Dolores River, CO – San Miguel to Gateway (cancelled: San Rafael River, UT – Little Grand Canyon)

Because we don’t expect to see runable flows in the San Rafael River, we will be running the Dolores River from the San Miguel confluence to Gateway.

This seldom-run section of river is Class II (due to possible strainers/obstacles and remoteness). This section of just 18 miles will be spread across 3 days to maximize hiking to petroglyphs, ruins, and petrified logs; also to finish in time to return to the Front Range on Monday (Memorial Day).  Note that this river only runs once 3 reservoirs fill up and that is hard to predict.

Here’s a page from the Emery Water Conservancy District website that describes how full the reservoirs are, (http://www.ewcd.org/reservoirs/teacup-diagram/)

Low/high/no water backup plan will be to do the Dolores River from the confluence with the San Miguel to Gateway; this section has 2 hikes to nice arches, 1 scoutable class III rapid, and a II+ that fills boats with water and flips them.  Limit 12 paddlers due to smallish camping areas on the San Rafael.  Prefer signups – even if they are tentative – to be done by April 10.

Contact Karen for further information or to sign up!  This is an ACA-sanctioned event requiring either ACA membership or a single-event ACA membership fee of $5 per person.