How's this for riding the river in style?I was doing work, too, though: providing ballast to help balance out the weight of the enormous amount of gear that you can see at the back of the boat. Ah! My inability to lose weight actually becomes an advantage in some circumstances!
Now for a brief overview of the trip and what I was able to see from my queenly perch.
We set off from Cooper's campground, right at the base of El Vado dam, on Friday
But once we were underway [most of] that frustration was forgotten. Here's a sample of the first day's views from the front of the raft:
looking back upstream at Mike, Michael and Chris in their canoes
a look ahead at the river and the canyon
Mike comes up to check on us
Campsites along the river are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and, being a natural worry-wart, I was somewhat concerned about finding good places. The first night we were very lucky, though, and found an excellent site on our first try. 
There was a convenient gravel bar for the boats, a good communal kitchen area, and several nice tent spots. You can see our tent, in its spot right on the river, on the left here. The picture was taken Saturday morning before we broke camp.
The river duffle bag in the foreground is what held most of our sleeping gear, along with one of our tables and some other miscellaneous stuff. Thanks to the cata-raft, we didn't have to travel too lightly. Although we certainly could have done without some of the gear and supplies and will try to be more efficient on our next trip.
Saturday was another fun day of floating. The 30+ mile section of the Chama that we traveled does offer some class III rapids. But we found that at the water level we experienced (probably around 950 cubic feet per second) none of the rapids we encountered in the canyon were a problem for us. There were a lot of rather large standing waves that I wish I could have taken a picture of for you. But these mostly provided just welcome refreshing splashes that kept us cool under the powerful New Mexico sun. (Maybe I need a waterproof camera? However, I also was holding on to the raft straps with both hands during these stretches so I would have needed a robotic waterproof camera, which is probably beyond my budget.)
Here is a sort of mini-rapid that I was able to photograph, off to the side as we passed it:
Individual rocks posed more of a problem for us than the named rapids. On the right you can see one that would definitely have caused trouble if we'd gotten stuck on it. The one on the left might have 
been an even more difficult problem, since the flatter ones are harder to see. Fortunately we avoided both of these beasties.
On the first day, however, we got stuck twice on rocks that Henry was unable to avoid, and some effort was required to break us free. Possibly because of these difficulties, the rest of our party decided to let us be in the lead most of the day Saturday, so that they wouldn't be waiting for us and wondering if we were ok as we worked at getting unstuck. Also, it's just a matter of physics that our bouyant inflatable craft is generally slower that the hard-sided boats our friends were using.
Happily, though, we had no such mishaps on Saturday. Perhaps my rock scouting was improving, although Henry's increased rowing experience was probably also a factor.
looking back upstream at our friends after passing through some fast water
Gary expertly avoiding some big river rocks
Steve tries to hitch a ride on a rare slow stretch
We had a little more trouble with our campsite search on Saturday. Several of the sites that we'd marked on our map as good possibilities were already taken when we passed them. However, we ended up with a beauty of a spot, right near Huckaby Canyon (where some of us hiked on Sunday; read about
that excursion here) and safely within the camping-allowed area of the canyon. It was minus the convenient gravel bar for disembarking and embarking the boats, but otherwise it was an even better site than the first night's.
You can see our wonderful new tent in its lovely surroundings on the right. This tent portrait includes its rain fly, which we slept without on Friday. Let's just say that we gained a good appreciation for the fly's insulating properties after being a bit chilly that night. Even though most of our Rio Chama days were warm enough to enjoy the cold splashes we got in the rapids, the nights were cool enough to warrant an extra tent layer.
In addition to the generally great spectacular scenery surrounding our Saturday-Sunday campsite, there was some nice micro-scenery, too. Like this nodding onion I discovered not far from our tent. Being mid-August, most of the area's wildflowers were unfortunately no longer on display. So I was especially happy to see this beauty.
