Rio Grande Gorge Full Day in New Mexico booking from $145.00

Rio Grande Gorge Full Day

Overview

The Lower Gorge of the Rio Grande is a broad canyon with lush riparian habitat along the banks of the Rio. A fantastic full day adventure for families, first time rafters and groups. The first half of the day is beautiful float through the Orilla Verde section of the Rio Grande with incredible scenery, gorgeous riverside lunch stops and ample opportunity to work on your paddling in preparation for the exciting whitewater of the Racecourse to come in the afternoon. The Rio Grande Gorge full day trip meets at our headquarters at 8:30 a.m. daily and the minimum age during most of the year is 5 years old

City: New Mexico

Sat 21 Sep

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Starting at $145.00

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Sat 21 Sep

Starting at $145.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

World Class Guides

Safe, Secure Parking,

Full Service Headquarters

All rafting Equipment

Lunch

Signature, Hot Chicken Fajita Lunch

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Children must be accompanied by an adult
Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Social distancing enforced throughout experience
Regularly sanitised high-traffic areas
Gear/equipment sanitised between use
Transportation vehicles regularly sanitised
Guides required to regularly wash hands
Contactless payments for gratuities and add-ons

What To Expect

Rio Grande Gorge

Starting Out We start at our headquarters where you’ll meet your guides for the day who will outfit you with all the gear necessary for the day on the river. At the headquarters, you will find safe secure parking, clean restrooms, changing rooms, shaded picnic tables on our patio rooms, and any last minute items you might have forgotten including sunscreen, water shoes, hats and much more. This is the perfect place to start your adventure. Craft choices are dependent on water levels. The large majority of our guests like to participate and paddle along with the guide in the back of the boat giving paddling commands, however, you may also choose to sit back and let the guide do the work on an oar boat. And for the adrenaline junkies, ask about an inflatable kayak at no extra charge. Floating the Rio Grande Gorge After the short drive to the starting point in our vans, your river trip begins with a placid morning float through one of the most scenic parts of the canyon with great opportunities to see a variety of wildlife including mule deer, river otter, beaver and many different birds of prey. This section also affords us time to practice paddling techniques, swimming and simply enjoying the Rio Grande. Somewhere in this stretch, we’ll stop on the side of the river for a nice lunch put together by your guides. After lunch, we run the Class III rapids of the “Racecourse.” The Lower Gorge of the Rio Grande is a broad canyon with lush riparian habitat along the banks of the Rio. As we enter the “Racecourse” section the geology radically changes as we pass onto the Rio Grande fault line, one of the largest intercontinental fault lines in North America. But let’s not forget the whitewater! The Racecourse is 6 miles of action-packed class 2-3 rapids. Perfect for everyone from beginners to intermediate/experts. There is something for everyone to enjoy on this section. With rapids like the Maze, Albert’s Falls, The Narrows, and The Thunderdome make sure you are braced in and ready to get wet! Listen to your guides as they negotiate these rapids and don’t forget to ask them to surf when the water levels are lower. Guides for the Rio Grande Gorge Full Day Our guides are the best in the business, focusing on safety and guest service as a top priority. All are extremely knowledgeable about the area’s geology, ecology and history and just love being on the river. Our Guides have experience on rivers all over the country and across the globe, I know you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do. They will certainly help to make your day on the river the best possible. Full Day Rio Grande rafting trips available EVERY DAY starting in March through September. Our minimum age at most water levels is 5, however, at the higher flows, that minimum age rises to 13. Book online or call us anytime, 1-800-983-7756, to reserve your space.

