looking southwest from US 84
tierra amarilla
the brazos cliffs from yellow land
We traveled south to the Chama Canyon, where we found ourselves a nice little campsite and set up shop. Thursday night was the only clear night of the trip, and it was fairly cold as well. But we built a white man's fire and kept the chill away as best we could.
our fire - pk photo
a nightshot plus™ view of our camp - pk photo
Friday dawned hazy but mostly clear, and cold. We got up slowly and lazily made some breakfast, before gearing up and heading up canyon. Our goal was to explore the canyon as much as possible before deciding where we wanted to boat. Driving up the canyon we were awed by the beauty and majesty of the place. Relatively unknown to most folks outside of New Mexico, the Chama Canyon would easily be a national park or monument if it were anywhere else. There is wilderness on the southern side of the river, but it's relatively small and hard to access. As it is relatively unknown there is rarely anybody around, and you can count on being relatively isolated while in the canyon.
At the end of the road there is a monastery, called the Church of Christ in the Desert, which is run and occupied by mysterious folks who really love their desert. Apparently they also offer open prayer during the day. We didn't know that at first, and were extremely perplexed by the constant parade of cars heading up canyon as we were scouting the river. The funny thing was, none of the cars had any gear whatsoever, and none of the folks in those cars looked like they were going camping, but rather dressed up nicely and old timey. It wasn't until later that we found out about the open prayer, which made sense immediately! The monastery has a beautiful setting, right across from the Rio Gallina, a side canyon of the Chama.
the monastery
the rio gallina
the canyon from the dirt gorge we.....explored
ojitos canyon, another tributary
Coming back down we stopped at the Rio Chama Campground, which is a beautiful campground run by the Santa Fe National Forest. The river-side campground has lots of spaced out sites with fire rings, tent pads, and flat camper slabs. When we come back we will be staying here!
We kept going back down the canyon, stopping at an eddy on the river where there stood a huge old cottonwood tree. This was easily the most massive cottonwood tree I have ever seen, with a diameter of at least six feet. A great grandfather of a tree.
the big old tree
scouting screaming right hand
We scouted one more rapid on the way down, which was the biggie of our run. Cruising back to camp, we had a leisurely lunch and finally got ready to go boating. Driving up we decided that we were best off putting in at the Skull Bridge, which is a few miles up from the takeout. This was decided by the fact that a) most of the good whitewater is below here, and b) we didnt want to sit in the cold water for a full 9 miles. There were some rather unfriendly city folk at the put in, but we swiftly dismissed them and strutted our stuff before putting on.
The run is fun, with lots of small riffles coming every few hundred yards or so, and actual rapids coming fairly evenly space apart. The first drop we ran was called Island Rapid, where the river splits around a large sand island. We followed some good advice and went left, finding the most action and a nice wave at the bottom of that channel. A ways below this was Screaming Right Hand, which is a big and fun rapid a couple of miles above the takeout. Lots of rocks to dodge and holes to plow into. There are a couple more small rapids, below one of which there is a nice erosional feature that you can paddle under. Below this is Big Eddy, the takeout, and a rapid just below. Wegert and I ran it, and then hiked back upstream around the drop, paddled across Big Eddy and took out. I thought it was worth it, but Jess didn't have as much fun doing it as I did. I made a detailed write up about this run that can be found here. After boating we rallied back to camp to warm up by the fire.
skull bridge - pk photo
the rapid we couldnt run (private property issues) directly above the bridge
jess getting ready - pk photo
taken from skull bridge - pk photo
the bridge leading to ojitos canyon- you can walk across this but not drive - pk photo
a rapid towards the bottom
big eddy rapid
That night the wind started blowing pretty bad. I woke up at one point to see the wall of my tent like a foot above my face. And then as if that wasnt enough, the rain started up around 5 on Saturday morning, and got pretty heavy right away. We woke up late and watched the depressing rain over a big ole plate of biscuits and gravy, and discussed our options. PK and Jess wanted to pack up camp and move elsewhere, but I was against this, arguing that packing up wet shit and then setting it back up would be a nightmare. The idea of a pay campground in Espanola came up, but PK vetoed that and we opted for a day of driving to figure it out.
The goal was to go back to Abiquiu Resevoir, drive west through Coyote and Gallina, take NM SH 112 north and then past El Vado Resevoir to Chama, and thence back to camp. Seemed simple enough talking about it and looking on the map, so off we went, with little idea of what we were getting into. Our first stop was the stretch of the Rio Chama just below Abiquiu Dam, which we would have been running if not for the rain and snow. I'm glad we didn't, as the run was LOW QUALITY at best.
the pinnacles of the ghost ranch on our way out
the lonely rapid below the dam
its a pretty canyon at least
friendly looking low head dam
fence strung across the river right below the low head dam
After taking pictures here we headed west, taking NM SH 96 west through the towns of Youngsville, Coyote, and Gallina. At this point it was a driving blizzard, with huge, dollar sized flakes and occasional whiteout gusts. The road wasn't too bad though so we weren't overly concerned. We stopped for supplies and gas in Coyote, where we laughed and talked briefly with the locals, who were blown away I was wearing shorts and sandals in a driving snowstorm. After informing them we were from Colorado, they laughed and said we brought the snow with us.