Henry, Mike and I stayed at this great site for two nights. Which made the "raft boudoir" you can see below an extra welcome feature of the place. Steve discovered some steady, level rocks just at the stern of where the cata-raft, with its handy frame for holding on, was moored. What a great place to take care of nature's business, and even have a quick (and cold!) Aggie shower! (You can also see another use to which the raft frame was put in this photo: we tied a net bag full of soda cans to it and voila!—nature's own refrigerator!)
We were sorry to have to say good-bye to more than half of our party Sunday morning, but work committments required Michael, Chris, Gary and Steve to forego the extra day on the river. So here they are heading out for the last, and most challenging, section of the trip:
Mike & Chris in our Buffalo canoe
Gary (and his groover) say adiós
cheerful Steve in his cheerful yellow
There was a convenient gravel bar for the boats, a good communal kitchen area, and several nice tent spots. You can see our tent, in its spot right on the river, on the left here. The picture was taken Saturday morning before we broke camp.The river duffle bag in the foreground is what held most of our sleeping gear, along with one of our tables and some other miscellaneous stuff. Thanks to the cata-raft, we didn't have to travel too lightly. Although we certainly could have done without some of the gear and supplies and will try to be more efficient on our next trip.
Saturday was another fun day of floating. The 30+ mile section of the Chama that we traveled does offer some class III rapids. But we found that at the water level we experienced (probably around 950 cubic feet per second) none of the rapids we encountered in the canyon were a problem for us. There were a lot of rather large standing waves that I wish I could have taken a picture of for you. But these mostly provided just welcome refreshing splashes that kept us cool under the powerful New Mexico sun. (Maybe I need a waterproof camera? However, I also was holding on to the raft straps with both hands during these stretches so I would have needed a robotic waterproof camera, which is probably beyond my budget.)
Here is a sort of mini-rapid that I was able to photograph, off to the side as we passed it:
Individual rocks posed more of a problem for us than the named rapids. On the right you can see one that would definitely have caused trouble if we'd gotten stuck on it. The one on the left might have 
been an even more difficult problem, since the flatter ones are harder to see. Fortunately we avoided both of these beasties.On the first day, however, we got stuck twice on rocks that Henry was unable to avoid, and some effort was required to break us free. Possibly because of these difficulties, the rest of our party decided to let us be in the lead most of the day Saturday, so that they wouldn't be waiting for us and wondering if we were ok as we worked at getting unstuck. Also, it's just a matter of physics that our bouyant inflatable craft is generally slower that the hard-sided boats our friends were using.
Happily, though, we had no such mishaps on Saturday. Perhaps my rock scouting was improving, although Henry's increased rowing experience was probably also a factor.
looking back upstream at our friends after passing through some fast water
Gary expertly avoiding some big river rocks
Steve tries to hitch a ride on a rare slow stretchWe had a little more trouble with our campsite search on Saturday. Several of the sites that we'd marked on our map as good possibilities were already taken when we passed them. However, we ended up with a beauty of a spot, right near Huckaby Canyon (where some of us hiked on Sunday; read about
that excursion here) and safely within the camping-allowed area of the canyon. It was minus the convenient gravel bar for disembarking and embarking the boats, but otherwise it was an even better site than the first night's.You can see our wonderful new tent in its lovely surroundings on the right. This tent portrait includes its rain fly, which we slept without on Friday. Let's just say that we gained a good appreciation for the fly's insulating properties after being a bit chilly that night. Even though most of our Rio Chama days were warm enough to enjoy the cold splashes we got in the rapids, the nights were cool enough to warrant an extra tent layer.
In addition to the generally great spectacular scenery surrounding our Saturday-Sunday campsite, there was some nice micro-scenery, too. Like this nodding onion I discovered not far from our tent. Being mid-August, most of the area's wildflowers were unfortunately no longer on display. So I was especially happy to see this beauty.
Henry, Mike and I stayed at this great site for two nights. Which made the "raft boudoir" you can see below an extra welcome feature of the place. Steve discovered some steady, level rocks just at the stern of where the cata-raft, with its handy frame for holding on, was moored. What a great place to take care of nature's business, and even have a quick (and cold!) Aggie shower! (You can also see another use to which the raft frame was put in this photo: we tied a net bag full of soda cans to it and voila!—nature's own refrigerator!)
