State Seeks More Bids for San Juan Habitat Improvement Projects

State Game and Fish officials have decided to seek additional bids for engineering services before proceeding any further with long-awaited habitat improvement plans to the trophy-class trout fishery at Navajo Dam on the San Juan River.

The department solicited and received proposals this summer from two firms to develop engineering plans for a runoff diversion at Rex Smith Wash and in-stream habitat improvements in the “Braids,” both areas located just above “Texas Hole.”

The two projects were called for by a working group of San Juan River stakeholders earlier this summer after the state legislature, last winter, appropriated $250,000 for the habitat improvements on the San Juan at the request of Governor Bill Richardson.

The funding came as controversy raged over fishing conditions on the river due to low flows implemented by federal operators of the dam over the last decade to accommodate endangered fish downstream.

The department solicited bids from about a half-dozen engineering firms to do the engineering work and received proposals from two firms interested in performing the job, said Marc Wethington, the San Juan’s Fisheries Biologist for the state Department of Game and Fish.

After review of the two proposals, department officials decided to seek more proposals through a formal request for proposals process

“The Department determined that a broader solicitation was warranted in order to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved,” says Marty Frentzel, Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of Game and Fish.

Frentzel declined to elaborate on the decision.

One of the firms that applied was Freestone Aquatics of Littleton, Co. in conjunction with Goff Engineering of Durango, Colo.

They submitted a bid to do the work for close to $62,000.

Freestone Aquatics is owned and operated by a couple of fishing guides who formed their own company in 2006 to do fish habitat work, according to information contained within their proposal and posted on their website.

It was noted in Freestone’s proposal that they had done a preliminary analysis of the San Juan River this summer on behalf of the San Juan River Foundation, a non-profit organization recently formed to raise money in support of habitat improvement and other projects on the river.

The foundation’s president is Bubba Smith, a San Juan fishing guide widely credited with drawing Richardson’s attention to the river and for working closely with state Game Commission chairman, Jim McClintic.

Freestone Aquatics referenced its preliminary work with the San Juan River Foundation in describing their work experience, stating in their proposal that “Freestone Aquatics is involved in a large scale restoration project on one of the premier gold-medal tail water fisheries in the West.Working with the San Juan River Foundation and the state of New Mexico, Freestone has been asked to provide expertise in managing this high profile, high use fishery.”

The statement goes on to say that “Freestone Aquatics employees are currently in the data gathering and design phase that will eventually be applied to this highly valuable fishery. Installation of Freestone-designed structures will function to transport sediment resulting in the recovery of thousands of square feet of macro invertebrate habitat.”

Freestone Aquatics is not currently working for the state of New Mexico in any capacity with regards to the San Juan as may be inferred from this statement in their proposal, said Lance Cherry, Assistant Chief of Public Information and Outreach for the state Department of Game and Fish.

The low bid for the project came from Riverbend Engineering, a river restoration firm with offices in Albuquerque and Durango, Colo., who submitted a proposal in partnership with Aquatic Consultants of Albuquerque.

They offered to perform the engineering services for just under $50,000.

Riverbend Engineering also provided reduced cost engineering services for the in-stream habitat work recently completed in the Cottonwood Campground area of the San Juan River, Wethington said.

The firm was not involved, though, in the oft-criticized habitat improvements done below Simon Canyon a few years ago, he said.

Those were designed by the Army Corp of Engineers, Wethington said.

An angler fishes during the summer of 2008 among the much maligned but highly effective habitat improvements installed below Simon Canyon.

Riverbend’s partner in their proposal is Aquatic Consultants which has been involved in numerous projects throughout the state including trophy sport fishing and commercial fisheries management projects at Cow Creek Ranch on the Pecos River, Don Imus’ ranch near Las Vegas, N.M., and Isleta, Sandia and Eagles Nest lakes.

Paul Cassidy, founder and president of Aquatic Consultants, was the state Department of Game and Fish’s Northwest Area Fisheries Manager for 11 years before leaving the department to form his own firm.

A new request for proposals for the Rex Smith and Braid’s habitat improvement projects is forthcoming and these firms may apply again, Wethington said.

In the meantime, the department awaits the outcome of the upcoming special session of the state legislature called for by the Governor to consider the state’s $650 million budget shortfall.

