Animas, New Mexico, US
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2. Farmington Whitewater Park
| Usual Difficulty |
II+ (for normal flows) |
| Length |
0.01 Miles |
small farm
small farmPhoto taken 03/16/02
Gauge Information
River Description
A new park, built with local tax dollars in 1999. It isn't the fanciest or the best but it is a
great start. Surfing on the upper of two drops is good at 350cfs or above. Deep holes under both
drops so you can drop the nose or tail without fear of hitting the bottom. Finding the park is a
little tricky... I look for the McDonalds on E. Main when heading East and take a right on Tucker
St. Follow Tucker all the way to the end (cross San Juan Blvd.) and park in the thoughtfully
provided parking area. Change in the little changing booth and head down the trail and to the left
for a couple hundred yards to find the park and river. Great start and good to see local dollars
going to a new WW facility!
StreamTeam Status: Verified
Last Updated: 2005-08-09 23:52:17
Editors
User Comments
repair work that sorrta messed up somethings and a few high water years the Park has changed a
little. It needs some work to correct the problem but the top feture is still excelent at most
levels. So here is the scoop- Two Fetures- Top feature- doable at 250 CFS up to 2400 CFS, the best
level is from 500 CFS to 1700 CFS. At 500 the feature is basically a hole on surfers right and a
flat glassy wave on surfers left. At 500 to about 1300 CFS play boats can spin, blunt, pull holixes
and the ocassional Donkey flip if the paddler is dialed. Above 1300 the hole starts to glass out
and steepen up although it always breaks on Surfers right, from about 1300 to 1700 the wave is a
fun glassy spinner especially for surf specific boats, one can still blunt but you really have to
be on your game. Above 1700 to about 2400 it is still surfable but the eddy starts to flush and it
is more of a challenge to get on. Above 2400 the wave is still there but must be caught on the fly
and the lower feature becomes huge nasty hole! Lower Feature- This feature used to be the better of
the two, but a number of years ago some work was done on it and feature was basically ruined. Now
it is either to shallow to be fun or it is to big and sticky to do much except for scare people out
of whitewater sports. If this feature is fixed in the future the Farm town park will stand up to
other great parks like Salida, Durango,and BV, but as of now we are stuck with one good feature and
one sucky one! Farmington usually has payable water year round and we now have a solid crew of
local boaters which center around the Outdoor Leadership Progam at San Juan College. The Farmington
Aquatics Center has Open Boating on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:00 the months of September through
November and February to the end of April. In late summer when the water in the park is Low and
like 85 degrees, Surf and body boarders mass at the park so it is a fun scene. Also if you want to
work on your seal launches Farmington Lake has some great cliffs and warm water for this! I will
try and post some new photos ASAP. If you are coming through town, give me a call and perhaps we
can squeeze in a surf sessiona and brew at 3 Rivers Brewery Down town! Marcel Bieg Coordinator,
Outdoor Leadership, Recreation and Education Program San Juan College 4601 College Blvd Farmington
NM, 87402 Phone: (505)566-3113 Fax: (505)566-3790 E-mail: biegm@sanjuancollege.edu Web Site:
sanjuancollege.edu/outdoor
is almost impossible to catch and ferry across. At 800-900 cfs, the bottom wave is about perfect.
Anything below 800 cfs, go to the top wave, which is good for spins and old school moves. The River
Reach foundation is supposively adding 200-300 more rocks below this stretch with the help of a few
engineers to make the course a lot longer and better. Please help support the River Reach
foundation, because they are the ones who do the upkeep on this river.<br>
Josh