San Francisco River

This was a first for all of us, Dan Reese, Stephon Bailey, and myself. I met Dan and Bailey at Clifton Friday night and left my vehicle at a restaurant parking lot that runs along the river. We drive about 1 hr 15 mins. that night and camped at the San Francisco Hot Springs Camp Ground. We planned to put in a few miles up Hwy 180 near Pleasonton NM on Saturday morning. We didn't put in til the afternoon because we were unsure if we could leave Dan's Van at the put-in with getting fined. We also had to drive to Glenwood to get last minute supplies.

The CFS at put-in was about 125. After traveling only about a mile we stopped at the hot springs which Dan had been to before. They were right next to the river, a little muddy but a nice temp. We went about 7-8 miles before camping, just in time to dry off camping equipment. Dan was in a canoe and Bailey and I had Pak-Cat's. After that we averaged about 15 miles/day. We all agreed that we could have easily added at least one more day to the trip, as we were fairly tired at the end of the day. We didn't do much exploring except to take a short arduous hike to some cliff dwellings on the 3rd day.

If you don't like strainers then this is not the trip for you, at least at this flow. We only had one portage of considerable length. The rest were situations where we were able to go under, around or over the protrusion. We encountered two fences and one diversion dam but I never felt terribly inconvenienced. Even though there were many S turns and blind turns the water level was not pushy or deep enough to pin us against the rock walls or cause us to get sucked under the branches or trees. Only a few times did we have to walk our boats through shallow water.

The river ran through a steep canyon with high cliff walls and gradually began to open up and become desert terrain as we moved towards Clifton. There were bright green cottonwood stands around every corner most so thick you would have a hard time walking through them. We passed a number of old sycamores and cottonwoods that were huge and had lots of character. We were fortunate to have nice sunny days with little wind. At night we made fires to ward off the cold with the abundance of firewood. The mornings were a little chilly if the sun didn't hit us, but after it warmed up we paddled with short sleeves.

There must have been roads going down or close to the river because we saw several groups picnicking at the river. Further down river we could often see 4wd roads running along the river leading me to think there must be a fair amount of ATV traffic in the summer when the flow is very low. The best part of the trip for me was being able to see an abundance of wildlife. We saw; bighorn sheep, deer, javelina, turkey, and beavers along with the usual aviary element you might see on a river. I kicked myself for not bringing my binoculars. I also believe a competent fisherman could feed himself/herself with food for the trip as there were many places that looked good for catfishing. at the take-out the CFS had increased to 220 mostly due to the added water from the Blue River which confluence's at mile marker 32. We took out at 12:45 on Tuesday, so we completed the 54 mile trip in 3 days (2 full days & 2 half days). When I took Dan and Bailey back to Dan's Van I checked the water level and it had gone down a few feet but it sill looked boatable with kayaks or other narrow vessels. After finding my vehicle and Dan's unharmed and unticketed we deemed the trip a complete success. Dan was a good trip leader keeping us apprised of our whereabouts and even provided us with entertainment. One night he accidentally smeared mustard all over one pant leg and the next night he did the same with the other pant leg. I really enjoyed this type of trip and will probably do it many more times especially since I live less than an hour from the put in. Please contact me if you have a hankering to do this section.

Find more BLM info on area roads and the San Francisco river at the "Regional River Info" link on the "SAPC Website".