Nate O Taylor

Food, Fishing, and Outdoor Adventures

The San Juan

June 6, 2022 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

From the headwaters near Pagosa Springs it cuts its way through limestone and sandstone until it reaches the leftover sludge of Lake Powell. Boasting one of the largest gradients of any river in the United States (8ft/mile), it was this velocity and erosive power that helped the San Juan River carve one of the most famous entrenched meanders on earth, The Goosenecks. Few entrenched meanders are not only as tightly bound, but also as deep as the ones carved by the San Juan as the Laramide Orogeny lifted the ancestral headwaters of the San Juan. This event gave the San Juan velocity and gradient, allowing it to carve the deep canyons that had been established prior to the mountain building event.

Honaker Trail
Honaker Trail

All that being said the river now runs into what was formerly a full pool at Lake Powell. Which creates some sediment/sand bar issues, as well as some slow moving water so the more you have, the better your life will be.

Before any of that, we begin in Mexican Hat Utah. A bustling metropolis that is centered around a 7-11. Across the street you will find the boat ramp, a place to leave your vehicle for shuttle, a hotel, and the Swinging Steak. Most of these places are family operations and have been for years. There also is most likely meth.

Swinging Steak
Hotel
The Launch
Launch Time
Mexican Hat Bridge

This water is notoriously turbid (read dirty). I learned they say, “too thin to plow, too thick to drink”. Bring your own water. When you’re on the water, you’ll find a few things.

Cactus Flower
Peak Athleticism
Figured it Out
Hauling Firewood
Mendenhall Cabin
Mendenhall Chiminea
Wild Animals

The food game is critical. Taking it up a notch involved making ice cream not once, but twice. Including the second time on day 4.

Spaghetti & Meatballs
Prep Time
Ribs & Stuff
Nightly Charcuterie Board
Berry Cobbler
Root Beer Floats
Peanut Noodle Stir Fry

Much of the upper reaches of the Juan through the Goosenecks lend itself to rapid river travel. The Honaker trail allows you to hike out of the river corridor and get up on top of the canyon which otherwise constrains you to within its walls. The geology itself is also very unique, lots of limestone and rock formations in the upper section that I hadn’t seen before.

Rocks with…?
Rocks with Fossils?
Research

So before we take this journey through the mud flats, it is also important to note the size of all the side canyons and what some of the flash floods that run through this area must be like. Telling you, biggest I’ve ever seen with huge streaks of mineral deposits that are indicative of…enormous flash floods. Also scorpions, probably Black Hairy Scorpion’s but I’ll leave that to your google search.

Side Canyon
Scorpions
Massive
San Juan Rapid

There was the rapid pictured above, which deserves the mention it just received. More importantly however, is the slug from Steer Gulch to Clay Hills. The river actually stops moving about 400 yards downstream of Steer Gulch. It is also exactly 1″ deep in random places. Prepare your mind, this is your reality for the next 1.5 days.

Departure to the Flats
Deep Water Channel
Push…
We Made It!

Hey, at least there was enough water we could float the rafts onto the ramp. Pretty neat area, and floating into what used to be the upper reaches of Lake Powell is surreal. 7/10, recommend.

Filed Under: Spring Tagged With: Lake Powell, Multi Day, Overnight, Rafting, Rocks, San Juan River, Scorpions

So There Turned Out to Be Four

November 20, 2021 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

Early November along the Colorado Plateau isn’t supposed to be warm, at all. It is supposed to be cold, lacking sunlight, and the hospitality that the area provides in the spring and summer. It may have been good fortune, or the changing climate along the Colorado River and her tributaries but nonetheless, 65° and t-shirts in Lodore Canyon in November is pretty amazing. Because of this, 2021 was the year of not three, but four permits.

7 Participants in 6 Boats
Dutch Oven Breakfast
Hot Breakfast

No ranger to check us in and no one else on the river. We had the entire river to ourselves and every campsite at our disposal. The beach of Pot Creek had a temperature reading of 65 when we pulled into camp. With the sun setting behind the canyon by 4PM we made quick work of setup and made our way up behind camp to catch the last rays of sun before dinner.

  • Pot Creek 1
  • The Beach of Pot Creek 1
  • The Floorless Tipi
  • The Bereg Sputnik
  • First Evening on the River
  • Entering the Canyon of Lodore
  • Sunset at Pot Creek

On day two we spent our last night in the Canyon of Lodore. Running through Triplet and Hells Half Mile without incident we made home at Rippling Brook 2. As we pulled into camp the sun peeked through for five minutes and quickly retreated for the rest of the day. The storm clouds gathered and we spent most of the afternoon and evening hunkered under a tarp hiding from the rain.

  • Our First Rain Protection
  • Moving the Shelter
  • Hells Half Mile
  • Drop into Lucifer
  • Storm Coming

The race to Echo Park before 11 meant we were on the boats and moving by 8:30. Fearful of low flows coupled with the possibility of afternoon winds made for a brisk departure from camp. Our weather turned out to be incredible. We spent time at Steamboat Rock and near the confluence, watching the natural turbid flow of the Yampa combine with the clear dam released water of Flaming Gorge.

I’ve seen oil slicks at Jones before, I was told that fracking operations just outside Dinosaur increase the subterranean pressure throughout the monument. Regardless of if this is true, the slicks illustrate the obvious abundance of natural resources just beneath the surface.

