[Awclist] Rio Grande below Albuquerque

[Scofield, Tim]

I neglected to ask about camping. Does anyone know about camping on
public land along the route?

He's a summary of the responses I've received (I've left out the phone #'s):

Peggy Robey mentioned "there was an article years ago about some guys
who tried to paddle that portion...I think some sections were completely
dry.  You might try checking with federal land offices or archives of
the Albq Journal for personal info...I found this site (see link below -
tim) by googling and if you looked harder you might find more. "

The NM State parks has a nice summary about various features and hazards
along the way:
http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/prd/Boatingmainpagewatersriograndebeta.htm
Steve Verchinski<stephen.verchinski at state.nm.us >, the Boating Safety
Education Program Coordinator  at the NM Sate Parks would appreciate it
if people that run this stretch would update him so that he can keep the
web page up to date.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Bosque Del Apache
rebuilt the fence at the north end of the refuge before long.

Dana Price stated, "a couple weeks ago I was at the downstream end of
Bosque del Apache and there's a fence that I think goes clear across the
river. I think it's to keep cows from coming in. Also Sometime last year
sediment started being deposited there and the river is trying to move
its channel, only it's running into the levee. So the Bureau of
Reclamation is going to be doing something, maybe just dredging out the
sediment to get the channel back where it was. You'd want to make sure
this work was done before trying to navigate the river.[or portage -
tim]"  She also mentioned a possible contact for more information at the
Bureau.

Michael Scialdone has run this stretch.
Craig Walker has run from Rt 60 to Rt 380 and sends the following summary:

    At one time or another over the years I've done everything between Rt. 60
    and Rt 380 (I live in Socorro).  I believe that there have been changes at
    the San Acacia diversion dam so I'm not sure if they've made the portage
    harder with fences, but it wasn't bad when we went through.  Our usual
    trip is Escondida bridge to Rt 380.  We sometimes park at the Owl Bar to
    avoid leaving a car by the river.

    This is a reasonably scenic trip and seems surprisingly remote, even at
    Socorro where you would think you would be more aware of the nearby town. 
    You don't want to do it in very low water.  The bridges turn out to be at
    narrow spots.  Much of the rest is much wider and shallower.  At low
    water, you are likely to do some pushing, often over quicksand.  And
    keeping to the deepest channel can be a bit interesting.  At high water,
    there can be sand waves to add a bit of excitement.  Otherwise there isn't
    much in the way of whitewater.  There are a lot of big metal objects meant
    to resist erosion along the banks, especially on the west side.  I
    wouldn't want to tangle with one.  Also there are trees hanging into the
    water at places.  They could be a strainer hazard for beginners, but are
    easy for experienced paddlers to avoid.

    One interesting factor, especially in summer, is that quite a few people
    like to target practice along the river.  I suspect they are not supposed
    to, but they do.  On one particularly exciting trip, we passed 5 groups
    firing guns.  They probably did not know we were there, at least until we
    yelled, and one wonders what their line-of-sights are.  They certainly are
    not expecting boats because not many people run the river.

    I have penetrated upstream from Elephant Butte a few miles with canoe or
    sea kayak.  That was when the lake was low as it now is and was within the
    lake's high water region.  That works ok and canoing through there would
    be reasonable.  I have not tried to go through the Bosque del Apache.  I'm
    not sure if there are legal issues there.

Dan Shaw has done parts of it and sent the following summary:

    Yes, I have done putting in at US 60, south through Sevilleta NWR and Bosque
    Del Apache NWR, and then south of there for another 10(?) miles putting in
    at San Acacia. I did it in a canoe, last June. Good water, no problems at
    all, very smooth. I was doing bank swallow surveys for the NM Dept of Game
    and Fish and had to have a key for gate access for pretty much everything
    except the put-in at US 60.

      

Robert Southwick has paddled from Fort Craig to the Butte and sent the
following summary:

    I have paddle[d] from Fort Craig down to the lake and then out the lake.
    The problem when entering the lake is that the river changes course and
    ended up going through thick thickets of Tamarisk. It was very difficult to
    get through and dangerous at times. The mud in this area was amazing. You
    could swear you were paddling on water but when you looked back you could
    see your paddle marks in the mud for a 100 yards. I never repeated the trip
    because this area just was a royal pain. This was several years ago and
    things may have changed but I suspect the river is still changing its course
    frequently as it enters the lake. 


      

When I get a chance I'll try to post this information to the AWC
Bulletin Board along with some of the information from and a link to the
State Parks site. For those that sent phone numbers I'll forward those
to Lynne.

Tim



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