Rio Chama - Day 2

The previous morning's rain seemed a distant memory as we awoke to a brilliant day on Saturday. The cliffs across the river had a pinkish hue when I crawled out of my tent at 6:15 a.m. The boats were still resting peacefully. That is the pup tent for the "groover" in the background. (Note: All human waste is required to be carried out rather than buried. Thanks to Gary for not only providing the equipment, but also letting his canoe serve as the transport for this precious cargo.)

Looking at the bluff behind our campsite which I had ascended the previous evening.

Some low clouds to the northwest reflected the sunrise, itself hidden from our view inside the canyon.

Wildlife sightings were surprisingly few throughout our journey, so I had to content myself with mostly stationary subjects.

On the other hand, the size of the trees, including this Ponderosa pine, caught me by surprise.

A bored Sam seems to be wondering when we will be getting back on the river.

Since we wanted to camp in the main canyon again that night, we planned on another short paddling day. Therefore, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and didn't start breaking camp until after 10:00. Ralf and Wendy above, with Gary (and a ghostly Julie in the background) and Mike below, begin the process.

It was close to 11:30 by the time we were heading down the river again. In repacking the canoe, Mike and I had concentrated on placing as much gear in the center section of the boat as we could, with as little as possible in the bow and stern. It affected the handling of the canoe quite a bit. Once we got accustomed to the change, we did pretty well. That was fortunate, as there were more (and bigger) rapids to be negotiated than on the first day. As seen here, Mike seemed to be pleased with his paddling skills. Well, in any event, we were both having fun!

After only an hour of paddling, we had covered about three and a half miles. We stopped for lunch at a campground about a mile and a half downstream of Aragon Canyon and Rapids. Everyone enjoyed the pieces of grilled steak which Mike and I had left over from our Thursday night dinner back at El Vado Ranch. Yes, I would have to say that we ate very well throughout the trip. Mike was a great cook, and even let me do the dishes.

Julie and Gary pass by Tiger Wall. Then, a few minutes later, we glided past a large rock face that had been undercut by the river.

Another mile further down the river we encountered Dark Canyon Rapid, our biggest challenge up to that point and the only Class III rapid inside the canyon. Here Gary bails water from his canoe after making it through the rapids. The large wave trains had Mike and me pumping and sponging out water after almost every rapid, so I was glad to see that we weren't alone in taking on water this time. This photo was taken just after we had unknowingly passed by Navajo Peak (referred to and pictured later in this post). The main canyon opened up on our left, and there was a large flat area where the Rio Cebolla winds through Hart Canyon and empties into the Chama. Perhaps we can explore some of these tributaries on a future trip on the Rio Chama.

We sighted a cave about half way up this bluff.



























Wendy and Ralf maneuver around a sharp bend.




The other two boats pulled over to inspect a campsite. It turned out to be our stop for the night. We had covered about ten miles in three hours, including our lunch stop.























A stone stairway led from the riverbank up to our camp. Mike and I played dueling cameras.













The canyon wall behind our camp was even higher than the one at the previous night's camp.

Just downstream and across the river from us was Huckbay Canyon.

The merry paddlers relax after setting up camp.












A group floated by on their way to the camp- ground at Huckbay Canyon reserved for large groups, the final such campsite before the 4-mile no camping zone covering the final stretch of Chama Canyon.

















I decided to explore the bluff behind our camp. After my experience the day before, I headed out well before sunset, in fact around 5:30, equipped this time with water, a jacket, and two flashlights. The photo above shows my destination. I wanted to see how high up the bluff I would be able to go.












An animal's den led deep into the ground right in the middle of the path I was following up the hill. I didn't want to be coming back down this way after dark.

As I climbed higher, my first objective was to reach the base of the sheer rock face above me. As seen below, the view back up the canyon opened up spectacularly. I believe that the butte on the horizon is Navajo Peak, mentioned earlier and about three and a third miles almost due north of our camp.

Looking up, I could see a V-shaped notch at the top of the cliff face that might give me access to the top. As it turned out, once I reached that point (and getting there from where this photo was taken was interesting enough), I discovered that the dark gray rock covering the final 15 feet of the ascent to the opening was too crumbly and steep to make me want to attempt the climb. But the view from there, as seen in the next two photos below, made the climb worthwhile - even given my fear of heights.

Reminder: Left click on any photo to enlarge.

Just after I started back down, I was suddenly joined by Ralf, who was moving a lot more rapidly than me. He went up and took a look at the notch, also decided that it was not a good place to make a final ascent, then returned to my position. However, he decided to look for another route.


After scrambling laterally and disappearing around an outcropping, Ralf reappeared and signaled that a way up had been found. Then he was off again. I followed his lead - at a much slower pace - and finally reached the top more than a half hour later, probably a good twenty minutes after passing Ralf on his way back down. Even with my hiking boots, I was no match for Ralf in his sandals!

The level ground at the top was heavily forested, as shown above. About another quarter mile through the woods to the west, I could see that the mesa abruptly rose another 400 feet in elevation. But I had neither the time nor energy to explore that terrain. My hike had already taken two hours, and I had climbed from an elevation of 6,470 feet at the river to 7,600 feet here among the trees. For me, this would have to be the top. I did not want to be caught in the dark again, and so began my descent back down to camp.

As the sun got lower in the sky, I enjoyed again the views of Huckbay Canyon across the river from me (above) and of Navajo Peak in the distance and back up the river (below).

Well, it was fully dusk by the time I made it all of the way back down to our camp, and I even used my headlamp the final ten minutes or so. Mike had prepared another delicious meal, and I arrived just in time to enjoy a pork loin chop in a wonderful sauce and asparagus. Then it was down to the riverbank to wash the dishes. All in all, another great day on the Rio Chama.

Note: For 68 more photos of this day on the Rio Chama, click here to transfer to my Flickr account, then click on "Slideshow."