Frentzel said the department is not anticipating loss of the previously appropriated funds for the San Juan projects but noted that the any funding decision rests with the state legislature and governor.

One suggested method of covering some of the state budget shortfall includes recouping previously appropriated capital outlay funds that have yet to be spent.

However, Linda Kehoe, Capital Outlay Analyst for the state’s Legislative Finance Committee tells Outdoors New Mexico that the San Juan River’s funding appears safe for the time being.

“We’re not looking at those (from last year) right now,” she said. “But I would suggest that they (NMDGF) get a plan and start spending because as soon as this next session starts, we’ll be looking again.”

Even under a worst-case scenario, the San Juan projects appear to remain a priority.

“The Department views these projects as important,” says Frentzel. “And (we) will have to evaluate our budget situation and ability to move forward on them should the current funding be lost.”

And in the future, the department may have an additional revenue stream to rely upon rather than the generosity of the legislature to complete projects on the San Juan River.

Frentzel said the department is in the process of drafting proposed legislation, as directed by the state game commission, to authorize an additional habitat stamp for those who fish the quality waters of the San Juan River.

That idea came out of public discussions last spring regarding ways to improve fishing conditions on the San Juan River (see related article).

The Dream Hunt

As the fall approached I began having the dream again, sometimes in vivid color, sight and sound and other times just blurry images and a fast fading, foggy memory of it upon awakening.

Then this morning I snapped awake feeling frantic and agitated.

I lay in the dark listening through the bedroom door as my aging and now slightly demented dog, Wiley, padded back and forth across the living room floor.

Then there was the slap, slap of the doggy door as she went outside to continue her rounds.

I struggled with my fleeting memory as the dream evaporated with the slowly brightening room.

From outside I heard our newspaper land in the driveway and the delivery truck speed away.

One thing I knew, it was essentially the same every time, reliving the actual events, but with an unnerving twist.

We were out on our hunt, having drawn tags for cow elk, up in the high country above Eagles Nest.

I was there with my buddies, Mikey Giddings and his uncle and Glenn Jaramillo and his son.

It was our second year in a row hunting in this location.

The year before we had been very successful and stocked our freezers full of good, lean organic meat (see related story here).

But this second year was different and I haven’t told the story until now.

We had been scouting at dusk along a forest road crossing the valley floor when we came across a herd headed back up the mountain.

They crossed the road right in front of our trucks.

“You know where I’ll be tomorrow morning,” Glenn said.

The elk were following an old logging road and we talked excitedly about our plan to catch them coming down or going back up again in the morning when the hunt officially began.

We were there at first light, Mikey on the far left up on a little knoll watching the draw that spread out before us into a large meadow.

I was hiding in the tree line a couple hundred yards away, covering the middle of the meadow, right where the logging road began its climb up the mountain.

And Glenn and Jonathan went ahead, around another tree covered knoll, to the cover the other side of the meadow.

As we waited, a few trucks motored by loaded with hunters heading off into the forest and the grey light of dawn gave way to the sun.

The elk should be moving off the watering holes and meadows down below us and heading back uphill soon, I thought as I waited.

Then a rifle shot cracked through the air and Glenn was on the radio.

“I got one,” he whispered.

They had slipped in right before us, coming up the draw and skirting the meadow by walking through an opposing tree line.

Glenn was in the right spot to see them working their way across us and picked off a young, antlerless, male.

We went back to camp and got to work skinning it and were eating grilled tenderloin with fried onions by lunch.
The next day brought a good dusting of snow which help revealed plenty of tracks and sign all over the valley floor, up the logging roads and on top of the mountain.

But we weren’t having any luck at all in actually seeing them.

So the next day we climbed the mountain in my little four wheel drive Geo Tracker with Glenn riding shotgun, bouncing up and over the rock strewn logging roads, and we went looking for them.

For miles we drove along snow covered forest roads, enjoying the beauty of the frosted mountain, the late afternoon sunshine and discovering new places.

Then we came across a wide meadow on the uphill side of the road. A little, two track, jeep trail ran up through it.

Glenn advised me to follow it.

We dropped the transmission into low gear and began idling up the muddy trail.