canones creek, a tributary of the Chama
After reaching the junction of NM 96 & NM 112, we drove north for 20 some miles, until we came to several signs warning us that travel on the road ahead was "Discouraged" if it was wet. Now, it had been raining and snowing for a few days so it was pretty juicy. We should have listened to the signs, but we reasoned that it was a New Mexico state highway, and that there would be enough traffic that we would be alright. Well, we drove onto it and immediately noticed how slippery it was. Cautiously optimistic we kept going along slowly, at one point almost sliding into a tree on a very sloppy corner. Continuing on another couple of miles, we soon crossed into a large basin composed of nothing but clay with the road cutting right across it. At this point we were essentially fishtailing back and forth on the road, with only PK's many years of driving experience keep us on the road. When we finally had enough we decided we were going to turn it around and peace the fuck out. Well, we start to turn around, and sure enough as we got about halfway around, another truck appeared on the road, headed the same direction we were originally going (to Chama), so we hurriedly got back to our original path and started driving again. Ahead of us was a hill that if dry, wouldn't have been noticeable. But since it was extremely muddy, it was all we could do to press up it. We made it just to the crest before the truck behind us finally reached us. We tried to pull over, only to end up in the ditch. The truck at this point came by, it looked like a coal/gas company truck, although the mud was splattered on the side and we couldn't see a company name. Thinking they would stop and help, we watched them approach......only to watch as they flew by at about 45 mph, fishtailing down the road. As we sat, stunned, we tried to figure out what to do. I hopped out to survey the scene, and no sooner had I done that then PK fires it up and starts backing up furiously. There was a small pullout a short distance behind him, and he was able to go wheelin out of the ditch and onto that. I hurried back over and climbed in, and that began a harrowing, twenty tense minutes of getting back to paved road. It was certainly not an experience I want to repeat.
it just doesnt look that bad.......
the truck was clean an hour before this
After making back to civilization, we weighed our options and beat it down the road to Cuba, where we settled on a nice place for lunch called Del Prado. I made the comment before exiting the vehicle that "we're going to stand out big time here", and when we walked in, sure enough, we were immediately given the once over by everyone in the place. Inevitably they opened up and again, the question was asked about my shorts and sandals, and us bringing the snow. But, the folks were friendly and the food was great. We left a nice tip and headed out, back to camp. When we got there the question was raied about what to do next. The options were tossed around and ultimately the decision was made to head back. The snow and rain, and the prospect of another night in the cold was just more than we could bear, so we packed up and left, tail firmly between our legs.
this is the other side of the storm that hit us on the way across NM 96
the same pinnacles, but in the afternoon
ute mountain
Coming back proved to be tense as well, but for different reasons. Our first problem was getting back across the plateau to US 285. We had three options: a) drive down to nearly Espanola and back up 285, b) US 64/Brazos Pass, and c) Cumbres Pass. Each had their advantages and disadvantages, but we opted for Cumbres, thinking it would have the best maintenence, but upon reaching Tierra Amarilla, and seeing the giant socked-in white hanging over Cumbres, we opted for US 64, which was in a clear spot, but doesn't get maintenized after 6 pm, and the time was currently 6:11 pm. Luckily it was clear most of the way, and we saw three snowplows to boot, and ended up making 285, and then Alamosa in good time. After dinner at KFC it was off to Saguache, again, uneventful.
But here the fun started. We had made maybe five or six miles outside of Saguache before the snow finally caught up to us. The snow started falling lightly at first but was soon blizzarding extremely hard, with whiteout gusts and quarter sized snow. The road was covered in snow between two inches and six inches deep, and only one or two vehicles had driven over it before us. Reduced to a crawl, it took nearly thirty agonizing minutes to drive a stretch of highway that normally takes less than fifteen. Strangely enough, after crawling all the way up the Saguache Creek valley, we started up the big hill, only to find that a few hundred feet above the valley bottom the snow nearly abated completely. Puzzled but stoked at the same time, we chugged up the pass, only encountering snow just below the summit of North Pass, and again on the other side, but found that most of the Cochetopa Park area was dry and clear. Our elation soon turned to tension as we again entered the snow, right as we entered Cochetopa Canyon. It took us another thirty minutes to travel the length of the canyon, crawling around corners at 15 mph or less. Luckily PK knew the road very well, and we made good time despite the weather. When we finally pulled into Gunny at 10:30, I had never been more glad to see the lights of town. I went home immediately but could not sleep, and had to unwind for about an hour before I could finally drift off into an enjoyable sleep. It was a good trip but the driving was very fraught with tension, and combined with the weather, certainly made this a trip to remember!
Here is video of the kayaking portion.
Rio Chama - Apr 10 2009 from Whorefish Productions on Vimeo.
