October in New Mexico is a glorious time of year to be in the high desert with cooler temps, autumn leaves, excellent fishing, wildlife viewing and fewer visitors. The plan for a 2 day rafting descent down the Taos Box section, class 4, of the Rio Grande, just west of Taos, was hatched by one of our guides ,Todd. With the Taos Junction Gauge reading 330 cubic feet/second we knew it would a “bony” run with at least one lining of the raft.
At the put-in for the Taos Box section on the Rio Grande. (From left to right) Todd, part time guide for New Wave and the person responsible for hatching this idea. Joel, river guide for us in the 1990’s and Britt, New Wave’s Operations Manager and Official Photographer. As you see in the image, dressing warm is necessary when rafting in October.
It’s a easy float to the first rapid, Ski Jump, with just a few tight moves between low water exposed boulders. Here we had lunch and Todd fished from the island just above the rapid.
And so it began.
The longer you study this image the more petroglyphs you’ll find. However, it can difficult to see the bare footprints and the corn stalk.
The first day of fishing was phenomenal. Above, Todd releases a Brown Trout back to the river. More importantly, once past the Manby Hot Springs the trout were everywhere and hungry.
Looking downstream from the left shore of the first low water class 3 rapid, Ski Jump.
The clouds rolled in as we passed under the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. High bridge Rapid, class 3, was easy with a few quick moves around boulders.
Clouds and rain added to the ambiance of the gorge. The rain soaked fluted boulders glowed in the low light as we floated and fished.
Looking upstream at the entry of Yellow Bank rapid. Note there is no right entry.
Lining the raft through Yellow Bank Rapid, class 3, was perhaps not necessary but this early in the trip it was felt to be the prudent decision.
So looking back upstream one can see there was plenty room for the raft had we chosen to run it.
Collecting firewood for the night. Knowing that the October temps would be dropping below freezing, fire would be the only source of heat to take out the chill.
Camp for the night in the Playground section. The sunset on Day 1 with no trouble at all. Thoughout the day there were several narrow slots between exposed boulders to run and the raft sometimes scraped on both sides but passed through easily.
Stay tuned for Day 2 with Powerline, Rock Garden, Sunset Rapid and all the rest.
Thanks for stopping in. Book your trip here.