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (175)

explore961

Jun 2017

As experienced whitewater kayakers, my friends and I wanted to introduce my goddaughter and her boyfriend (both in their 20s) to the sport we love and I knew the best way to do that was to start them off with professional instruction. We also wanted to paddle the renowned Lower Taos Box section of the Rio Grande while we were in New Mexico. New Mexico River Adventures (NMRA) offered the perfect way to achieve both. After a full day of kayak lessons with NMRA instructor Garrett, the "kids" were well prepared to kayak the Orilla Verde (Taos Junction Bridge to Quartzite) and Bosque (County Line to Embudo Bridge) sections of the Rio Grande with us, which we enjoyed doing over the next several days, thanks to the excellent river beta provided by Matt at NMRA. Then, we culminated our New Mexico vacation with a full-day rafting trip down the Taos Box. If you only have a half day to spend on the Rio Grande or if your group includes children under 13, the Racecourse section is a very fun run (we kayaked it several times without the beginners) and will give you a good taste of Rio Grande whitewater but if you want a true whitewater adventure experience, I very highly recommend spending the extra time and money to do the full-day Taos Box trip. The Lower Taos Box is a classic Class III-IV whitewater run of about 15 miles on a beautiful stretch of the Rio Grande river through a deep, isolated gorge with incredible scenery and opportunities to see wildlife in one of the country’s newest National Monuments. It starts off relatively calm, which gave us the chance to look around and enjoy the views and spot bighorn sheep as well as time to learn to paddle together as a raft team. Our trip leader and guide Wendy was terrific — she was extremely knowledgeable, providing us with expert commentary about the river and gorge, and she did an excellent job of coaching a raft full of kayakers (i.e., people accustomed to paddling solo) into a well-functioning raft team before we hit the bigger rapids downstream. We also fueled up with NMRA’s delicious fajita lunch (way better than typical raft trip fare!) to prepare us for the final five miles of the run, dubbed “the hour of power,” where the river drops more steeply and is characterized by a succession of intense and exhilarating rapids. Even though it was a full day, for us it was over too quickly; we didn’t want it to end so we were a little sad after we ran “Sunset,” our final big rapid of the day and the end of our New Mexico vacation. But what a way to end it! And it left us wanting more so we hope we’ll be back again to try one of NMRA’s multi-day or specialty trips. Thanks, Matt, Wendy, Garrett, and the rest of the NMRA team for your awesome river hospitality!

Response from Host

Jun 2017

Thank you for your excellent review! We appreciate that you enjoyed not one, but two of the first class river instruction and adventures that we offer. This is a beautifully detailed description of the amazing river area we have access to on our full day Taos Box whitewater adventure. Matt, Wendy, Garrett, and the rest of the NMRA team are happy to have shown you why we are NM's top rated river outfitter.