We were sorry to have to say good-bye to more than half of our party Sunday morning, but work committments required Michael, Chris, Gary and Steve to forego the extra day on the river. So here they are heading out for the last, and most challenging, section of the trip:
Mike & Chris in our Buffalo canoe
Gary (and his groover) say adiós
cheerful Steve in his cheerful yellow
We saw lots of other folks pass by our campsite that morning, too, since most of the Chama's trippers end their journey Sunday. It was particularly nice to see Del, in the canoe on the left, the BLM's 
helpful ranger who had seen us off from Cooper's two days earlier. He was glad to see that we were still all in one piece. His craft is a Dimension, the same kind of canoe that Mike was using.
Behind him, you can see one of the two dog-accompanied "mother ship" rafts we saw floating by that morning. It was carrying not only a furry friend but gear for one of the guide-accompanied parties on the river.
After our friends had left and these other parties had passed, the three of us remaining felt like we had the river to ourselves. We really enjoyed having another night in the same campsite—how luxurious not to have to break and re-make camp! In addition to our canyon hike, we reveled in the time available for naps, reading, river-watching, and eating a scrumptious spaghetti dinner that Mike prepared for us.
Monday it was back on the river for us. As the Chama leaves its canyon and enters the open countryside near Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch, there are some relatively slow stretches at first. We took advantage of one of these areas to give Mike some practice with the oars. Which he apparently enjoyed...
The scenery, which I might have mentioned before, was really spectacular out here. Even given that Monday's weather wasn't too cooperative.
I was a little nervous about the final section of the river, since I'd been hearing about its several class III rapids during the whole trip. But it turned out that the raft handled them beautifully, just bouncing off the obstacles and treating us to nothing more exciting than some big splashes.
Here is Mike finishing up some fast water:
What a wonderful river this is! Not even 200 miles in length, it nonetheless packs quite a scenic wallop into those few miles.
The trip we took, from El Vado dam to the Big Eddy takeout, which is not far upstream from the reservoir at Abiquiqu (I usually heard this amazing word pronounced AB-ee-q) covers 31 miles and is the best
whitewater section of the river. Access to the river here is regulated by a permit system that only allows a certain number of parties to travel it each weekend.
Normally, during the week, the river flow is curtailed to keep the water level up in El Vado Lake, but we noticed that the relatively high flow we experienced (950+ cfs) continued for several full weeks after our trip. A testament, no doubt, to the unusually wet summer they've had in the Colorado and New Mexico Rockies. Or perhaps it reflected the need for more water further downstream, maybe even after the Chama joins the Rio Grande, at Española.
The Chama's designation as a Wild and Scenic River means extra protection for some of the area's native inhabitants, such as the fine hawk that we saw on Monday. It also accounts for the stringent regulations about camping and packing out waste, which, while something of an inconvenience, is worth it if it means that future generations will be able to enjoy the river as we have.
Tired, dirty, hungry [amazingly, after the spreads of food we had!] and thirsty, we were both sad and happy to see the takeout ramp at the Big Eddy. It is a very nice facility, but we were glad we had it to ourselves. I imagine that on Sunday afternoons there's something of a traffic jam there!
Mike approaches the takeout where the raft awaits unloading
helpful ranger who had seen us off from Cooper's two days earlier. He was glad to see that we were still all in one piece. His craft is a Dimension, the same kind of canoe that Mike was using.Behind him, you can see one of the two dog-accompanied "mother ship" rafts we saw floating by that morning. It was carrying not only a furry friend but gear for one of the guide-accompanied parties on the river.
After our friends had left and these other parties had passed, the three of us remaining felt like we had the river to ourselves. We really enjoyed having another night in the same campsite—how luxurious not to have to break and re-make camp! In addition to our canyon hike, we reveled in the time available for naps, reading, river-watching, and eating a scrumptious spaghetti dinner that Mike prepared for us.
