San Juan River Trip – Days 4 & 5

Recall the graph that was posted of the cfs for the timeframe that we were on the river … Days 4 & 5 were at the lowest point all season. Luckily the mileage was shorter for these two days – at many points during the travel the water was so low that it was only 3″ – 4″ to the bottom of the river. Our guides did an excellent job of navigating the numerous sand bars but it was slow going! Our camp for the last evening was at the Oljeto Wash. It seemed like as soon as the dinner preparations began, so did the wind. It took all hands on deck to keep the plates, tables and food from flying down the beach.

Datura plant – aka Jimsonweed. Many of the closed-up blooms were in the canyon behind the camp.
Joel took many photos of this photogenic plant before dinner. Most of the blooms were either dead or closed up like this one.
Beautiful shade!
Last dinner together.
After dinner, Joel took a few more shots, then wandered back to the campsite.
Then, twelve minutes after the sun set, the closed blooms had opened fully! Too bad he didn’t set up a time lapse!

The next morning we took a hike up the wash and found a lot of interesting rock formations.

Then it was back into the boats for a 7 mile trip to the boat ramp to load up and return to Blanding.

Boat ramp at Clay Hills. The water was down about a foot from optimum so it took a team effort to hoist the rafts up onto the trailers.

Another great trip with Holiday River Expeditions! Looking forward to our next adventure with them in a couple weeks.

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