» Steve Miller River Guide

Winter Along the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:05:59 +0000

New Wave owners Kathy and Steve Miller are hard at work teaching skiing at Taos Ski Valley. While much of the country is (at this writing) devoid of snow, we have excellent conditions at Taos SV. We had a busy Holiday season, as skiers came from areas lacking in snow. Just prior to the onset of the busy season, Kathy and Steve vacationed in Hawaii with their children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, Operations Manager Britt Huggins, in the company of guide and girlfriend CJ Robison, rode on his BMW motorcycle all the way to Panama, where they will spend the rest of the winter. Britt will look for work there as a scuba instructor.Guide Ben Rainchild and his girl friend (and guide-hopeful) Heather Mc Reynolds are spending the winter at NWRCo. headquarters in their motor home. They are working as ski instructors at the nearby Sipapu Ski Area.Also spending the winter here, in his travel trailer, is guide Ron Whitney and his pooch Penny. Our friends, the wintering bald eagles, arrived with the first cold weather in Dec.We see them daily on our commute to work or on the property.As the winter continues, we hope that you will join us to “Think Snow”.

Bald Eagle in ponderosa pine, Orilla Verde stretch of the Rio Grande, 12-6-2011

Sea turtle seen while diving at Hawaii Kai, Oahu

Trumpetfish and the wreck of WWII Corsair fighter beyond, Hawaii Kai, Oahu

Taos Junction Bridge Put-in/Take-out Improvements Underway

SteveM — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:45:53 +0000

Bulldozer levels area for toilets

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is now in the process of making substantial improvements to the River Access point (beach) that both serves as the take-out for the Taos Box run and the put-in for the Rio Grande Gorge run, on the Rio Grande river. The installation of a concrete ramp and increased room for maneuvering vehicles will make for much a much more efficient process, and will reduce conflict with other users. Permanent toilets, changing facilities and picnic tables will also be provided.

Taos Junction Bridge and new ramp

New Wave Rafting Co’s 2011 River Season Comes to an End

Britt Runyon — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:22:51 +0000

The last day of the river season. It has been an interesting season, with unpredictable flows. It started out with low flows and not enough water for the Taos Box . In early May the river was at 400 and then dipped down to 350. We had a wet and cold May, with even some snow – which froze out the fruit for the season but gave us some additional water. So there was a Box season after all, although short. The beginning of the Dog Days of summer marked the end of the Box season. The peak flow was 1200 and that occurred somewhere around the 12th of June. Proving that our prophet (Britt) still has his touch.

Thanks to Kathy we had stellar Saturday night dinners – oh those ribs. Always soothing the wounded egos from the week. A little play at the horse shoe pit helped to encourage a friendliness in competition. Steve spent many evenings casting in the Rio Grande, catching smallmouth bass and trout and releasing them back again to the river. Not much different than his days in the office sitting over the keyboard waiting for the tug on his line. Reeling them in and then releasing them to the river. And boy did they enjoy the ride.

Author of this blog. CJ

We have the photos to prove it. In keeping up with the times, the counsel of elders surrendered to the “social network” and we now have the means to woo the world through visual imagery. They chose Britt for the task and he didn’t let them down. The 2011 season has been visually and virtually documented and released to the world. Reminds me of the velvet underground line “people take pictures of the summer to prove that it really existed.” Which may be the case for those of us that know what we do. But for those that don’t, the vision was given to them and many said, I want to do that – once again affirming that our participation is required and when it comes to the Web, you must be present to win. Which brings me to Kathy – she stepped up to join the Dixon Volunteer Fire department. We are grateful for our local fire department and now proud to say that one of our own is representing us. This incidentally coincided with the fact that collectively we gave up smoking cigarettes. Not a butt was sucked on, inhaled, or stomped on. Now how many river companies can say that. Ultimately the deciding factor was the personal choice to honor the clean air act, inside and out.

The August Rio Chama trip was a personal achievement for Karen in that she and the crew Rhino and James pulled off a wilderness trip for members of a rehab center. The hardest challenge was finding guides that could stay sober for 72 hours. Orlando, who is known for his ability to think out of the box, became a Box guide this year. Honorable mention goes out to James who not only built his own plane, but rowed the Box on several occasions. We are especially thrilled that he made a safe landing in both instances. And how can we forget about Ben. Yes, that quiet little warehouse mouse who works his magic and leaves all of us wondering how did this ever get done. We are SO glad you are around.
What else you say? You want more? I can’t go on any longer. The clock is ticking and we are nearly done with the clean up.
In closing I’d like to say that on the surface it may appear that it was just another river season, same ole, same ole. But I choose to look at New Wave as a place where we can discover talents and our dreams come true. A Wilderness Therapist looking for a vehicle, a videographer/photographer, a massage therapist, artist, a father, student, a musician or courageous newbies that seek the happy-go-lucky river guide life. It is the veteran guides that know that running rapids ain’t for sissys. After all, the river is here for everyone, but not everyone is meant for the river.

Thank God for New Wave (or Kathy and Steve).

