The Muddy Chute

  We had a 5:30AM departure from casa Meinkey to get us into the Swell in time to float, and be off the river in the same day. But here we are at Ten Thirty the night before blowing up the old trusty NRS packraft in my garage to show how two people can "sort of" fit in it. 

  I had just persuaded Kraig and Logan into joining us while they were over at our house for a get together. Only problem is I only had one extra packraft.  "Look two can fit in there....You'll be fine", I reassured them. ...The things you think of when you're slightly intoxicated.

  The morning of the float trip involved a five hour drive of multi lane high speed pavement and then a ten mile shuttle vehicle drop off at the bottom of the "chute".  This totally went by without any incident whatsover.

   Now time for some dirt roads. About five miles into our dirt road section of this trip,  I noticed the tire pressure indicator light flash on my dash. I've been here before.... I had the tire plugs out and the air compressor going in less than five minutes and we were back on our way.

   The San Rafael Swell is in the middle of nowhere. Literally nowhere. We lucked out that I-70 cuts right through it. Still, I was surprised to see the handful of cars down at the bottom of the put in. There is a very small window in which you can make it down this river in an inflatable raft. It's usually less than 2 weeks on a good year. And most years it doesn't even happen. While doing some research the week prior I found photos of fellow outdoors-es people hiking it in the fall when it's been completely dry. Interesting.

  Once we've dropped off the shuttle vehicle at the bottom, we backtrack up river via car to the put in. Getting our rafts out and inflated was uneventful. There was a group of college kids that had made it out there in a pair of Honda Civics surprisingly. I would never attempt this trip in a Civic. One of the ther drivers pulled out a SUP and while we did see him yard sale while attempting to SUP and float down the river. Epic bruh. His rudder caught the inevitable branch/rock and he went sailing off the board. Hold my beer. He spent the rest of his trip laying down on the board and paddling. 

  Floating down this shallow river doesn't give you much time to enjoy the scenery. You are constantly looking at what lies ahead since the water is shin to knee deep. Rocks are scattered everywhere, and you have to do your best to avoid them. Hiking out isn't an ideal option.

  The Chute is a spectacular and remote place to visit. Rad is the term I would use.

  Every few bends we would wait and regroup.  There was plenty of room for error and being impaled by a branch was a very possible situation to get into. When Kraig and Logan didn't come around the bend for a few minutes.  I new it wasn't good. Sure enough they did eventually come around the bend ...walking with a deflated raft behind them. They had come into a corner a little hot and a branch got them. Deflated, they started walking.

  We were prepared for something like this. We pulled out some Tenacious tape and got the repair done. Although it wasn't a permanent fix, it would hold air enough to finish the this shit show of Muddy river pinball. I am impressed that I can stick some tape on a raft and it will hold air while getting wet and hold air just fine. You can put this stuff on in five seconds and be back on your way.

  This trip was also the first time I've encountered "River People". What are river people? Well they like to float rivers of course. They sleep on cots and drink PBR.  They like to party and most likely have beards. They bring a lot fo stuck to camp with. They also use terms like, "Rippen" and "Swell'. they don't ride in packrafts. They prefer rubber ducky's or any larger vessel that is heavy. I don't know much else about them. They are an interesting breed though.  When I'm old and become a mall walker to stay in shape, I hope they frequent those establishments so I can learn more and more importantly watch them.

  Anyways...

  After a few hours, a river people encounter, patch repair, several dozen sections of shallow rocky raft pinball, we arrived at the take out. It was a good time. Several other party's were finishing up also. No blood was shed that I know of. Only one raft casualty happened and we all have our fingers. We loaded everything up and drove back to our camp at the put in. We laughed, ate semi delicious food and slowly drifted to sleep.

  Mornings in the desert are Christmas mornings for me. Camped near some Cottonwood trees, Hondu arch off in the distance and a few birds chatting off in the distance gave us some stellar atmosphere to enjoy our morning coffee.

  Once the sun got high enough and the temps started to rise, we broke down camp and hit the road. We took the long way home which required 10 or so more miles of dirt roads and eventually spit us out near Hanksville. We did encounter another flat tire which after a few attempts to plug the tire, we were unsuccessful. With the spare tire on we were forced to drive 10 miles an hour for the rest of our trip through the swell. With the threat of another flat tire happening and no other means to repair it, I was pretty cautious.

  We stopped in Hanksville at a small backyard shed/tire service area where we got patched up and were able to make it all the way home without driving 300 miles on a spare.

Good time, would do again.