  • Steamboat Rock
  • Panel at Steamboat Rock
  • Yampa Canyon from Steamboat Rock
  • Confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers
  • Jones Creek
  • Oil Slick at Jones
  • Dads Fish

We had sun drenched mountains both up and downstream. Some epic ramen meticulously prepared with an accompaniment of exquisite inverted pineapple cake. To top it off we melted an aluminum fire pan with the last of our wood. Good evening was had by all. Jones 4 has an amazing beach and great landing zone. While it lacks the unique tree canopy of the upstream Jones camps it makes up for it with its ease of access.

  • Jones Upstream
  • Inverted Pineapple Cake
  • Melted Fire Pans
  • Bulk Ramen
  • Jones Downstream

For future reference, the right channel around Island Park is the only channel you can run. Ask me how I know…The Yampa provided over 500CFS for us that seemed to be the difference as we grazed over sandbars in Island and Rainbow Parks. With the lower water, I was able to finally find the hot spring in Split Mountain Canyon.

  • Split Mountain Hot Springs
  • Bison Petroglyph
  • Split Mountain Canyon
  • Split Mountain Ramp

The solitude of this trip made up for the colder weather and shorter days. With the right equipment, the elements are very manageable. I’ll be back for another one of these low season trips.

Filed Under: Fall Tagged With: Gates of Lodore, Green River, Multi Day, Overnight, Rafting

The Season of Three Permits: Trip 3, Gates of Lodore

September 15, 2021 by n.taylor Leave a Comment

The canyon of Lodore holds a special place in the pantheon of western multi-day trips. John Wesley Powell named it after a famous English poem, “The Cataract of Lodore” which eloquently describes the flow of water over a waterfall, but more importantly just sounds mysterious and cool.

Today, like most permitted rivers, your odds of every seeing this place aren’t great. If you get invited you go. The 4 Rivers Lottery is the only place that publishes all the stats for applications. So while this doesn’t represent Lodore, you get the idea. FYI there are 300 permits given between May 10 & September 10.

4 Rivers Lottery Statistics
May the Odds Be In Your Favor
Entrance in Dinosaur National Monument
Now Leaving Civilization

The tools of the day made many of the obstacles for Powell, recreation for us today. The major rapids of Lodore are far more manageable with consistent flows and rubber boats. The wooden 21 foot boats of Powell’s day coupled with the unknown dangers and flows of a wild river were terrifying to put it mildly.

We run down to the mouth of Yampa River. This has been
a chapter of disasters and toils, notwithstanding which the canon of Ladore
was not devoid of scenic interest, even beyond the power of pen to tell.
The roar of its waters was heard unceasingly from the hour we entered it
until we landed here. No quiet in all that time. But its walls and cliffs,
its peaks and crags, its amphitheaters and alcoves, tell a story of beauty and
grandeur that I hear yet-and shall hear.

J.W. Powell June 17, 1869
Gates of Lodore put in
The “Gates” of Lodore Canyon
Fog in Lodore Canyon
A Rainy Day in the Canyon

Rain persisted for twenty four hours. We traversed from Kolb to Wild Mountain through the storm. Taking time to scout Triplet Falls and Hell’s Half Mile before finding the sanctuary of a single tree at Wild Mountain that provided enough relief for our shrimp fajitas.

  • Wild Mountain Campsite Gates of Lodore
    Covered Kitchen
  • Triplet Falls Beach
    Triplet Falls Scout
  • Scout of Triplet Falls on Gates of Lodore
    Triplet Falls
  • Scout for Hells Half Mile on Gates of Lodore
    Scout for Hells Half Mile
  • Shrimp Fajitas on Cowboy Wok
    Shrimp Fajitas

We made our way through Echo Park and into Rainbow Park where we camped at The Cove. The mud pit that is The Cove wasn’t the greatest campsite I’ve stayed at, but when you’re on Lodore there aren’t bad ones either. We hiked, we rowed, we cooked, and we finished by sitting next to an old ammo can hooked up to a propane tank.

  • The Cove campsites Gates of Lodore
    Last Campsite
  • Last few miles of Lodore Canyon
    The Final Miles of Lodore
  • Pictographs at Jones Hole
    Jones Hole Pictographs
  • Jones Hole Pictographs 2nd Panel
    2nd Panel at Jones Hole
  • Steamboat Rock
    Steamboat Rock
  • Echo Park boat stop for water
    Navigating
  • Fire pit on Gates of Lodore
    Legal Fires…

Our trip included a living legend. Howie recently retired from a lifetime of guiding Grand Canyon adventures. By his own account he has 170+ trips and over six years of sleeping on his boat under the stars. A quiet man, he never offered an opinion unless asked. It took several days for him to finally reveal the breath of his experiences and knowledge, including trips down the canyon in 1983 with flows approaching 100k. On our last night he broke out his favorite scotch, Lagavulin.

  • Utah Colorado Border on US 40
    Back Home
  • Split Mountain Boat Ramp
    Split Mountain
  • Split Mountain section of the Green River in Utah
    Floating Through Split Mountain
  • Lagavulin & Howie
    The Grand Canyon Legend

I may be back this winter…

Filed Under: Fall Tagged With: Gates of Lodore, Green River, Multi Day, Overnight, Rafting

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