Gently float down the Rio Grande on a Los Rios River Runners float trip. Photo by Eli Ellison
August 06, 2024
On a sunny spring morning, I’m sitting aboard a raft gently floating down the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico. Unlike the pulse-pounding whitewater excursions popular in these parts, this trip is tranquil.
As birds sing in the riverside juniper trees beside the steep cliffs of the Rio Grande Gorge, I’m relaxed, not worrying about Class V rapids launching me from the boat. If you’re a non-daredevil like me, check out these three scenic float trips offered by Taos-based Los Rios River Runners.
Glide past piñon trees, juniper, yucca, and more in the Orilla Verde Recreation Area. Photo by Eli Ellison
For more than 30 years, Louie Hena of Tesuque Pueblo has been guiding Native Cultures Feast & Float raft trips down a placid stretch of the Rio Grande in Orilla Verde Recreation Area, southwest of Taos.
Hena sits at the head of our raft, his lean figure framed by steep, terraced canyon walls of chiseled basalt rock. Hena points out a boulder perched high above the riverbank. The rock face bears an ancient spiral petroglyph that Hena says symbolizes the circle of life and our universe.
“We’re connected to everything in this world, and everything has a spirit,” Hena says as we glide past piñon trees, juniper, tamarisk, cholla, and yucca. A beaver swimming near the riverbank pokes its head out of the water, curiously watching us float past.
Cisco Guevara is the owner and head guide of Los Rios River Runners. Photo by Jim Cox
As the scenery slips by, the silence broken as paddles gently cut the water, I fall into a sort of river trance, forgetting trivialities that had been stressing me out just hours earlier. That’s precisely the goal, according to Los Rios River Runners’ owner and head guide, Cisco Guevara. “We want people to experience the healing quality of the river,” he says.
Six-passenger rafts gently float down the Rio Grande. Photo by Eli Ellison
Guevara and Hena partnered in the early 1990s to offer this excursion, which for Hena has since become a family affair. Multiple six-passenger rafts run per trip, and his adult children also serve as tour guides.
They, like their father, have spent a lifetime running and fishing this section of the Rio Grande—the Orilla Verde—known for its mellow nature. Indeed, over the roughly 75 minutes we spend on the river, the only whitewater stretches we face are a few easy Class 2 rapids that barely make a splash in the raft.
Nibble on Indian pie baked in a traditional adobe oven. Photo by Jim Cox
After skidding ashore and disembarking, we’re transported to the group picnic pavilion in Rio Bravo Campground for the excursion’s mouthwatering finale: a traditional Tesuque Pueblo–style feast prepared by Hena’s family.
Hungry as a river otter, I load my plate with red chile chicken stew, beef short-rib burnt-corn stew, fresh green salad, traditional outdoor oven-baked bread, apricot pie squares, and calabicitas. Tops is the fall-apart-tender beef stew, which demands a second helping.
The Sangre de Cristo mountains line the Rio Grande Valley. Photo by Raisa Nastukova/Alamy Stock Photo
Driving from Taos home to Santa Fe, I look out at the Sangre de Cristo mountains and recall something Hena said on the raft. He and many fellow Northern New Mexico Pueblo peoples regard the entire Rio Grande Valley as a church.
The river is the church’s floor. The Rio Grande Gorge cliffs comprise its walls. Mountain ranges like the Sangres, Jemez, and Sandias are its altars. Though I’d never thought of the valley in exactly this way, it’s now with me forever. As Guevara puts it, “This is a beautiful, deep, ancient culture that we hope people understand better.”
Season: March—October.
Cost: $130.
Note: Trips require a 12-person minimum. Contact Los Rios River Runners for availability and scheduling.
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The Orilla Verde section of the Rio Grande along the Rio Grande Gorge is known for its mellow nature. Photo by Witold Skrypczak/Alamy Stock Photo
Running the same calm stretch of the Rio Grande as the Native Cultures Feast & Float, the Half Day Orilla Verde float trip has departures in the morning and early afternoon, lasts about three hours, and is best if you simply want a short trip on the river at a budget-friendly cost.
Los Rios’ Cisco Guevara is particularly fond of the Evening Scenic Float and Sunset Dinner Float excursions—the latter dishes up tasty fajitas, tamales, and quesadillas. “That special evening light that famously inspired the Taos art colony lights up the canyon walls in dramatic, spectacular fashion,” Guevara says. “Plus, wildlife like beavers, river otters, and bighorn sheep are more active.”
Season: Half Day Orilla Verde, from March to mid-November. Evening Scenic and Sunset Dinner Floats, May–October.
Cost: Half Day Orilla Verde: adults, $70; Evening Scenic Float: adults, $79; Sunset Dinner Float: adults, $120.
Note: Evening Scenic and Sunset Dinner trips each require a six-person minimum. Contact Los Rios River Runners for availability and scheduling.
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Take a two-day rafting and camping trip down the smooth Rio Chama. Photo by Ken Barber/Alamy Stock Photo
For two days of rafting and a night of full-service camping, consider this gorgeous wilderness journey down the Rio Chama. The days are filled with long stretches of smooth floating, ruffled by a handful of easy Class 3 rapids. Relaxed, keyed to the lazy rhythms of the river, you’ll drift past immense pink and vermillion sandstone cliffs towering over green groves of ponderosa and piñon pine.
Go glamping in the "Comfort Camp" tent. Photo by Jim Cox
The trip includes overnight camping beside the river, along with fresh-cooked dinner and breakfast.
For a cushy glamping experience—recommended for seniors—splurge on the “Comfort Camp.” You’ll get a roomy tent, elevated camp beds, a table and chairs, and a private toilet. If you’re traveling with energetic teens, ask the guides to bring along one- or two-person funyaks and/or stand-up paddleboards, at no extra charge.
Season: Trips are currently running through late August (and possibly into September) in what’s called “release season,” meaning only on weekends when the Rio Chama’s El Vado Dam conducts reservoir water releases. In the spring 2025 natural snowmelt runoff season, trips will be offered regularly from late April to Memorial Day. Book well in advance.
Cost: Adults, $399; Comfort Camp: additional $495 per tent unit. Recommended minimum age is 6.
Los Rios River Runners: losriosriverrunners.com; 575-776-8854.
Eli Ellison is a Santa Fe–based writer