Jeffrey E

Jun 2017

Monday, May 29, was the Best Adventure Ever for us when we shot the rapids of the Taos Box with Wendy, our most intrepid river guide, under the care and auspices of New Mexico River Adventures, located in Embudo, NM. NMRA got us geared up early in the morning (8 a.m. after an hour drive from Santa Fe) on Memorial Day with all the right stuff, wet suits and splash jackets, helmets and PFD's (what I used to call Life Jackets when vacationing in the summer along the coast of Maine). Wendy then schooled us on all of the necessary and requisite safety procedures and what to do and what not to do. Above all else, she mainly emphasized that whatever happened, it was always, absolutely always, better to stay in the raft, not out of the raft! (Of course, if anyone decided otherwise, Wendy provided us with the express details about how we could get retrieved and put back in the raft or how we could proceed with our very own solo float through the Class IV waters.) We then headed out, the four of us who would fill the raft, along with Wendy and Luke, our Alt-Guide In Charge of All Things Food for Lunch, for one of the most amazing days ever. After traveling in the NMRA van for about an hour (I think) from NMRA's office and equipment compound to slightly north of Taos, really just outside of it, we put in on the Rio Grande at John Dunn Bridge and started our wild and crazy ride down the river. And believe me, this wasn't no lazy river cruise, nosiree! While cruising along at the beginning and just flowing with fast water, Wendy got us totally prepped on our paddling techniques and moved us into synchronicity just like that. She's got that special energy that just gets you and got us all fired up. But once again, as she had said several times earlier in the morning, when you go in the Taos Box with a raft, the only way you're comin' out of the Box is on a raft; it's that kind of a river and rapids adventure. (The Taos Box is actually the result of and is located in a geological phenomenon known as the Rio Grande Rift, which was formed by the shifting of the earth's tectonic plates. Unlike other canyons and rivers within elsewhere in the U.S., the Rio Grande did not carve the canyon; the river just flowed to the lowest point which took it through the Taos Box. It is altogether a very remarkable thing to see up close.) So, thereafter, we floated really, practiced paddling techniques, and shot some minor rapids, really just fast water, breaking for an early lunch of chicken fajitas with all the fixings (a masterful meal well prepared and coordinated by Luke -- by now known as Luke Waterwalker), Jalapeno Pringles (desperately, but unsuccessfully, sought by a guest chipmunk), PB&J, a super good honeydew melon. But the excitement continued even on the shore with the discovery of a mystery guest in our midst -- we never saw him or her, but that very distinctive rattle sound clued us in that we might want to steer clear of some certain rocks. So, with belly full, we loaded back up and took off to accomplish the serious business of taming the Rio Grande. (Both before and more so after lunch, we saw many Big Horn Sheep.) As we flowed along, the river picked the pace and, hearing the roar of the upcoming rapids, the four of us quickly revived from that post-lunch lethargy into adrenalized paddling fiends. This is where four intrepid souls and one very skilled and experienced guide faced the coming onslaught of numerous Class IV rapids and falls, well known as Dead Car Rapid, Powerline Falls (a huge drop where the only thing to do upon Wendy's command is to GET DOWN with the hope that you don't go down), Pinball, THEN Rock Garden (a 1/2 mile of amazing water, waves and peril with its Dead Texans -- Wendy still owes us an explanation about how the DT's got its name), and Sunset, the one and only one to end on just before exiting the raft and river scene. Lasting from about 9:30 or 10 a.m., when we put in, until 3:00 or 3:30 p.m., it was an amazing trip full day rafting trip; the best adventure ever! While I don't know anything about any of the other rafting companies in the area, I can only say that for the price, NMRA absolutely delivers on the product and the service for a full day of Taos Box river rafting. We're anticipating that we'll be back in Santa Fe next year and with luck and opportunity, we'll do it again with NMRA.

Response from Host

Jun 2017

Thank you Jeffrey! We appreciate your enthusiasm and well written prose. What a fantastic adventure with Wendy and Luke on our Taos Box Full Day trip! We are delighted to have shown you why we are NM's top rated rafting outfitter. With luck and opportunity we look forward to you joining us next year for another amazing rafting adventure. Thank you for the great pictures!

Subzero4534

May 2017

Our group took a full day Rio Grande Gorge raft trip over Memorial Day 2017 with Kim as our outstanding guide. There was a 70 year age span in our rafting team, from my 80+ year old father to my 11 year old niece. I must have nervously called NMRA five times to be reassured that this adventure was REALLY suitable for our group. I could not be more delighted that we made this choice! We did NOT feel unsafe for one moment. NMRA and its guides go to great lengths to put caution first... and to make sure everybody is having fun at their own pace. My husband got to jump in the river at the end and ride a little white water outside the boat. We're all glad that we wore the splash gear (even as the afternoon heated up to 70+ degrees) which kept us comfortable in the chilly morning as well as during the afternoon sun. It's amazing how hard the guides work, too -- not only do they pilot the raft down a crazy patch of river, they whip up a hot lunch of chicken & veggie fajitas, point out wildlife and geologic points of interest, and make sure everyone's wearing enough layers to be comfortable! Thank you Kim -- for showing us an amazing time (and keeping my family safe)! We HIGHLY recommend the NMRA rafting adventure and will return again before the summer is out.

Response from Host

May 2017

Thank you for your fantastic review! We are elated that you and your multi generational family enjoyed themselves on a top notch rafting adventure with us. Our first priority here at NMRA is the safety and comfort of our guests, but there is always room for fun. Not only are our guides incredibly knowledgeable, and personable they are also great cooks, and Kim is a terrific example of these A+ qualities. Kim and all of us at NMRA welcome you and your family back for more rafting adventures this summer.

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Rio Grande Gorge Full Day

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