266 cfs, today, and another bright and sunny day. Today we have 14 guests on the AM Racecourse half-day trip, 8 on the Rio Grande Gorge full-day trip, 7 on the New Wave No Wave half-day trip and 28 on the PM Racecourse half-day trip. There’s no better way to enjoy northern New Mexico in August than going rafting, and no better way to cool off!

For those of us that live on and live for the river, this end of summer low water time is good for more than just rafting and fishing. You also get an opportunity to take a close look at the river rocks – the skeleton of the river, so-to-speak. Many river rocks have been exotically sculpted and polished by the sediments that high water carries, and now they’re available for inspection. Here’s one example I photographed last evening, while out (you guessed it) fishing. Other rocks of interest are the ones that create the big holes and waves during high water. Here’s another photo I took yesterday. It’s of Taos Junction rapid, and “X” marks the rock that creates the hole that causes the most havoc.

"X" marks the rock that creates, at high water, the monstrous hole in Taos Junction rapid, on the Taos Box section of the Rio Grande river

As to yesterday evening’s fishing, there was no action until close to 8PM, when I drifted a #16 Elk Hair Caddis to the only rising fish I’d seen so far. He took it – a male brown trout of about 13″. Here’s a photo of that fish, after being returned to the water.

Brown trout, after being returned to the water, in the Orilla Verde section of the Rio Grande river, New Mexico

Pot-holed rock in the Orilla Verde section of the Rio Grande river, near Taos, New Mexico