Nice pics Greg! I can't believe those are Blackberry quality pics. Anywho, we ran that same trip a couple of years ago in the Jeeps. LOTS of mud once you get down in the lower elevation of the trip. That "river" you thought about crossing is not much more than a fast moving stream to the 4 wheel variety of vehicle.
Just before you get down to the end of that trip...(if memory serves me, it's around the Dewey Bridge, or what's left of it), you have to cross the Dolores River. I don't recommend doing this during Spring runoff!
We drove this route to go down to Fisher Towers and I want to say it was September when we did it and the water was still up to the bottom of our doors in the low spots. I'll get the pics from our trip and post a few up this weekend.