Rio Chama - Prologue

Note: Left click on any photo to enlarge.

The big adventure was finally underway! After what seemed like endless (at least to Kathy) preparations, including the purchase of another canoe deemed to be more suitable to the task less than a week before my departure, I was pulling out of the driveway at 8:20 on Wednesday morning. Destination: Santa Fe for the night and, ultimately, three days on the Rio Chama.

Surprisingly (at least to Kathy), I was hitting the road less than ninety minutes behind schedule. The plan was to rendezvous in Santa Fe with my paddling partner, Mike Scudday, who was driving from Dallas. We would spend the night in Santa Fe with my cousin Betty and Jonathan. A concern was the 8:30 p.m. starting time for a performance of The Elixir of Love by the Santa Fe Opera. The entrance to Betty and Jonathan's subdivision is directly across from the entrance to the grounds of the famed Opera House, and tailgating in the opera parking lots was scheduled to start at 5:30.

I made the 720-mile solo drive to Santa Fe, pulling my trailer with the Dagger Dimension 16' tandem whitewater canoe and two small whitewater kayaks, in a little over 12 hours. This included the mandatory stop at Classics Frozen Custard in Roswell, my only break for food (well, actually a great chocolate custard). With the aid of our cell phones, Mike and I met without a hitch on the road through Santa Fe, and I didn't even have to slow down as his truck pulled in behind my van. Even though this put us on Opera Drive and right at the opera entrance close to 8:00, the traffic was light and we made it to our destination well before dark. We were greeted a short distance from the house by Betty, who had been alerted to our arrival by the gatekeeper. The hard part of this long day was over.

Mike with our gracious hosts on the porch connecting the guest room to the main house. The walkway was soon covered with lots of river and camping gear.

After a relaxing visit with Betty and Jonathan over wine and cheese, Mike and I returned to downtown Santa Fe for dinner. Mike had selected his favorite Santa Fe restaurant, La Casa Sena, located in Sena Plaza in the heart of the old city. Although reservations are normally required, we were quickly seated in the beautiful patio dining area. The meal was delicious. We shared an appetizer of duck prosciutto, then each ordered the braised New Mexico lamb shoulder, which was cooked to perfection. Complemented by a very nice red wine, the dinner was such a treat after a long day on the road that I don't even remember what we had for dessert. Thanks, Mike.

We passed by St. Francis Cathedral on our short walk from a parking lot to the restaurant. It is named after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of Santa Fe. The cathedral was dedicated in 1886. However, its roots are much older. Connected to the main structure is the Conquistadora Chapel, which was built in 1714 and houses the country's oldest Madonna, La Conquistadora (Our Lady of Conquering Love), which dates to 1625.

I arose early the next morning. This photo of the house, with the lights of Los Alamos visible against the Jemez Mountains in the background, was taken shortly after 6:00. I took a short walk as the first touches of dawn began to lighten the sky.

The muted light was the perfect illumination for these flowers and grasses on the berm next to the driveway.

Meanwhile, Mike was still sawing logs in the casita.









The beautiful main house, with an interesting stone sculpture.





We spent about an hour loading our gear into the canoe, making sure that everything would fit as planned (in great detail, by Mike). Then the canoe was emptied and put back on the trailer.










Jonathan, Betty, and me shortly before Mike and I left on our journey north to the river.

After stops in Espanola for burgers and gasoline, we headed north on US Highway 84, with the Rio Chama not quite visible a short distance to our right. About 15 minutes out of Espanola, as we were straining to spot the river, we crossed a tributary running down to the Chama from the Jemez Mountains to our west. There had been a burst of rain in the mountains the previous night, and the creek was a roiling, boiling, angry-looking torrent of mud and sand, with some water thrown in for good measure. Mike let out a loud expletive. Both of us wondered exactly what we were getting ourselves into. However, it appeared that the rainfall had been very localized, as only this creek and the next drainage crossing up the highway showed evidence of recent precipitation. But some seeds of doubt had been sowed.

Continuing north on US-84, we passed the entrance on our right to the famous Ghost Ranch, the former home of, and the subject of many landscapes by, Georgia O'Keeffe. A half mile further on our left was Forest Road 151, the unpaved route to our take-out on the Chama. The scenery was quite fantastic.

Another four miles up the highway, we came upon the entrance to Echo Amphitheater. I had previously passed this way on a couple of occasions with the family, but had never stopped to see it up close. Since we had the time, we did just that.

The geologic formations are very impressive. Unfortunately, our yodeling skills were not.

The paved main path and nice picnicking and camping sites easily justified the rather nominal entrance fee to this Forest Service site.

From the amphitheater, we continued north on US-84 to Tierra Amarilla, then turned left onto New Mexico Highway 112 (missing the slight shortcut involving NM-531) and headed southwest for about 13 miles to our destination for the night - Cooper's El Vado Ranch. We ended up with a campsite right next to the river.






Mike examines the campfire ring left by prior visitors to our campsite.

Giant wooden spools served as tables.

With the river flowing at a rate of about 1,150 cfs, the sound of water rushing through the rapid next to our camp was quite loud. In fact, ear plugs were not needed that night, as the river noise drowned out even the loudest snoring.

Gary and Julie had arrived before us and set up their tents. Here Gary enjoys a tall cold one next to their canopy while viewing the rapid.

I took a short hike up the hill behind, and upstream from, our campsite. In these photos, I am looking downstream back towards the rapid.

I retraced this route several times to collect firewood for our campfire. There was plenty of downed wood.



















Wendy and Ralf had quite a camp kitchen set up.










There were some paddling discussions around our campfire. These last two photos were taken by George.

Mike and I enjoyed a great dinner of prime New York strips grilled over the fire, potatoes baked in the coals, salad, and a very nice bottle of a 1996 vintage Haut Medoc. The dinner helped ease my anxiety about what we might be facing on the river for the next three days, and I slept soundly in my tent that night despite a few brief rain showers.

Note: For 27 more photos of Santa Fe, the Echo Amphitheater, and the campground, click on this link to my Flickr page.