Taos Box White Water Rafting

White water rafting on the Rio Grande Taos Box - The Best of New Mexico River Rafting

This full-day river trip traverses 16 miles of wilderness gorge, encountering demanding rapids guaranteed to get you wet. This is our most exciting river trip and is NOT for the timid. Participants must be mentally and physically prepared to paddle in earnest and assist in their own rescue in the event of a "swim" or flip (Class 4/Difficult, Class 5/Very Difficult, in high water). The Box season begins in April, with the highest flows usually occuring around early June.

Minimum age is 12. We provide buffet style lunch, wet suits, wet suit booties, rain gear, gloves in cool weather, rain gear in hot weather and all necessary rafting equipment. If you intend to wear a wet suit, dress in form-fitting undergarments (bathing suit, tights, cycling shorts etc.) so that you can pull on your wetsuit without difficulty. Bring a change of clothes with you.

Photo above: Taos Junction rapid, in high water (approx. 4000 cfs)

Note: Relative to our other river trips, the Taos Box run requires a greater flow to be navigable. Therefore, we are usually obliged to discontinue running the Box sometime in mid-July, as the flows decrease. If you have booked a Box trip that must, for the reasons above, be cancelled, we will be happy to provide another trip for you.

This trip meets at the Rio Grande Gorge Visitor Center at 10:00 AM, and returns at approx. 4:00 PM.                                                                            

Taos Box: $116

Group of 10-24: $105

Group of 25+:  $93

Note: Please call for group discount. Single payer is required for group discount.

Our "all-you-can-eat" buffet lunch 

            
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Taos Whitewater Rafting centers on the Taos Box section of the Rio Grande River. 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 ancient 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.

The Rio Grande Gorge contains all of  Taos Whitewater Rafting. At first the Rio Grande flows placidly into New Mexico, followed by sections of class 4 and Class 6 (unrunable) rapids. The only road access into the Rio Grande Gorge is at Dunns Bridge, at a point 16 miles upstream of the end of the wilderness portion of the gorge. This is the access point for the most famous of Taos whitewater rafting, the Taos Box. This Class 4+ (5 in highwater) section is 16 miles long, making for a long one-day rafting trip, and is the best whitewater rafting and kayaking in New Mexico. It flows through the lower-most wilderness portion of the Rio Grande Gorge, which is designated by the US Congress as a National Wild and Scenic River. The Wild and Scenic River is administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The Rio Grande Gorge High Bridge, west of Taos, spans the Gorge four miles below Dunn's Bridge.

The “Box” has long sections of continuous whitewater, especially in its last four miles, which begins with the notorious Powerline Falls, where the river drops rapidly down between large basalt boulders. This section, called “Rio Bravo” (Wild River), continues with rapids called Rock Garden, Boat Reamer, Screaming Left-hand Turn, Enema and so on. The last, and perhaps best, rapid is found at the confluence of the Rio Pueblo de Taos. Called Taos Junction, it is where photos are taken of our rafting guests. This is where the wilderness portion of the Gorge ends. Immediately downstream of Taos Junction Rapid is Taos Junction Bridge, and the take-out for the Taos Box trip. Immediately below the Box the river begins again to flow placidly, in the Orilla Verde section, part of which constitutes the morning float portion of the Rio Grande Gorge run.

Powerline Falls, highwater (approx. 6000 cfs)

Rockgarden Rapid, Taos Box (low water)

What makes a rapid hard? It's usually a combination of either steepness, congestion or narrowing. What makes Rockgarden the hardest rapid in the Taos Box is a combination of steepness and congestion. For its entire length, Rockgarden is considerably steeper than the average gradient of the river. That means the water moves swiftly through the rapid and develops additional kinetic energy as it does so. But what makes Rockgarden particularly challenging is congestion i.e. the rocks that, at low water, one must weave around, or, at high water, the holes one must miss. The entry to the rapid is always on the right ("river right", which means the right when one is looking downstream). This is to avoid the Sieve, a bunch of rocks that the river "sieves" through, dominated by the Sieve Rock. Fishhook Rock, named for a sharp hook-like protuberance, sits opposite the Sieve, and the route lies between them. Next, the Soda Fountain Rocks are passed to their left, Camel Rock to its right, Sharkfin Rock to its left, Broach Rock to its right, the Ledge to its left and some final un-named rocks to their right. In high water most of these rocks are underwater, creating holes of variable difficulty. The Fishhook and Soda Fountain holes can be run, but Camel Rock is to be avoided. Because of the sharp drop on its downstream side, Camel Rock, when underwater, creates a nasty hole called the Trench. The Trench will "taco" (fold) a raft, and send people flying, or worse. It's better to be more to the right, to avoid the Trench, and risk running the Sharkfin Hole, which is big, but not so abrupt. Broach Rock is no problem in high water, nor are the remaining rocks below. The main challenge of Rockgarden, in low water, is to avoid getting, first, broached, and then wrapped, on a rock. The former means getting stuck sideways against a rock, and the latter means having the raft get bent around the rock and filled with water. The main challenge in high water is to avoid the biggest holes, which can flip or trap a boat, or eject people into the river. Rockgarden gets your guide's attention at every water level, and is considered the crux rapid of the run. Thanks to Jesse Mogler for this photo of Rockgarden. Photos of a raft negotiating Rockgarden (and other rapids) in low water can be seen in the Photo Gallery that follows.

Taos Box Photo Gallery, May 16, 2010, 1000 cfs

Guide - Britt Huggins, NWRCo Operations Manager

photos by Steve Miller, VP

 Ski Jump rapid

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, at Mile 4

Yellow Bank rapid

Bighorn Sheep

The tight-squeeze entry to Dead Car rapid

Dead Car rapid

Powerline Falls

The most technically challenging rapid in the Box is Rock Garden rapid, seen here. The raft passes to the left of Fishhook Rock.

The raft passes to the right of Camel Rock.

The raft approaches Sharkfin rock, and will pass to its left.

Screaming Right rapid (aka the Enema), the next to last rapid of the Box.

Sculpted and polished basalt boulder

A photo of the last rapid, Taos Junction rapid (aka Sunset rapid) can be seen at the top of this page. Daily photos of Taos Junction rapid can be seen on the website of our photographers - Southern Exposure (click on Order Photos on the main menu bar). All of their Taos Box photos are taken at Taos Junction rapid.