Colorado seems to have emerged from several years of drought. As of June 11th, the US Drought Monitor monitored no areas of the state in even an Abnormally Dry state. A good winter has left great snowpack in the San Juan Mountains. A good spring has filled the San Juan, Animas and other Four Corners rivers. The grass is green. Life is good.
It’s a big change from the Summer of 2015, just four years ago, when our rivers ran low and the Animas turned Tang with the detritus of ancient Silverton mines. These two photos were taken at about the same place, at Durango’s Whitewater Park. Not a direct side-by-side, but you can see the river’s got elevation in Summer of 2019. Yet as they warn, there are Extremely Big Waves and Holes Due to Water Level. Earlier today, a guided raft on the San Juan River above Pagosa Springs flipped, even on 1/2 the top flows of last week. One of the tourists on board drowned. Life is short, be careful out there.
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