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Richard Ferguson
 
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Default Brief San Juan River report

We ran the San Juan River from Bluff to Mexican Hat, Utah, in three
days. This was a party of six people, four canoes and a cataraft. We
were going to go all the way to Clay Hills, but we were not making
enough miles per day to get there, taking into account our reservations
for campgrounds downstream, shuttle, getting back to school, etc., so we
left in the middle of the trip.

None of us had ever been in a mixed canoe-raft group, and we failed to
allow for the relatively large speed differential. We made 11 miles on
our best day, around 1500 cfs.

On the second day, the wind became very strong, one or two people almost
flipped, so we sat on shore for a while and then camped right there.
The group made multiple good decisions, including that one. A good
group of compatible people.

I managed to flip in Ledge rapid, I should have scouted it. Luckily
everything stayed dry (except me) and I only lost the sponge, which was
found a few miles downstream.

We hope to go back some other time, maybe run the lower section.

Richard