Monday it was back on the river for us. As the Chama leaves its canyon and enters the open countryside near Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch, there are some relatively slow stretches at first. We took advantage of one of these areas to give Mike some practice with the oars. Which he apparently enjoyed...
The scenery, which I might have mentioned before, was really spectacular out here. Even given that Monday's weather wasn't too cooperative.
I was a little nervous about the final section of the river, since I'd been hearing about its several class III rapids during the whole trip. But it turned out that the raft handled them beautifully, just bouncing off the obstacles and treating us to nothing more exciting than some big splashes.Here is Mike finishing up some fast water:
What a wonderful river this is! Not even 200 miles in length, it nonetheless packs quite a scenic wallop into those few miles.
The trip we took, from El Vado dam to the Big Eddy takeout, which is not far upstream from the reservoir at Abiquiqu (I usually heard this amazing word pronounced AB-ee-q) covers 31 miles and is the best
whitewater section of the river. Access to the river here is regulated by a permit system that only allows a certain number of parties to travel it each weekend.Normally, during the week, the river flow is curtailed to keep the water level up in El Vado Lake, but we noticed that the relatively high flow we experienced (950+ cfs) continued for several full weeks after our trip. A testament, no doubt, to the unusually wet summer they've had in the Colorado and New Mexico Rockies. Or perhaps it reflected the need for more water further downstream, maybe even after the Chama joins the Rio Grande, at Española.
The Chama's designation as a Wild and Scenic River means extra protection for some of the area's native inhabitants, such as the fine hawk that we saw on Monday. It also accounts for the stringent regulations about camping and packing out waste, which, while something of an inconvenience, is worth it if it means that future generations will be able to enjoy the river as we have.
Tired, dirty, hungry [amazingly, after the spreads of food we had!] and thirsty, we were both sad and happy to see the takeout ramp at the Big Eddy. It is a very nice facility, but we were glad we had it to ourselves. I imagine that on Sunday afternoons there's something of a traffic jam there!
Mike approaches the takeout where the raft awaits unloading
The scenery doesn't quit with the river, either, as you can see from this shot on the road from Big Eddy leading back to US 84 and, eventually, civilization.
Henry plans to apply for a Chama permit every year! So even if I don't make all those trips, I believe I will get to experience this adventure, and this amazing countryside, again at some point.
You can see all of my posts about this trip by clicking on the "Rio Chama" label on the right. I also have put almost all of my pictures into a Flickr collection that's divided into two unequal sets. "On the river" includes nearly 200 shots from the raft that feature the river, as well as our campsites and other aspects of our group's experiences. "Along the river," a smaller set, includes scenery shots that don't necessarily feature the river itself; this group includes the Huckaby Canyon and other rock-related scenery.
The photos I included in the blog posts are only a small subset of the pictures I took on the river. Check out the Flickr collection to see more views of this wonderful country.
Henry plans to apply for a Chama permit every year! So even if I don't make all those trips, I believe I will get to experience this adventure, and this amazing countryside, again at some point.
You can see all of my posts about this trip by clicking on the "Rio Chama" label on the right. I also have put almost all of my pictures into a Flickr collection that's divided into two unequal sets. "On the river" includes nearly 200 shots from the raft that feature the river, as well as our campsites and other aspects of our group's experiences. "Along the river," a smaller set, includes scenery shots that don't necessarily feature the river itself; this group includes the Huckaby Canyon and other rock-related scenery.
The photos I included in the blog posts are only a small subset of the pictures I took on the river. Check out the Flickr collection to see more views of this wonderful country.
2 comments:
What great photos, especially the first one :-) Sounds like you had a great trip.
BTW, do you sleep on a special mat or air mattress? I'm not so sure the ground and I would do so well these days... I'm out of camping practice!
Funny you should ask about my sleep system...Henry bought an outrageously expensive--and big, awkward, and heavy--super pad for me and was it ever comfortable! It doubled as the bottom layer of my seat on the raft. IF you have the space in your transport for it, I highly recommend it!
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