Permits

Happy New Year - sorry for the prolonged absence.

It does appear that the Monticello BLM office has updated their website and their river calendar , both of which have benefitted from a refresh.

The only main difference I see in this year's San Juan application is the addition of a "minimum group size" on the app, basically suggesting that if you really just want to go with your spouse, and others are all "maybe's", you can apply for a minimum of two and increase your odds of a launch date. Presumably, this also is to weed out the applicants who end up scoring a permit for 20 and only launch 7, leaving small groups left without a launch. Nice idea, if those big parties actually play along.

The downside, as I see it, is that the BLM is likely to put more individual parties on the river and potentially produce a nasty bottleneck at the Slickhorns. After last year's ordeal of anemic flow and 25mph upstream winds all day long on our takeout date, this has me a little worried. To say nothing of actually getting a 2 person launch and gently (or not so gently) pushed into one of the slummier last-night sites, like Trimble (which basically doesn't exist anymore after 2010's flash flood) or Steer Gulch, which is a mucky bug swarm.

This is a feature we'll probably take advantage of this year, regardless.