New Wave Rafting Co. enjoys an enviable riverside location. Our picnic area is shaded by colossal cottonwood trees, and bordered by willows. Songbirds serenade us from the branches above, while the mighty Rio Grande rolls on by. You couldn’t ask for a nicer spot to eat a hearty chuckwagon lunch, which included barbecued steak, baked potatoes, cole slaw, beans, biscuits, and peach cobbler. The cobbler and other items were cooked in dutch ovens, over charcoal. The lunch was catered by Hawkins Chuckwagon, of Santa Fe, and was part of an outing arranged by our partners, Santa Fe Mountain Adventures. After lunch, the 28 guests floated through the Orilla Verde Recreation Area with New Wave. The weather was perfect, of course.

Carl Hawkins converses with guests

Peach cobbler baked in a dutch oven

Carl Hawkins, biscuit in hand, and his chuckwagon lunch