01. Below Grand Falls to above Black Falls

North of Winslow Arizona, the Little Colorado River plunges over Grand Falls, a steep escarpment higher than Niagra. Swollen with spring snow melt, summer monsoons, or hurricane bonus storm, the LCR can be an amazing sight when she's rolling. Although the Navajo Nation prohibits boating access below Grand Falls, people have run the river downstream where one bank is privately owned. Challenging rapids navigable by canoes, kayaks, and small rafts at moderate levels. Seven or eight miles below the falls the river flattens out again. Near the Wupatki take-out, what was once an old dam has filled with sand and become Black Falls. It is unrunnable. Please get permits before boating on the Wupatki National Monument prior to putting on.