As the season winds down …

SteveM — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:02:05 +0000

Here on the Rio Grande river, we’re now closing in on the end of our season. Not because there’s no water. No! Rather because, now that kids are back in school in Texas, our bookings are much reduced, and there really is no good reason to stay open. So, we’ll close a week from Sunday. That will be our last day, Sunday the 29th. We’ll probably open next year around May 1. Stay tuned.

Here’s some of the action on the river lately, photo by our Operations Manager and Official Photographer Britt Huggins (aka Britt Runyon). Racecourse white water section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

Monsoon Season, on the Racecourse white water rafting section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:33:54 +0000

Yes, it rains in New Mexico - at least during our monsoon season. Photo by Britt Runyon

Happy Kid, on the Rio Grande Gorge white water rafting section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:38:15 +0000

New Wave Rafting photo by Britt Runyon

Big Bull frog, on the Rio Grande Gorge rafting section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:51:26 +0000

Photo by Britt Runyon

That's a big frog!

Geese, along the Rio Grande Gorge run of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:11:04 +0000

Mom and Dad and this year’s brood of Canada Geese

Photo by Britt Runyon

Turtle, along the Racecourse section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:47:14 +0000

Photo by Britt Runyon.

Turtle seen along the lower Racecourse

Love that frog! (on the Racecourse section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:28:30 +0000

Photo by Britt Runyon (aka Britt Huggins, Official Photographer, New Wave Rafting Co.)

This is the time of year that we encounter many water creatures, including geese, frogs and turtles. People love wildlife!

Says Phoebes, at the New Wave Rafting Co. headquaters on the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:10:17 +0000

The Says Phoebe is a flycatcher, related to the more well-known Kingbird. They will nest on houses and the like. This year a nest was put on the underside of one of our storage trailers, and 5 nestlings were fledged. Here they are, sitting on our fence.

5 Says Phoebe youngsters on our fence, with a large-leaved catalpa tree behind

Wild flowers of June, along the Racecourse and Orilla Verde sections of Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico

SteveM — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:15:11 +0000

The flowering we most look forward to in this high-desert neck of the woods is the cholla cactus, with its red-violet flowers. Close to riverside is the aptly-named Showy Milkweed. It is showy and has a subtle, but fabulous, smell.

Looking down at the Racecourse section of the Rio Grande river, with a cholla cactus in full bloom

A large group of showy milkweed, along the Orilla Verde section of the Rio Grande river

Q: Why is milkweed called that?

A: If you break a stem, a milky-white fluid is exuded.

Taos Box – we’ll see you next year.

SteveM — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:42:27 +0000

We ran our final Taos Box trip of the 2010 season on 6/23, as the water level in the Rio Grande had, by that time, dropped to 500 cfs. Below that level the Box is just too hard to negotiate. We will,of course, be offering all of our other trips for the remainder of the season, which ends on August 29. Being less steep and rocky, our other trips remain do-able at any level. With the lowered water level, the river water has warmed up (over 65 degrees), and we are bringing out our funyak fleet, which will add considerably to the excitement that can be had on the river.

Some of you know that we had a pretty good snowpack going, which normally would give us a Box season that would extend into July. What happened? We had a very windy Spring, and strong sustained winds cause the snowpack to evaporate directly off the surface. It’s called sublimation. We also had a period of early snowmelt, in April, when the river was running over 1000 cfs for quite a while. But we had very little Box (or any) business at that time. We would like to encourage you to consider doing the Box earlier in the year. Of course, it might snow on you, but so what – we give you wetsuits, after all!!!

So now, the Box returns to a quiet and remote locale, populated by the critters only. The Bighorn sheep will no longer have boats passing by to relieve the monotony of munching riverside grass all day …

Rio Grande Gorge High Bridge, which spans the Taos Box section of the Rio Grande river. And guide Neil O. Photo by Steve Miller