The Animas River - Jacob Fisher

This week I traveled to the Animas River, a perennial flow, in southeastern Colorado. The river’s headwaters are in the mountains above Silverton Colorado and drains south into the San Juan River in northern New Mexico.

Animas River near Durango CO [PHOTO: Jerry McBride/Durango Herald https://durangoherald.com/articles/243752]

 

The flow rate of the Animas varies greatly between seasons, its minimum flow occurs during the winter and the greatest flow occurring in the spring from snowmelt. There is occasional late summer and early fall floods with the worst on record being October 5, 1911.

 

Flooded footbridge over the Animas River Oct 5, 1911 [PHOTO: Center of Southwest Studies]

From the river’s headwaters to Baker’s Bridge, north of Durango Colorado, the Animas gradient varies from steep to moderate. The upper section of the Animas is composed of high altitude narrow canyons, formed when glaciers carved through the Precambrian formations, while in the valley below Baker’s Bridge, it slows and meanders back and forth creating oxbows. From start to finish the Animas drops 7,000 feet.