Chama River Wilderness
August 2003

Several of us had noticed that the Bureau of Rec was releasing over 1000 cfs from El Vado, so Larry called the BLM and got us a permit for Monday, August 4. This was perfect with me since I was on my summer break and a weekday launch would mean fewer people. We lassoed Pattie and my folks to go with us on short notice and made the 4-hour drive (including a lunch in Espanola) to the put-in at Cooper's Ranch on Sunday.

After setting up the boats we camped right at the put in. On Monday we were on the water at about 9, in front of some guy doing the river alone and a commercial trip with over 20 guests.

The river was flowing well. We later looked up the flow and it was over 1350 cfs. The several small rills before lunch allowed us to get our legs under us. We stopped at Christmas Tree Rock, on the upstream end of Aragon Rapid, and ate some sandwiches. Then we continued on to our camp under Chama Rock. It was a bit chilly Sunday night, so Pattie and I put our rain fly on the tent this night.

We cooked up some dinner and had fun playing with the fire (safely of course), then went ot bed.

The next morning some of us thought it was a bit nippy and some of us thought it was down-right cold.

We got our coffee down and were on the water by 10 on Tuesday. We had 14 miles out of the 31 mile trip remaining. As with the previous days, there could not have been better weather.

We arrived at the take-out at about 3:10. Pretty quick time that we attribute to the light rafts, small crew, and quick flow. The only thing left to do was break down the gear and head on home.

The trip was a blast overall. No incidents, except once when I fell into the river - but we won't mention that!