On our right a deeply forested hill rose, shaded from the sun and still covered in snow.

To our left, scrub oak, evergreen shrubs and stands of aspen bathed in the sunshine.

As we motored on up the meadow, she came out of the south facing treeline and began across the trail.

Glenn swore as I slowly came to a halt, turned off the engine and applied the parking brake.

She was now standing in the middle of the trail, just at the crest of the hill, broadside and looking straight at us.

Glenn swore again as I slowly pushed open the driver’s side door and eased my Dad’s model 1898, Springfield Armory, 30.-40. Krag from between the front seats.

I dropped to a knee, rested the rifle in the crook of the door frame and thumbed off the safety.

I couldn’t believe she was still there when I sighted down the barrel.

Glenn hissed, “shoot her, damn it.”

I took a breath, held it and then began steadily pulling the trigger.

Then she suddenly leaped off the road and bounded towards the safety of the snow covered pines.

I still had her in my sights when I heard a shout in my head.

“Run, girl, run!”

That’s when I usually snap awake.

This morning I lay there thinking, again, why I never took that shot.

I could take some solace in the fact that I hadn’t taken a risky shot, that we didn’t have to follow a wounded animal off into the woods, near dark, in the hopes we could recover her body.

I did the right thing I argued to myself and others after the hunt.

I just didn’t feel comfortable taking the shot.

But someone couldn’t help but snicker that maybe I would have if I had only been carrying my camera.

So as we prepare for this year’s hunt, in the same place for the same animals, I wonder about that shout in my head.

Did that happen or was it really just a dream?

After the elk had escaped that day we had gone up into the tree line and found their beds amid the grass, some still warm, their pellets soft and moist, we’d just missed them.

Maybe she’d slept late that afternoon and was the last to leave.

Maybe she’d been dreaming too.

Fly Fishing on a Bubble - What a Hoot!

This summer I was invited up to the lake to do some fly fishing with some good ole boys I know from Missouri.

But I balked at the thought of blowing out my arm trying to cast to rising fish just out of my reach.

No, No, No, they told me.

Forget the fly rod.

We’ll be fly fishing “hillbilly” style, with a bubble and a spin casting rig, that is.

Knowing I was about to enjoy some fine company, even better camp cooking and lots of good fishing, I was digging out my bass rod in no time.

Now when I first got into fly fishing I’d had the occasion to meet an older, Hispanic, gentleman from Taos up at Shuree Ponds on the Valle Vidal in Northern New Mexico.

He was tying up Wooley Boogers off the back of his old Jeep so he could go after one of those lunkers the boys from state Game and Fish like to stock up there.

He swore you couldn’t beat dangling one of his boogers below a bubble if you were serious about catching one of those big, high country fish.

But I was new to the game then and lacked a spin casting rig so I spent my time and effort making long laborious casts with a fly rod and watching as my caddis fly landed just out of reach of some big risers.

Now, I’m not saying you can’t catch fish at the lake with a fly rod but it requires a long leader and incredible diligence, squinting at your fly out there on the still water and waiting, always waiting, for that strike to come.

And sometimes the wait pays off, like the time I took a moment to clamp the rod handle between my teeth so I could free up my hands to unzip my pants and take a much needed whiz.

As I’m fumbled about in my shorts, I saw a snout break the surface to sip at my fly.

I whipped my head back in a futile attempt to hook him and watched as he dove out of sight.

Self induced whiplash, a blown out shoulder and too many near misses diminished my enthusiasm for fly fishing on lakes and I only indulged when necessary.

But now I’ve seen the error of my ways since meeting up with the Davis brothers at the River’s End Campground at Taylor Reservoir in Colorado this summer.
From left to right: James Davis, 72, of Coldwater Mo. is a retired manufacturing maintainance technician. Bud Davis,70, is a retired trucking company manager who lives in Jackson, Mo.. Raymond Davis, 66, of Imperial Mo. is also retired from the trucking business. Edward Page, 69, retired from the automotive industry and his wife Ellie, a homemaker,live in Scroggins Tx. They are cousins to the Davis family. Eddie Davis,63, of Patterson Mo. is a retired school teacher. The Davis brothers all teach Sunday school and are avid hunters, anglers and cooks. The author with his trusty dog, Wiley, 17, of La Cueva, N.M.

