San Juan River (UT)

Upper: Sand Island to Mexican Hat · Class II–III · UT

Lottery

15,200Oct 22 snapshot

High

Snapshot from Oct 22, 2026. Live reading loading.

Runnable range 500 to 6,000 cfs. This is a draft estimate that paddlers have not reviewed yet.

Season

Year-round, busiest in May and June

Character

A 27-mile run, usually 2 to 3 days, past canyon walls and rock art.

Watch for

Rapids are mostly Class II to III. Private land lies between Butler Wash and River House Ruin and near the Mexican Hat launch, and vehicles have been broken into at the Mexican Hat launch. Navajo Nation permits are needed to camp or hike on the left bank. Pets are not allowed.

Gauge

USGS 09379500
San Juan River near Bluff
15,200 cfs at 6:45 PM MT on Oct 22, 2026 (snapshot)
Navajo Dam releases and upstream flash floods can change levels quickly.

Permit

LotteryOpens Dec 1, in 29 days.

Apply Dec 1 to Jan 31 on Recreation.gov. Results Feb 14.

Apply on Recreation.gov Official page

Fees and rules

Fees are listed on the Recreation.gov permit page.

Permits are required year-round. The lottery covers launches from Apr 15 to Jul 15. Other launch dates are first come, first served.

Source: Recreation.gov listing as summarized by a third-party permit tracker. Confirm on Recreation.gov.

Snowpack

San Juan (incl. Animas, Piedra)Early seasonDam-regulated

Snow water equivalent 1.9 in. Early season — median too low for a meaningful %.

Dam-regulated: Navajo Dam. Flows on this river also depend on reservoir releases — snowpack alone does not determine flows. Applies to the San Juan in Utah. The Animas, Piedra and Pagosa runs are not controlled by Navajo Dam.

Outlook indicator, not a flow forecast. Spring temperatures, rain, soil moisture, dust on snow and reservoir releases also matter. NRCS SNOTEL data as of Oct 31, 2026 (provisional).

See basin snowpack

Other sections of San Juan River (UT)

Lower: Mexican Hat to Clay Hills

Draft details for paddlers to review and edit. Community voting on runnable ranges is coming.

Trip reports

Wavetrain is an early build. Flow readings are USGS provisional data and may be revised. Runnable ranges and run details are drafts for paddlers to review. Permit dates and rules come from the agency pages linked on each permit and can change. Snowpack figures come from NRCS SNOTEL stations, are provisional, and are grouped into basins by watershed, so they may differ from official NRCS basin reports. Nothing here replaces scouting, local knowledge or a conversation with a nearby outfitter.