Rio Grande Gorge
The Rio Grande Gorge - The Most Popular of New Mexico River Rafting
This full-day trip combines a morning float in the very scenic Orilla Verde Recreation Area, with an exciting afternoon of whitewater on the Racecourse (Class 3/Moderate, Class 4/Difficult, in high water). Less challenging than the Taos Box, this trip is ideal for families. Kids love to jump in and float in their life jackets in the morning and swim during lunch. Minimum age is 6 (minimum age higher, in high water). We provide buffet style lunch, rain gear, all necessary rafting equipment and funyaks in lower water. Bring a change of clothes with you. This trip meets at the County Line at 10:30 AM, and finishes there at approximately 4:00 PM.
Adults: $90 Child 6-11 years or Group of 10+: $75
Rio Grande Gorge: 
New Mexico Whitewater Rafting centers on the Rio Grande River of northcentral New Mexico. The Rio Grande river rises in the San Juan Mountains of southcentral Colorado. It flows eastward past Creede and enters the San Luis Valley. The valley is a vast flat lake-bed. With the aid of the Rio Grande, the valley is farmed intensively - large amounts of water are diverted from the river. At Alamosa the river turns south and heads for New Mexico. At the southern margin of the San Luis Valley, and 10 miles north of the New Mexico state line, the Rio Grande begins to cut the Rio Grande Gorge. The Rio Grande Gorge runs 68 miles through southern Colorado and New Mexico, ending as the Rio Grande enters the Espanola Valley, just north of Santa Fe. It contains the most and best of New Mexico Whitewater Rafting.
The entirety of the Gorge is cut into basalt rock - deposited as lava flows. Lava flows and volcanoes are common in this area, the result of massive faulting that is known collectively as the Rio Grande Rift. Springs in the Rio Grande Gorge and tributary rivers and streams recharge the Rio Grande in the Rio Grande Gorge. At first the Rio Grande flows placidly into New Mexico, but in the vicinity of an extinct volcano known as Ute Mountain the river starts dropping more rapidly, producing the Class 4 (rated as “difficult”) Razorblade Rapids whitewater section and the first New Mexico Whitewater Rafting encountered in the Rio Grande Gorge.
This section ends at Dunn's Bridge, at the only spot where a road enters the Gorge. The road descends Arroyo Hondo, which is carved by the Rio Hondo, draining from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the area of the Taos Ski Valley ski resort. This road provides access to the next section, called the Lower Taos Box or just the Taos Box.
The Box whitewater section ends at Taos Junction Bridge. Here the river enters the Orilla Verde (“Green Banks”) Recreation Area, administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Developed campgrounds are located along the riverside for seven miles in this very beautiful portion of the Rio Grande Gorge, accessed by NM 570. The Rio Grande is gentle in this portion (Class 2, “easy”), making for a relaxing "float" (little or no whitewater) trip. The Recreation Area ends at the Village of Pilar. Here the river runs smack into the Picuris Mountains and is directed to the west. Hemmed in by lava flows to the north and the quartzite cliffs of the Picuris Mountains to the south, the river enters the Racecourse whitewater section (Class 3 - “moderate”). This is the most popular whitewater rafting and kayaking stretch in the State, with continuous rapids for five miles. It ends with the legendary Souse Hole Rapid, which is Class 4 in higher water, and the spot where the photographers of Southern Exposure catch the whitewater action.
