Packraft - Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area

Howard70

Adventurer
Just returned from a packraft trip through the Gila Box Riparian NCA with my Wilderness Biology class. River is fast, but manageable (800 - 850 cfs), lots of flowers, & great weather. We left our vehicles at the Dry Canyon Take Out Area, got a shuttle from Cesar (928 348-7977) to Owl Creek Campground where we slept. Launched mid morning on 3/14 at the Old Safford Bridge. We ran 9 miles to Eagle Creek where we camped for two nights and took a long hike up the stream (40 - 50 cfs!) on 3/15.

Made an early start on 3/16 and ran the 13 miles back to our vehicles by noon. The stretch from the confluence with the San Francisco to Bonita Creek is as beautiful a scenic run as any I know of in the SW - at least in the early spring on a fast river. August with low water would be a different matter.

The Gila has had several major flows this winter, peaking near 4,000 cfs four times and hitting 7,000 cfs once. There are a lot of newly fallen sweepers, but nothing that completely blocked the river for a packraft. There were 8 of us, 7 rapidly-gaining-experience students and one rapidly-losing-agility curmudgeon. I was mildly apprehensive as I'd not run this section before and several inflatable kayaks had capsized, lost gear and the folks were air-evacuated by helicopters on 11 or 12 March. However, everyone in our group did well. We had several flips but all self-rescued OK, and we had two pins (one snag and one rock) that were pulled off pretty easily.

If you've been waiting to do this run I'd say now's the time. At least for individual boats I can't imagine better conditions. Large rafts have some narrow passages around the new sweepers and there are some "must make" maneuvers to avoid strainers, etc.

Howard L. Snell
 

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