down the San juan late September. Thanks for the beta


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## captishmael (Feb 8, 2008)

Mountainrambler said:


> This forum is great...I just joined yesterday. That was exactly the info I needed...I will NOT be rafting down the San juan late September. Thanks for the beta


That's too bad. Scenery and weather-wise it's probably the best time of year. Experience on the run helps avoid the sand bars though.


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## joecoolives (Jun 17, 2009)

Water Level Today Was 6500 Cfs. I Understand That Water Comes Up When Irrigation Ends. I Would Run It Over 750.


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## joecoolives (Jun 17, 2009)

I Am Doing Sand Island To Mexican Hat On The 15 Of Sept.


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## colorado_steve (May 1, 2011)

usgs gauge at bluff reads 9000 right now..... wow!


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

epic floods all through the SW right now. Not the standard monsoon pattern.


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## Pizzle (Jun 26, 2007)

Just got off a 5 day lower govmt trip. Flows were between 700 and 2k the whole time. Had to leave early because the river was about to spike to 15k. Just saying, saw the river surge 7 inches while pulling the rafts.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

Rangers had a story of floating San Juan from Sand Island to Clay Hills in less than one day during a flood of 40k, if I remember flows right. He said the eddies were frightnening.

Imagine flows will drop precipitously sometime next week once this storm series is done.

Phillip


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## bbette00 (Aug 30, 2009)

I wish I was on there this week not last!


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## kencollier (Jan 23, 2012)

*San Juan Peaking Now*



joecoolives said:


> Water Level Today Was 6500 Cfs. I Understand That Water Comes Up When Irrigation Ends. I Would Run It Over 750.


Looks like it hit 11,000cfs at Bluff early today (Aug 27) now it's down to 4,000cfs. I'm in a 16' SOTAR and wouldn't run from Mex Hat to Clay Hills below 500cfs, but I have buddies who are fine as low as 450cfs. One benefit is that the channels are more obvious near Clay Hills so hanging up on sand bars is less of a problem. I put in on Friday for a 4 day trip. Hoping the current levels hold.


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## goatboater (Oct 18, 2003)

*forecast*

Does anybody have a good idea of how close to the run the storms that cause such a drastic rise are dumping their rain? In other words, is it the headwaters of the Animas that are getting soaked, or local storms that are flash flooding the side canyons directly in the vicinity of the run? I'm putting on at Mexican Hat Sept. 17 and would am looking for a good weather forecast that might give us some idea if a big spike like this is expected during the float. Have a good forecasting tool you like to use for this area?

Thanks.


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## BoilermakerU (Mar 13, 2009)

We ran it early this spring when flows were about 400 when we launched, 350 the day we hit Government rapid and was close to 300 by the time we took out. Two 16 footers, a 14 footer and a Mini-Max. There was one place where we had to drag all but the miniMax over a rock bar, but other than that, we didn't have any problems to speak of. We did get one boat stuck at Government for a while due to missing the line, but that wasn't the river's fault...

You can walk the 3 year old around Government...


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## sjnovak3 (Jun 17, 2004)

goatboater said:


> Does anybody have a good idea of how close to the run the storms that cause such a drastic rise are dumping their rain? In other words, is it the headwaters of the Animas that are getting soaked, or local storms that are flash flooding the side canyons directly in the vicinity of the run? I'm putting on at Mexican Hat Sept. 17 and would am looking for a good weather forecast that might give us some idea if a big spike like this is expected during the float. Have a good forecasting tool you like to use for this area?
> 
> Thanks.


The most recent storm dropped most of its rain over Cortez (about 2 inches of rain), some over Durango (an inch in most places), etc. McElmo was running very high, and the Animas tripled for a day or two, but much was directly over the San Juan. 

Unfortunately, it's hard to predict with monsoon season exactly where the cells will sit and drop most of their moisture- especially which basin or specific drainage- that's close to impossible. We use a combination of CBRFC (better for snow than for rain) and weather models to see if it's going to rain in the general San Juan River Basin, but it's hard to pinpoint which drainage will be hit. You can give us a call before your trip though- best bet is to watch for NWS's flash flood alerts.


---
Susan Novak Behery, P.E.
Hydrologic Engineer
Reclamation
Western Colorado Area Office
Durango, CO
[email protected]
970-385-6560


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## joecoolives (Jun 17, 2009)

Just got off Yesterday. Was In Flood Stage.ranger Said It Was Around 10,000 When We Put On Sunday. Only Went From Sand Island To Mex. Hat. I Would Say We Only Spent 5 Hours On The Water. We Cought The Colorado Floods.


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## Snowhere (Feb 21, 2008)

We just took off yesterday too. It was nice to have 8' rapid actually have a 8' (give or take) wave in it! Our longest river day was Tuesday where we floated 15 miles in two hours! Easy floating but catching eddies was more the problem. Our white water canoeist would jump out and pull his boat onto shore. Then he would catch a bow line from one of our rafts and help catch it. Then we would repeat for each raft. Who would think we would get over 6000cfs in September. We may have seen over 10,000 but I have no way of knowing for sure. There were normally dry washes running big, that added to the flows recorded in Bluff.


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## joecoolives (Jun 17, 2009)

Snowhere said:


> We just took off yesterday too. It was nice to have 8' rapid actually have a 8' (give or take) wave in it! Our longest river day was Tuesday where we floated 15 miles in two hours! Easy floating but catching eddies was more the problem. Our white water canoeist would jump out and pull his boat onto shore. Then he would catch a bow line from one of our rafts and help catch it. Then we would repeat for each raft. Who would think we would get over 6000cfs in September. We may have seen over 10,000 but I have no way of knowing for sure. There were normally dry washes running big, that added to the flows recorded in Bluff.


Yes Take Outs Were A Problem For Me Too. Tried To Jump Out And Tripped On A oar couldn' StoP the Boat After I Fell In The Water. Had To Hang On My Boat Till I Could Get Back In. So We Missed River House.Took Two Miles To Find A Decent Camp.


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