Editor:
Your headline “Irrigators, rafters face bleak summer” is misleading. (April 18 Dolores Star and April 17 Cortez Journal) While it is true that rafting below McPhee reservoir is dependent upon releases from the dam, which will not be taking place this year, this is not the only option for whitewater rafting on the Dolores River. The upper Dolores provides plenty of opportunities for rafting. Last year, which according to your article was “the driest in the history of the Dolores Project,” Soft Adventures Rafting company in Dolores provided raft trips on the Dolores River for over two months between April and June. This year, we will again be offering raft trips on the upper Dolores, beginning quite soon. The upper Dolores is not dam dependent and during the spring runoff there is plenty of water for safe and enjoyable rafting.
Even your statement that “another dry year has dashed any chance for rafting on the lower Dolores” is incorrect, as below the confluence with the San Miguel River rafting is possible. Just wanted to let people know that rafting on the upper Dolores does not look “bleak.” Yes it is a dry year, but rafting on the Dolores River is alive and well.
Janeli F. Miller
Dolores