I happened across these camo clad, back slapping, good ole boys during a roadtrip to fish the Taylor River’s trophy waters last year. I was up there to see how some of our neighbor’s tail waters stacked up against New Mexico’s legendary San Juan River.

And boy was I happy I did (see related article).

So when they invited me back again this year I quickly emptied the spare change jar and left the sweltering, summer days of Santa Fe behind.

I arrived to cool mountain temps, afternoon thunderstorms and a hearty welcome.

I would be fishing with my Abu Garcia, Cardinal 100, a six and half foot long, medium action rod with a factory matched, five ball bearing, #102 spinning reel.

I picked it up one day while wandering around the Sportsmen’s Warehouse in Albuquerque. I was there hunting for a general purpose spinning rod for bass fishing and upon seeing the huge selection available, I asked a fellow customer, who looked like he knew what he was doing, to pick out a good rig for me.

He did and I’ve been happily hauling in bass and walleye from the boat ever since.

But fishing for trout with it was something new and the first thing Ray Davis did was hook me up with some new line on my reel, Mr. Crappie, six-pound test , camo line from Bass Pro Shops.

We then threaded the line through a medium sized, clear, plastic bubble and then added a swivel, making sure it moved freely in the mouth of the fat end of stem inside the bubble.
You fill the bubble up by pushing the skinny tip of the stem back inside the bubble, I used the flat blade of my knife to push down on it.

Then you dip the bubble in the water with the little hole at the tip facing up. Air bubbles should emerge from the little hole at the tip as it fills up.

Fill it about half way or for even longer casts, about three quarters full. Jam the stem back into place in the hole and you’re done. Keep in mind that you’ll have less flotation and won’t be able to see the bubble on the water as well, the fuller it is.

And the length of line you use to attach your fly will depend on the fishing conditions but as a rule we just peeled off a piece of line about the length of our outstretched arms and tied the fly to one end and made a small loop knot in the other and hooked that to the swivel.

I found it helped to cut this piece of line off the spool before attaching the bubble.

I also found casting side arm really heaved it out there with less slack line to reel up but I also enjoyed watching the rig fly like a mortar shell when I lobbed it overhand out in front of me.

Once the bubbles sets down, reel in the slack until you see the bubble shimmy on the water and the line grows tight, then slowly, with the rod tip down and pointed in the direction of the bubble or just off to the side, reel it in, stopping occasionally to let it settle or to jig it a little.
Strikes on the bubble are subtle and many times I felt a slight tug or bump on the line but found they were long gone before I could set the hook.

You have to develop a feel for the fish and need quick reaction to set the hook I was told - a number of times.
Gazing off at the surrounding mountaintops as the clouds rolled over and bird watching didn’t help my fishing success either.

But during our trip to a Mirror Lake above the little mining town of Tin Cup - a scene straight out of a Clint Eastwood western - our group of seven caught and released well over a hundred stocker rainbows and wild brookies while fishing on the bubble.

Most were hooked on the lip and released with no harm done.

And during much of that time you could hear Bud Davis crooning into his walkie talkie, “fire in the hole, there’s another one on Moffatt’s high country special.”

My winged, pheasant tail, bead head, nymph proved to be deadly on that trip and tying up some for the group earned me plenty of accolades and my breakfast in the morning.
Now I've just got to get back up to Shuree Ponds before the season ends and see if those Wooley Boogers on a bubble really work.

Summer Fishing and Camping on the San Juan River

The author shows off a typical rainbow trout that can be caught in the San Juan River of northwestern New Mexico. 

Our vision of the river shimmered in the 95 degree heat and a wave of dry, hot air enveloped us as we came to a dusty stop in a parking lot on the legendary San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico.

My fishing partner, T.A. Phillips, eyed me suspiciously as I rooted around the back of the aging GEO Tracker and tossed a beat-up set of hip waders and a pair of thick, wool socks in a heap at his feet.

“It might be hot out here but it’ll be cold in there,” I said of the river fed by bone numbing, cold water, released from the base of nearby Navajo Dam.

I watched as Phillips wrestled on the waders, shrugged his way into a fishing vest and then sprayed a heavy dose of aerosol sunscreen about his head.

