About 3 million years ago, water draining from the San Juan Mountains of Colorado began carving the river that dissects New Mexico and, eventually, the west and southwest boundary of Texas and the Texas-Mexico border, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation.
In New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande Rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem in its floodplain.
But before that runoff settles down to a placid river, it rumbles through far northern New Mexico. Scientists believe that some , years ago, a closed drainage basin with no outflow existed in the San Luis Valley to the north in Colorado. With changes causing the region to become wetter, the lake within this basin overflowed to the south and drained into the Red River.
Two developed recreation areas are located along the river—Wild Rivers on the north and Orilla Verde in the south. In addition to these scenic recreation areas, visitors can enjoy a spectacular vista of the gorge from the High Bridge Overlook where Highway 64 crosses the river. Paralleled by state roads, the Lower Gorge receives the majority of the recreational use, beginning at the Taos Junction Bridge in the Orilla Verde area and extending south for 18 miles. The Racecourse, a five-mile stretch of whitewater located along NM 68, is less demanding than the Box but still offers an exciting ride.
Trips in the Lower Gorge vary in time from two to six hours, depending on river flow and ones' choice of put in and take out.
Flowing out of the snowcapped Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the river journeys 1, miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Here the river flows in a rugged and scenic part of northern New Mexico.
Albuquerque has begun to realize the benefits of a healthy Rio Grande for drinking water, recreation, and the community at large, and is taking proactive steps to conserve its water and land. Outdoor recreation is now the third leading industry throughout the entire river corridor, behind agriculture and mining petroleum, natural gas, coal, uranium ore, silver, lead, gold, potash, and gypsum. A balanced approach to water management, including aggressive conservation and efficiency measures, is needed if the silvery minnow—and by extension the once mighty Rio Grande—is going to recover.
Rio Grande New Mexico, Texas. Join Now! Protecting Wild Rivers Wild and Scenic Rivers are some of the most beautiful, valuable and unspoiled environments Conserving Clean Water Water crises are in the top 10 of the most likely and highest impact
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