In rec.boats.paddle riverman wrote:
That leaves the best season from November or so, until it gets too low
in May. I prefer the later part of that window, because it avoids
late season thunderstorms and the possibility of flash floods. With
your wife as twitchy as she sounds about it, I would run it during
the spring (Feb, March) when the water levels are most consistent,
the weather is very nice (highs in the high 80s, low 90s) and the
wildflowers are going nuts. About 4 feet is primo.

Hey Riverman, is late January still too early?

My wife and I ran it over Christmas vacation, and it was very cold
at night. Daytime highs might have reached 65F for a few minutes,
but most of the time we spent, it seemed between freezing and 50F.
(This was before we had drysuits.)

The cast for going in November is that few other rivers are running
then, so you don't waste good snowmelt and spring run-off.

Beautiful canyons! The water did not seem as muddy as you say.
I've seen worse, e.g. the San Juan.

Hi Bill:
I remember some hypothermic trips in March, too. It was always a
balancing act, to get on the water early enough to catch the runnable
levels, but late enough so that it wasn't all frosty in the mornings.

Although I've run it a truckload of times, all of my runs were in mid
March so I have very limited year-round knowledge. I have no idea of
what water conditions are like the rest of the year, but in spring,
with dropping levels, there were years that the river banks were mud
flats and there was the occasional dead cow in an eddy. Always lots of
plastic trash in the bushes, etc, from the earlier high water. But the
overall feeling was that it was a pristine, remote and (strangely
enough) clean environment, with unbelievable scenery.

On the other hand, now that I think about it, I remember that the water
quality was variable, just like on the Juan: some years it was crystal
clear and clean. other years we ended up with a 'San Juan Tan' on
everything.

So you ran it just a few weeks ago? Give us a trip report!
--riverman

In rec.boats.paddle riverman wrote:

So you ran it just a few weeks ago? Give us a trip report!

Actually 20 years ago, but here is a belated trip report.

--- cut but do not paste ---

No sh*t, there we were, trying to drive over Deming pass, east of Lordsburg
New Mexico. Our low-slung sedan plowed the accumulated snow on the highway.
We had forgotten chains. Soon the Highway Patrol stopped traffic and told
everybody to turn around. They don't have snowplows down there, because
they seldom get this much snow.

The next day we were supposed to meet at Big Bend National Park to join
a rafting trip on the Lower Canyons of the Rio Bravo Del Norte, known
as the Rio Grande north of the border. We would miss put-in.

The snowstorm ended around midnight, so the road was passable the next day.
We finally arrived at Big Bend late in the afternoon. Fortunately there was
an overnight trip down Santa Elena Canyon the next day, so we joined that.
The weather was pretty nice at first. We camped at a beautiful spot near
the start of the canyon on river left. At night it got below freezing, so
we were happy to have a tent. The next day it warmed up during breakfast,
so our wetsuits were warm enough in the canyon. We scouted Rockslide Rapid
and had no problem running it. Late that afternoon we reached take-out,
where we were shuttled to an official campground before starting a Mariscal
or Boquillas Canyon trip the next day.

Mariscal or Boquillas Canyon (can't remember which) was even more beautiful
than Santa Elena, if that's possible. There were no rapids as cluttered
as Rockslide, but the desert scenery was very park-like in the sections
outside the canyon proper. The canyon was formed of green limestone
rather than the reddish sandstone of Santa Elena.

After the second night's camp, the weather started getting cold. Clouds
came in and although it didn't snow, it looked like it might. My wife
took the oars in order to warm up, and I stomped my feet in the front.
Late in the afternoon on the last day, the clouds finally passed over
and the sun came out again.

Somewhere in there we spotted some banditos on the right (Mexican) side.
They had guns but did not shoot at us. The raft guide said that a few
months back, some rafts had been fired upon. Although nobody was injured,
they got pretty nervous for a while there. And that's no sh*t.