We are launching next Thursday 6/22. A friend who has been working on the Jensen to Sand Wash stretch tells me that Sand Wash is currently mosquito-geddon. Don't know about downstream.
We were on June 1-6. Water 16500 ish and rising. Bear sighted at Jack Creek over by the creek by a member of our crew. He was happy with an ear tag. Skeeters were worse down river than I am used to, but totally manageable. Nothing new in rapids.
6/1 - 6/6 water was awesome dory boat dream, read n run all at that flow. Bugs on off throughout whole trip - manageable. I would expect them to get worse for awhile. Miss it already
6/18-6/24 - Water levels were great. Only bugs were at the put-in. We motored down to Mushroom on day one. very few bugs at that site, no bugs further down.
Bugs at sandwash for sure! Bring spray and a head net. High flows were great! Lots of competition for camps on the first day so we ended up doing 30 miles to cedar. It got us past most of the bugs and gave us an opportunity to do a layover at 3 canyons. Great hiking and a nice lazy eddy to lounge in.
Rapids have more room to maneuver. We had no issues. It was a great trip! Hope you have a great time.
Launched 6-16 off 6-21. Never done the stretch and didn't order a map in time. Different members of our group stopped in SLC ( two or three places), Park City and Heber City - no river maps anywhere. Kind of weird I thought.
We got to Sandwash at dusk and was thankful we had rented one of the screened cabins. Mozzies swarmed pretty hard but seemed to back off with liberal bug spray. An hour after sundown they died down.
Not the case at Alcove camp ( about mile 13) beauty spot but swarming all night any time they could. Going to the groover was interesting to say the least. Thought I broke my toe doing the swat and wipe dance. But I digress.
Jack Creek brought relief and was a great spot. Nice hikes and some good shade. If you moved up the creek morning or evening a few skeeters came into play but not bad. And it got better all the way down.
We hit the 105F plus temps at the bottom so swam a bunch. Rapids were pretty easy at the level we had.
Beautiful spot for sure. I did enjoy much. Never been quite that relaxed on the river. Bimini was key to comfort with the temps we had. Good luck.
The ranger talked about a spring but I didn't have a map, had no clue where it was and we carried about 10 to 15 gallons per boat. More than we needed but it felt good to have plenty.
We were coming from the West so it would have been a long way out of the way. I actually kind of enjoyed not knowing where I was or what was around the corner.
So are the bugs bad at the put in during the day or just as it is getting dark. I don't mind rigging in the heat but could also rig after dark if they eventually go away.
It sounds like if we get an early start it sounds like we can float past most of the bugs. Thinking it will be around 9k July 8th
Seemed the worst right at dusk and first thing in the am. I still wore some bug spray during the day and it wasn't that bad. I went night swimming a few times while rigging that night (thus exposing unDeeted parts of my body) and they didn't swarm. Yes, some were out but not bad. My two cents.
That first camp on the other hand was bad all night. One of the kids didn't bug spray up enough and had something like a 100 bites on one arm. We tried but sometimes you can't tell a 12 year old boy a thing.
So are the bugs bad at the put in during the day or just as it is getting dark. I don't mind rigging in the heat but could also rig after dark if they eventually go away.
It sounds like if we get an early start it sounds like we can float past most of the bugs. Thinking it will be around 9k July 8th
Hello, read the forum a lot but have not posted, can't seem to break my raft porn addiction.
My brother put in on Tues June 6th and planned on getting to the take out Sat. He called me late Friday afternoon, the river was moving. He said the bugs were terrible and lessened the farther they got down the river, no bears, you could sneak any of the rapids but some big holes to avoid at Range creek.
When he launched a group was there in Walmart kayaks and what looked like vinyl rafts. They must have had everything because the BLM let them launch. My brothers group stayed at Jacks creek the first night and ran into a BLM researcher around that area. The next night was spent between Chandlers and McPherson's (not sure) the next night was just above Three Fords. They were at camp and started hearing a roar coming up the river, a big River Rescue jet boat came up the river and passed them. The next day they got to the take out about the same time as the river rescue crew. It was that group, they ran into the researcher by Jacks and called out on his sat phone. They had had enough and did not want to go any further.
I usually go in August and Rock Creek has always been running, Chandlers has stream, about a half the size of Rock Creek, as well and McPherson's has always had water. Chandlers and McPhersons are on the reservation side of the river. Range creek has water as well but not sure the best place to get it.
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