tree strainer on Rio Grande

[tomt36]

The upper Rio Grande Box in Colorado (NOT NEW MEXICO) below the RIo Grande Resivoir has an almost river wide strainer about half way down the run. There is a route around it on far river right, however a rock blocks easy passage through and rafts will probably have to be lined. It can be taken out pretty easily with a chain saw or cum-along as it's not an imposingly large tree. Kayaks should be able to navigate around if extrem care is taken.

[lmyers]

Any updates on this? I am heading down Friday to lap this and camp...wondering if anyone has ran this stretch recently...might have a couple of beginners and wondering if I need to run it first to know where the hazards (if any) are. Any info would be appreciated.

By the way, they pumped the releases back up to 750, and the WWSR says more than 450 is best!

[BigJilm]

We ran this last weekend with a 14' raft 12' cat and 16' cat launched at river hill campground. We did not see the strainer must have fallen after we went through.

From a rafting perspective this run is tight and shallow, my friend on his 16' cat was barely fitting through some of the rock gardens. Beautiful scenery but narrow and tight for rafts. Also there were several trees leaning at a serious angle over the river be careful out there.