NWRCo. today commenced the 30th iteration of it’s well-regarded Guide Training Program, with 6 carefully selected attendees. In his opening remarks, Steve Miller, VP of NWRCo, promised the attendees a life-changing experience. The group includes two ski instructors, two snowboard instructors, a massage therapist and a young lady who last year completed a hike of the entire Appalachian Trail. NWRCo. looks forward to profiting from the energy and enthusiasm that these apprentice guide candidates will bring to the organization.

The Río Grande del Norte National Monument was established on March 25, 2013 by Presidential Proclamation. The monument includes approximately 242,500 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The landscape is comprised of rugged, wide open plains at an average elevation of 7,000 feet, dotted by volcanic cones, and cut by steep canyons with rivers tucked away in their depths. The Río Grande carves an 800 foot deep gorge through layers of volcanic basalt flows and ash. Among the volcanic cones in the Monument, Ute Mountain is the highest, reaching to 10,093 feet.

Britt Runyon (New Wave Operations Manager and Official Photographer) just can’t stay indoors. Even in the dead of winter, like Thoreau, he’s out and about, “inspecting” the winter scene.

Notice that the river in the background is frozen over. This is just a few miles downstream of the New Wave Rafting World Headquarters.

It was January, and it had been a bitter cold week. Yet, some kayakers were out having fun.

Our wintering Bald Eagles are back.

A view from one of the side channels in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area.

New Wave staff do the Grand Canyon! Many of our guests ask what we do in the off-season. This year, on September 5th., we pushed off the beach at Lees Ferry, AZ, at the start of a 21-day trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Included in the roster of New Wave participants were: Kathy Miller, Pres.; Steve Miller, VP; Britt Runyon, Operations Manager; Neil Oberheide, guide; CJ Robison, guide; Orlando Torres, guide; Karen House, guide; Jordan Cashman, guide and the permit holder (who waited 17 years for her number to come up!!) Maria Weinrich, former guide. Do you think we had a GREAT time? You bet! There’s just no place like the Grand Canyon, and the trip we took down the Colorado River through the entirety of the Canyon is, simply, the best river trip in the world.
Take a look (photos by Britt Runyon and Steve Miller)

A special thanks to Collin, Eric & Daniel, for a great, fun filled last day on the Race Course. Yeah, that’s right, New Wave has concluded it’s 2012 season.
Thanks to all our guests for making this a season to remember & we hope to see you next year.

This pretty much sums it up for our 2012 season. We are continuing to have a “splash” of a good time till the end of this month (August), so come see us soon.

Britts 2012 Race Course video.

New Wave was hired to provide river safety for the production of the film “Sweetwater”, being shot on the banks of the Rio Chama, below Abiquiu Dam. The location manager that had hired us the year before, for the filming of an NBC pilot shot along the Rio Grande, called me up for this shoot. Water safety was required because there was one scene that had the female lead out in the river, bathing. Britt Runyon (aka Huggins), New Wave’s Operations Manager and Official Photographer/Videographer, got to stand a short ways downstream from the actors and crew, with a throw rope at the ready (and took all the photos seen here). I (Steve Miller) sat in a raft 100 yds downstream, just in case the lady got swept downstream past Britt. All of this safety activity was just barely warranted, however, because the producers had prevailed upon the Army Corp of Engineers to lower the dam release that day, and the river was now lots tamer than the day before. This particular bend of the Rio Chama has become a favorite of producers of Western films. We did river safety for an HBO film, “The Last Outlaw”, at the very same spot over 10 years ago (see the photo on our website, under “Film Production”). And just last night, I spotted that location while watching “Comanche Moon”, the prequel of “Lonesome Dove”. “Sweetwater” stars January Jones and Ed Harris. Don’t miss it!

The outlaws.

Steve takes charge of river safety.

January Jones blows the bad guys away.

Equipment

While fishing the Racecourse, I took these photos of a favorite polished and sculpted basalt boulder.

Here’s a new fun photo by Britt Runyon

A gaggle(?) of funyakers

New Wave traded a river trip on the Race Course section of the Rio Grande River for some trees from Tooley’s Trees. Gordon and Margaret live and work on their tree farm in Truchas New Mexico.
The 20 trees were planted in the New Wave orchard.

Thank You Gordon and Margaret

(click on above images and visit New Wave Rafting’s Flickr photography site)