He followed this with an equally misty, dose of bug repellant, clamped on a high-tech, booney hat, rolled down the sleeves of his lightweight nylon shirt and tied on an old fashioned neckerchief around his neck.

I chucked him a couple of liter bottles of water, an apple, banana and a few trail bars and we were  ready to enjoy a long summer’s day on one of the best trout streams in the West.

The best place to beat the blazing heat on the San Juan River during the summer is in the incredibly cold water.  

Staying well hydrated, remaining in the cold water, creating your own shade and eating light is the key to beating the high desert heat and blazing sun that makes this one of the West’s better known winter fisheries.

But here in the summer, anglers who know how to handle the hot conditions will enjoy great dry fly action, lots of sight fishing in incredibly clear water and a really memorable experience, especially in the weeks following the annual spring flush.

The San Juan River’s flows are managed in part to maintain a downstream, endangered fish’s habitat so the flows normally run at about 500 cfs (cubic-feet-per-second) most of the year except for in the spring.

Then they crank it up to mimic the natural spring time runoff found on free flowing streams and send out about 5,000 cfs for a week or more depending how much water Navajo lake is holding and how much more is flowing in from feeder creeks and rivers.

Navajo Dam unleashing a torrent of stored water during an annual spring high volume release.

And when they bring the water back down to normal the river really turns on!

We spent four days during the second week of July,  2009 on the river. The first couple of days the water was flowing at a nice pace of 850 cfs and then it was increased to 1,000 cfs for the last two days of our stay.

But even at the higher flows we were still able to negotiate most of the river in hip waders, crossing at specific spots known to be fordable under those conditions.

I prefer using three ply,  lug soled,  hip waders on the San Juan because I have done a lot of hiking while fishing there, sometimes covering several miles in a day.  I have found  insulated, canvas and rubber  hip waders to be nearly indestructible when bush whacking and they are well ventilated when worn with shorts, an important consideration in the summertime.

And even if I do happen to step in too far and fill my boots with water I find it refreshing to lay down on the bank on my back, raise my legs and let the cold water run down into my shorts.

In the hot, dry, desert sun they’ll dry out in no time at all and I’ll be all that much cooler for the slight discomfort of my swampy boots.

We began our trip at Simon Canyon where one can usually find the river deserted during the week and there’s plenty of shade to be had among the great cottonwoods that grow here.

Phillips is a great warm water fisherman but still new to fly-fishing, so we wanted to let him work on his casting, mending and fishing with flies on a quiet part of the river.

Simon Canyon is also just a pleasant place to fish. You can stroll down the bank chucking a roll cast out  into the current and letting your rig dead drift down to an occasional trout lurking below.

It’s quiet here with remarkable scenery and plenty of action if one knows how to fish it.

The San Juan River below Simon Canyon.

We did fairly well that afternoon, fishing downstream of Simon Canyon, picking up some very nice rainbows and an equal number of browns lurking in and around the strategically placed boulders installed by  the state Department of Game and Fish recently  to improve fish habitat and water quality.

We had luck on top with #12 and #14 stimulators, #16 caddis and #22 and #24 parachute Adams.  We found a #22 grey CDC emerger tied off the back end of the dries also logged a number of additional hits. A #18, copper beadhead, flashback pheasant tail nymph tied off a pale yellow egg worked well off the bottom.

Anglers should be note that there will be plenty drift boats floating through this area later in the afternoon as guides head  down to the takeout area at the gravel pit just around the corner.

An umbrella is another good way to ward off the scorching sun while enjoying a day on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico.

Here below Simon Canyon one might also meet a fisherman armed with a spin casting rig working his way upstream from the bait waters below.

A polite inquiry about the angler’s gear and a friendly reminder that to fish up here it's catch and release with a  single, barbless hook  is usually enough to send most back downstream to the “bait and take” waters down below the gravel pit.

At Simon Canyon anglers will find a couple of fine, primitive camp sites under the trees that allow an early riser to get first crack at the water.

And at the end of the day the flickering light of a campfire, dancing off the overhanging cottonwoods at Simon Canyon is enough to make one think they’re in their own “Old Milwaukee” commercial, where “it just doesn’t get any better than this.”

