Hey everyone!

Back in March, I went on my first San Juan River trip. Recently, I had the opportunity to run the same stretch back-to-back, this time in June and July. The logistics were essentially the same with a few different hiking spots. Here are the highlights from the combined trips!

The most obvious change from these trips and March was the weather. The river was a much lower CFS, warmer, and way clearer. We put on and floated to our first stop: Butler Wash Petroglyphs. You can't do the San Juan without stopping at Butler Wash Panel and the River House.

Back on the river we floated to camp to hang out in the shade/water for the rest of the day to escape the heat.

The next morning, since our group had a permit, we hiked on the Navajo Indian Reservation up Chinle Creek to some archaeological sites.

We got to see the "Baseball Man," which is one of the cooler pictographs I've seen.

We hiked back to the boats and made our way towards the canyon. Just after we shoved off, we floated past this group of wild horses on the reservation.

When we made it to camp it was so hot in the canyon. The hot sun bakes the rock all day long and even after the sun sets, the heat radiates off the rocks into the night. We decided to sleep on the beach instead of pitching a tent. It turned out to be a smart move.

The next morning we shoved off early to beat the heat. We spent a lot of time in the water swimming vs. being in the boat. During the hottest part of the day, literally everyone was out of the boats and in the water. Even though the water was around 80 degrees, it felt much cooler than the 110 degrees air temperature.

We pulled over for a geologic stop to check out some crinoid stems and nautiloid casts. It was my first time learning about those, which were cool to see. Also found a cool spider and some damselflys on a log. 

The last time of the river we saw a desert bighorn ewe and lamb, but this time around we saw a couple rams. 

There were a surprising amount of birds, too. My favorites we saw were a sandpiper, evening grosbeak, peregrine falcon, spotted towhee, and yellow breasted chat. It's crazy to me that we're in this hot desert, but as long as there's water, there's wildlife.

Also there were lizards this time around. Apparently it was too cold for them in March.

When we made it to Mexican Hat, Corrie had the same epiphany as me about the name of the town.

Even with long sleeves and sunscreen, I'm starting to get a nice desert tan with all these days on the river. Feels good and I can't wait for my next trip!