New Wave’s 2011 Rafting Season is Concluded

SteveM — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 18:22:27 +0000

Thanks to all of you who rafted with us this year. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to pursue this wonderful profession. We are, truly, very grateful for that. Our raison d’etre (reason for being) remains sharing the Great Outdoors with you. That will never change, but,

Showy milkweed, along the Rio Grande

in the meantime, please do everything you can to help protect our natural places, which are under constant assault.
Throughout the off-season we’ll no doubt be posting things here from time to time. Probably news and photos from our Fall vacations and winter employment. If you haven’t already, take a look at the various videos produced this summer by our talented videographer (and Operations Manager) Britt Huggins (aka Britt Runyon). They’re found right here, on this Blog.
Think snow, and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.

The Island Church runs the Racecourse, on the Rio Grande river, near Taos, NM

SteveM — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:33:05 +0000

While on a visit to the Glorieta Baptist Assembly, Nate Gerber (aka “Gerb”), the Youth Pastor of the Island Church, of Padre Island, Texas, brought 32 young folks (and a few adults) to raft the Racecourse Class 3 white water stretch. Here’s shots from their trip. Thanks Gerb! See you next time.

White water Alert: Cool wet Spring may produce bigger run-off than earlier projected, for the Rio Grande and Rio Chama rivers

SteveM — Sun, 22 May 2011 20:46:19 +0000

An article in today’s NY Times discusses the possibility of big floods throughout the West, as cold and snowy Spring conditions have added to snowpacks that have yet to begin their summer melt. This situation may reverse the earlier predictions of a poor run-off in the Rio Grande river. Consulting the “Snotel” info available online, we see the following figures: Upper Rio Grande Basin in NM is 115% of average, and in Colorado is 105% of average. The Rio Chama is at 147% of average.

This may provide the NM rafting scene with a Taos Box season of reasonable length. This season would (presumably) start shortly after it finally gets hot here and in s. Colorado, and could last well into July. The Taos Box needs over 500 cfs to be navigable for commercial raft trips, which it has yet to see. Other white water stretches on the Rio Grande are navigable at lower levels, and are available for the entirety of the summer rafting season. These stretches are the Rio Grande Gorge (aka Lower Gorge) and the very popular Racecourse rapids. As for the Rio Chama, we have been promised weekend releases for the entirety of the summer, and could also see high water during the week.

One can consult the “Weather and River Flows” link on our website Home page for the daily Rio Grande flow.

Another sign of Spring along the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Wed, 04 May 2011 17:31:59 +0000

One certain sign of Spring is the blooming of the Claret Cup cactus. Here’s a beautiful specimen I photographed while out fishing the other day. A coordinated Spring event is the arrival of the Audubons Warblers, which are now all over the place. These cacti are seen along all the stretches of the Rio Grande that we travel for our whitewater and float trips

Claret Cup Hedgehog Cactus, Mound variety

Otter Sighting on the Racecourse white water section of the Rio Grande river, Near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:29:28 +0000

We’re sorry that we don’t have a photo for you, but today was our first otter sighting! Britt Huggins and his crew were able to observe an otter for a good 10 minutes, while in the course of their Racecourse white water trip. Otters were re-introduced to the Rio Grande river a few years ago, and appear to be doing very well. One sometimes also sees beavers, muskrats, herons, eagles, ducks, geese, colorful songbirds and more along this highly scenic stretch of river.

Spring Has Sprung at the New Wave Rafting Co. HQ, located on the Rio Grande river.

SteveM — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 20:15:43 +0000

Our tulips have been up for a while, and the willows are leafing out. We expect our first trip to take place on 4/19, but we’re awful glad that we’re not rafting today, because it’s in the fifties and the wind is howling. Spring is always windy in New Mexico, and this Spring it has really been blowing, with gusts up to 50 mph over the last few days. Of course, the wind always blows upstream, which makes getting a raft downstream particularly troublesome. That’s why we always wait until the last half of April to open. Otherwise, the irrigators in Colorado are already beginning to divert water out of the Rio Grande, so the river is now low and will remain so until the melt starts up in the headwaters. This year our snowpack is at 80% of average, which will shorten our Taos Box season. Our other trips (Rio Grande Gorge, Racecourse, Float) will, as always, run all summer. Hope to see you soon!

Our tulips have been up for a week or so.

New Wave Gets New Mexico Movie Work

SteveM — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:59:36 +0000

As can be seen on our website, we’ve done much movie work in the past, including “Lonesome Dove”, “Natural Born Killers”, “The Missing” and more. We’ve provided river transport, river safety and other services for film production companies when they’re filming on and along rivers. We’ve just completed an assignment for the filming of an NBC series pilot, called “Reconstruction”. One location was on the Rio Grande river, at Santa Clara Pueblo. This location required our providing access to a small island, along with river safety services. We built a raft bridge to the island, and on the day of the shoot, we had both a safety kayaker and guides stationed downstream with throw ropes. One shot consisted of an actor walking into the river, committing suicide. Our kayaker, Atom Crawford, chased down his period hat, while our guides (Ben Rainchild, Karen House and Mike Boren) threw the ropes. It was acknowledged that our raft bridge greatly expedited the filming effort. We also provided raft transport for another location, on the Pecos River. where the river was just barely deep enough to float our raft over the rocks. The photos seen here are from the Rio Grande location.

Actress crossing our raft bridge from the island back to the shore.

Atom Crawford watches as MIke Boren tests out the route that the actor will take while "committing suicide".

Kathy Miller at the raft bridge, with horses and riders in the background.