It should be noted this is primitive camping here with no trash pickup or water but there's  vault toilet in the parking lot.

And the noisy, gravel, parking lot here can get busy with visiting anglers, other expectant campers and hikers seeking the old Indian kiva up Simon Canyon.  A lot of locals, out for an evening drive, like to swing through here too, just to check things out.

But when the timing is right and things quiet down, this can be a great place to own a piece of the river for a few nights and really experience the San Juan at a different level, free of the crowds and the noise found at the full service campground down the road and the mobs of anglers staked out on the upper stretches of the river.

There's  also a hiking trial that leads upstream to the deep water at ET Rock and then on through the woods to emerge on the far bank at Baetis Bend for some equally fine fishing.

ET Rock above Simon Canyon on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico.

The following day we fished the back channel at Baetis Bend looking for those trout that had moved in during the high water and would hang around as long as it stayed that way.

We found some great dry fly action and plenty of sight fishing to be had along with some much appreciated solitude.

Geese enjoying some shade on the back channel between the Lower Flats and Baetis Bend on the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico. 

We emerged from the back channel into the wide expanse of water found at the Lower Flats where we picked up several nice fish hanging out in the usual places along the edges of seams, in the faster water or on the bottom of pools.

We worked our way further upstream past Three Island Run all the way up to Jack’s Hole where we spotted a couple of bigger trout hanging out at the tail of a deep pool below a shelf where the water churned  in.

Through the gin clear water we could see the fish seesawing back and forth in the current snatching passing food. We choked up our rigs to dapple the goods right before them and had one on in no time.  But trying to pull them out of the heavy, deep current took time and effort and those became our last for the day.

We headed back down to Baetis Bend along a dirt access road and arrived back at our camp tired and ready for a few ice cold beers.

It’d been a good day.

But the next day turned out to be even better as we went upstream and fished down the back channel between the bottom end of Texas Hole and the Lower Flats. It was here that Phillips landed the best fish of the trip, a big bruiser laying up in the shallows.

And she was caught on a little, green, flashback emerger we tied up just that morning.

There’s something to be said for sneaking around those back channels and the lower flats where you can see the fish you’re trying to catch.

And there’s just no substituting the thrill of seeing that  flash of white as a trout opens its mouth to take your fly and then the explosion of water and color as it of bolts with its back cutting a swath through the shallow water.

It was great to see that in just a few days Phillips had mastered the art of catching these elusive back water trout, reeling in one after another, like he’d been fishing here for years.

On our last day on the river we elected to go upstream to the Upper flats and the Cable hole where the majority of visiting anglers here tend to fish.

We tiptoed in our waders across the upper flats to the far bank to get away from the crowds and were rewarded with a couple of very nice fish.

T.A. Phillips shows off a nice rainbow trout caught off the far bank of the Upper Flats of the San Juan River below Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico.

But it just wasn't as much fun fishing up here as it had been downstream and in the back channels .

It was uninviting to look out across the river and  see  a line of stationary, well appointed anglers, spread out along the edge of a seam, standing in the same spot hour after hour.

And there was no solitude to speak of as the cheers and remarks of anglers echoed across the water whenever one of them hooked up.

So we’ll probably stick to those downstream stretches the next time we come back to enjoy the trophy class fishing found on the San Juan river below Navajo Dam in northwestern New Mexico and maybe you should give them a try too.

Summer fishing and camping tips for the San Juan River.

Sunscreen and lots of it:

Only a fool goes out on this river without sunscreen and lip balm. Use it and forget about the macho sunburn to prove you’ve been on vacation, let the pictures do the talking.

Bug spray and lots of it:

Deet based sprays seem to work best for mosquitoes although those pesky gnats don’t seem to be deterred by anything here.

The bottom line is expect to be swathed in the stuff for days on end and make sure you have it with you in your fishing vest.

And don’t leave the screen door in your tent open for long, you’ll regret it later when you find yourself trapped inside with all those guys buzzing around and feeding off you.

