River flowing from the Sunrise

We just got back floating the San Juan with the whole family. It rained and snowed on the drive down but the sun broke through the clouds as we put our boats in and we had great weather the whole trip, it actually never got very hot which is unheard of on the San Juan. The kids love living on the river, playing in the sand, collecting driftwood swords, and catching toads.

The San Juan is a mellow float with just a few minor rapids, but I have always loved this river. It flows through some of the wildest portions of the Colorado Plateau and is littered with signs of the ancients. I have found Navajo scarecrows in it's sidecanyons. It has intrigued me and represents one of the things I love about rivers; thier role as boundary. Humans have always used rivers as boundaries and used the imagery associated with boundary to represent death, crossing over, the other side. The San Juan is a very literal boundary between the Navajo World and the Anglo World. Even before we Anglos drew the reservation bounday along the river, the Navajo used the river as a boundary. Traditional Navajos perform specific rituals before crossing over to the north and any deer or elk killed to the north of the river have to be cleansed before they are brought back south over the river to be eaten.

On another note, after linking my last post to the Radio West website, Doug Fabrizio read my post on the show. Fortunately I had erased everything that may have offended somebody. But it just goes to show that what you put on your blog is not private and may actually end up getting read on the radio. Heres the link to the show where he quoted me. For the record I do not refer to myself as "wildbri"