3. Chiflo Campground to Little Arsenic Trail (Upper Taos Box)Class V
6 Miles
Avg Gradient 69 fpm
NCO
NCO Photo of Jered Johnson by Craig Cardella taken March 13 2004 @ 500cfs (Low) Gauge Information
Rio Grande
River DescriptionThis is truly one of the classic runs in the west. The Taos Box is actually where the Rio Grande has fallen into one of the largest rifts on earth. The entire Taos Box is almost 100 miles long. The Upper Box refers to the 6 mile Class V run from the Chiflo Trail to the Little Arsenic Trail. There is no access at all in between these two points so make sure to bring spare paddles and rescue gear as a hike out in the middle is not an option.
The one major thing you have to watch out for on this run are the sieves, they are everywhere! Some are much worse than others. Don't be fooled by the gradient. This river is the definition of pool-drop and doesn't waste any of its' gradient on easy rapids in between the big rapids. In general the rapids are long technical boulder gardens with lots of sieves. The riverbed is composed of large angular basalt rocks that have fallen from the cliffs above. Keep in mind that this is not Gore Canyon, keep the playboat at home! In fact, this run is always a good solid grade higher in difficulty that Gore at similar levels. The 3 mandatory scouts are NCO, Hell Hole, and Big Arsenic. These rapids have big drops at the entrance, and currents that push hard into sieves below. Swimming is not recommended! Fortunately there is ample opportunity to scout and portage as the cliffs are located high up on the rim, not at river level.
For many the run is defined by the takeout. You have 2 less than appealing options. You can float out on 9 miles of flat water, or take a 45 minute hike to the rim at Little Arsenic Trail. Although the Little Arsenic takeout is by far preferred, it does climb 750 feet up in .8 miles. The best camping is at the end of the takeout trail.
The reaches of the Taos Box area are...
Ute Mountain (Class II), StreamTeam Status: verified
Last Updated: 2005-08-10 00:03:35
|
You’ve followed a link to a topic that doesn’t exist yet.
If permissions allow (as a AW Member, you may edit River Wiki, for example) you may create it by using the “Create This Page Button” below by hovering your mouse over the edit wrench.
If you don’t see a wrench, you don’t have permission to edit or edit is turned off.
If you don’t know what you are doing click on the sandbox and instructions link off the create page link.
800cfs to 1500cfs is V
Greater than 1500cfs is V+ 1500 to 2000 is generally considered the most dangerous level as the rapids are very pushy with big holes, but the sieves haven't been covered up yet. Above 2000 the holes and waves are huge, but the sieve factor becomes non-existant
This reach gets dam release water from Colorado, which uses up most of it. The river will often start running in March or April and shut off just when it starts to get to a good level. Only in big snow years will there be a lot of water in here
Rio Grande/Cerro [ NM ] |
Current Conditions
Station Graphs |
| Level Legend: | Running | Below Minimum Recommended Flow | Above Maximum Recommended Flow | Unknown |
| State | River Name/Section | Class | Level | Rel. Level | Updated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NM | Rio Grande— 1. Lobatos Bridge(Colorado) to Lee Trail | II-III | 342 cfs | low | 7/25 11:45 | |
| NM | Rio Grande— 2. Lee Trail to Chiflo Campground | II-IV | 342 cfs | low | 7/25 11:45 | |
| NM | Rio Grande— 3. Chiflo Campground to Little Arsenic Trail | V | 342 cfs | med | 7/25 11:45 | |
| NM | Rio Grande— 4. Red River confluence to John Dunn Bridge | II-III | 342 cfs | med | 7/25 11:45 |
| AW Gauge ID: | 4069 |
| USGS Station: | 08263500 |
| HUC: | 13020101 |
| Latitude: | 36.7347 |
| Longitude: | -105.6847 |
| Class: | 1 |
No Comments
Add a Comment| Mile | Rapid Name | Class | Features (Legend) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | put-in | IV |  |
| 1.5 | Powerline Rapid | IV+ | |
| 2.0 | NCO | 5.0 |   |
| 2.3 | Hell Hole | 5.1 | |
| 2.5 | Long Rapid | 5.0 | |
| 3.5 | Pleasure Plunge | IV+ | |
| 4.0 | The Great Calm | I | |
| 4.5 | Boulder Fan Rapid | 5.0 | |
| 4.8 | Freight Train | IV+ | |
| 5.0 | Big Arsenic Rapid | 5.1 | |
| 5.5 | Little Arsenic Rapid | 5.0 | |
| 5.8 | Little Arsenic Rapid Junior | 5.0 | |
| 6.0 | Take-out | III |  |
River Alert
State News
River Links
(RSS)
(KML)help
(mobile)
River Info (mobile)