Water and lots of it:

You’ll never feel yourself sweat here because it evaporates so fast. Thus you may never realize how much water you’re expending. So it’s imperative to stay hydrated. If you find your piss is really yellow or a pinch of your skin doesn’t bounce back then you're probably already dehydrated. Other signs include cottonmouth, tiredness and mental fatigue, headache and lightheadedness. Do not disregard any of these symptoms, cool yourself off with a dunk in the river, get into the shade and rehydrate!

Don’t venture out onto this river for any length of time without at least a couple of liters of water. Carry a lightweight water filter if need be but most importantly drink plenty of water and do it before you become thirsty, before you head down to the river.

Remember! Your stomach and body is your best canteen.

Limit caffeine and alcohol intake as they contribute to dehydration. Pack a baggie of powdered Gatorade in your fishing vest to add to your water for more rehydration power.

Ice and lots of it:

Ice melts fast here so keep your cooler out of the sun, if it’s in the car, crack the windows to let out the buildup of heat. Use sun shades in the windows. Anticipate the track of the sun and park accordingly. Keep the cooler wrapped in a sleeping bag or blanket for added insulation. Take one cooler for food and another for beverages, use block ice if you can find it, the stuff lasts forever. Don’t dump out the cold water in the bottom of the cooler until absolutely necessary. It’s what’s holding the cold. Put your food in doubled zip-lock bags to keep the water out and store standing up. Use a beer can coozie to keep your beer cold while your mouth is busy talking about the fishing.

Food :

The days are long out here and most folks are usually rolling in late and they’re beat! So keep dinner simple.

Fry up some burger with some garlic, sliced onion and green pepper, add a can of Ranch Style beans, top it off with some shredded cheese and sop it all up with fajita-size tortillas. I’ve lived for weeks on this stuff and it only takes one skillet to cook it up and eat out of.

Live off fruit, especially apples, trail bars, peanuts, crackers, tuna fish and beef jerky during the day.

Expect to find yourself sitting at the local bar or restaurant  looking for someone else to make you dinner at least once during your trip to the San Juan so bring money and don’t look at the prices.

Clothing:

A wide brimmed, well ventilated hat is essential to deflecting the sun and keeping cool. I love those big straw hats with the ventilation holes woven in along the brim but always have to remember to apply sunscreen to my scalp to avoid a funny looking and nasty sunburn. You’ll see some great hats on this river but many don’t belong. Remember it’s all about ventilation and shade.

Wear long sleeved, lightly colored shirts to protect your skin and deflect the sun. Nylon and other synthetics are lightweight and dry quickly.

Carry a neckerchief. It can be dipped into the water and slung about the neck to cool down. Use it regularly to soak your head too, a slight breeze across a wet scalp is natures’ swamp cooler.

Remember it’s not a fashion show, leave that to the posers up in the Texas Hole parking lot.

Take shorts and sandals and expect to live out of them for days on end.

Camping Tips and Tricks:

Bring a spray bottle and a couple rolls of paper towels for cleaning up yourself and your cooking utensils. The spray bottle also comes in handy for applying a cool, refreshing mist to the head and body. It’s even better at cruising speed!

Bring a toilet kit with your own nice, soft, toilet paper and a package of those personal towelettes so you can stay comfortable and clean for days on end.

Sleep on top of your sleeping bag under a light, cushy blanket, it’ll be more comfortable when you first go to bed when it’s still warm outside. Don’t add the rain fly to your tent unless you’re sure it’s going to rain, it’ll be much cooler and breezy inside. But keep it nearby, just in case.

Make sure you bring a sweat shirt, rain coat, jeans and sneakers, just in case the weather turns nasty.  If you don’t, it will.

Bring all of your pillows, a good book and reading light and use ear plugs, if needed, to assure a good night’s sleep. Bring extra batteries because you will fall asleep with your reading light on.

Embrace the hum of the oil and gas rigs, they provide the fuel we use every day to run our vehicles, cook our food, and heat and cool our homes. Until something better comes along don’t knock it.

Thirty Years of Thrills and Spills with New Wave Rafting

They started out with a used rubber raft, a beat up station wagon and a hunger for some cash and kicks.

Thirty years later river guides Steve and Kathy Miller of New Wave Rafting in Embudo are still going strong, providing passengers great whitewater adventure on the rivers of Northern New Mexico.

And they aren’t quitting anytime soon.

