Things To Do
Rafling Links
Rafting & Kayaking
In late spring and early summer the Nucla-Naturita Area provides a couple river rafting/kayaking opportunities on the San Miguel & Dolores Rivers.
San Miguel River
This is a beautiful yet not well-known river run for boaters. The first stretch of the river to the Norwood Bridge is paralleled by Colorado Highway 145 which allows easy scouting of the potentially difficult rapids. This scenic canyon is lined with piņon-juniper, spruce, Douglas fir and riparian vegetation. The stretch from Norwood Bridge to Piņon flows through a remote ponderosa gorge dense with riparian vegetation and then opens up into a shallow, scenic, sandstone canyon. The lower San Miguel winds through red sandstone cliffs with numerous remnants of the areas historic mining days.
Dolores River
Boating the Dolores provides multi-day trips which take boaters through some of the most remote areas in Colorado. A tail water fishery below McPhee Reservoir provides excellent trout fishing on the upper segment. It extends from Bradfield to Slick Rock, offering a unique color combination of Ponderosa pine groves, Douglas fir, oak brush and red sandstone cliffs. Coupled with this scenery is some challenging whitewater, including the well-known Snaggletooth rapid.
The Slick Rock to Bedrock Segment meanders are deeply entrenched through large red-wall sandstone canyons. This portion provides a true wilderness river experience. The Lower Dolores River refers to the section from Bedrock to Dewey Bridge in Utah. Scenic deep, sandstone canyons line the river corridor. Most of this section is paralleled by public roads. Camping is somewhat limited in some shoreline areas due to the vegetation and private property, but there are well shaded underdeveloped campsites available.