Customer Reviews

San Juan River Guide

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In Lisa Kearsley's, San Juan RIver Guide you are informed about the geology, human history, and biology this river has to offer. The map section contains the location of camps with notes about the camps being hot, sunny, or have a swiftwater pull in can be crucial to the planning of a trip. It is small enough to fit in an ammo can but is essential for the trip. It is a must have on a San Juan trip. I especially like the section with the illustrations to help identify the plants and animals of the area.

This guidebook is well organized with a lot of information, high quality illustrations and photographs. We learned about the area and had a great river trip on the San Juan. Some of the information goes beyond what you'd expect to find in a guidebook, such as threats to the San Juan, history of dam building, and changes to biology through the years. There are illustrations of geology, pottery, petroglyphs, plants and animals. The second edition has included more illustrations and photographs of the creatures you are likely to encounter. They were a pleasure to peruse and a great way to understand these topics better. The river map is organized so that the upper part of the page faces downstream. This second edition has included campsites on the river maps. It is easy to read and many features on the map have a page reference so you can learn about them in this guide. It was indispensable for our trip, and we plan on using it again and again on our future San Juan trips.

This is a good guide for someone new to southern Utah and the San Juan River, but it offers very little for someone looking for more in-depth information. 75 pages are devoted to history, geology, mormons, etc., with only 12 covering the river. Again, if you're already familiar with the area, the first 75 pages are unnecessary. The final 12 pages are very easy to read, as compared to other guides, but very little information is given beyond the location of rapids. There is essentially no information concerning side trips (hikes, pictos, petros, ruins, camps...). Very bare-bones. I'm also alittle concerned with the thinness of the pages, and I wonder how it will stand up to getting wet.