“We’re having too much fun,” Steve says during an April 2009 interview at the couple’s modest home located on the big river between Espanola and Taos.

Miller, whose rugged good looks, full head of hair and energetic demeanor belie his 69 years, lives a life many who visit the Southwest might find enviable.

During the spring and summer the Millers and their crew of experienced guides provide customers waves of excitement and adventure on the best rafting rivers New Mexico has to offer, the mighty Rio Grande and the idyllic Rio Chama.

And when the season ends the Millers typically unwind with a relaxing, three-week float down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon or spending some time fishing down at Padre Island.

But then it’s back to work, this time teaching skiing up on the slopes of Taos for the winter.

“It’s a lifestyle we’ve worked hard to make a living at,” says Kathy, 58, while flashing a brilliant smile amid a sea of freckles and bronzed skin.
The two who expect to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this July, met at a party in Tesuque back in the late 1970s, when real hippies could still be found wandering the scene in Northern New Mexico.

Steve Miller was an intense, rugged, outdoor type with long hair and beard and wearing authentic Navy bell bottoms jeans, the ones with the buttoned flap on the front, Kathy says.

“He was a very exciting, outdoors type,” she says.

Miller had come west from New York City to ski and then learned a host of other outdoor skills which led him to a career with Outward Bound and a stint with state government creating a similar program for criminal offenders.

The program took groups into wilderness settings where they learned to challenge themselves and work together to overcome difficult situations involving mountaineering, rock climbing, river rafting, canyoneering, camping and wilderness travel.

Prior to that Miller had attended the University of California at Berkeley and received a Master's Degree in anthropology from Harvard University. He also taught anthropology at New Mexico Tech in Socorro for several years and chaired the Department of Physical Recreation where he ran outdoor adventure programs.

Kathy Hamerlee had gravitated to New Mexico from her hometown of Simi Valley, California, where she had at one time considered a career as a marine biologist but got caught up in the “tune in, turn on and drop out” nature of the times.

“She was your classic, cute, little hippie chick with two kids then,” Steve says of their first meeting.

They hit it off, got married and have been having a ball ever since.

“I was not an outdoor person,” Kathy says. “But he (Steve) taught me to kayak, backpack and fish. He really opened up the outdoor world to me.”

Miller says he was heavily influenced by the environmental movement at the time including the works of author Edward Abbey whose books “Desert Solitaire” and “The Monkey Wrench Gang” inspired many Southwestern environmentalists.

“I was rock climbing in Moab during the sixties,” he says.

During the 1970s and 1980s Miller says he and Kathy became members of the radical environmental group “Earth First” and ran rivers with its founder Dave Foreman.

“Abbey was one of our early heroes,” Steve says. “Everyone nurtured fantasies of blowing up Glenn Canyon Dam. It (the dam) was the single clearest affront to those who loved the Southwest. There are people still trying o do something about that.”

The couple and Earth First’s founder, Foreman, parted ways with the group after other members became increasingly involved in eco-terrorism, Steve says.

The two got their start in the river rafting business after the Southwest Outward Bound School they worked for in Santa Fe went under in the late 1970s.

They purchased one of the school’s surplus rubber rafts, a 13 ½-foot long Campways Miwok , slapped it on the roof of their beat up Mazda station wagon and opened their own business.

“Our motto was the river’s are free and we’re as cheap as can be,” Steve says.

The early days during an outing on the Arkansas River in Southern Colorado, notice the sheared off bow of the kayak.

But business was so bad their first year due to low water from a drought that they finally just packed up and headed over to Idaho to float the Salmon River with some fellow Earth First members.

But the following year they got serious, employing the use of a booking agent, Jim Manning, who maintained a kiosk in the lobby of the La Fonda Hotel in downtown Santa Fe.

“Because of him our business grew considerably,” Steve says.

By 1995 they had a fleet of about 30 boats, employed about 20 guides, carried 9,500 passengers and generated a half million dollars in revenue.

“We hit it big time,” Steve says. “But I was under so much pressure I had to see a shrink.”

Steve says those were the days of big water on the Rio Grande, when springtime runoff routinely ran at 3,000 to 5,000 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs) and the movie thriller “River Wild” was a big hit at the box office, and a big boost to business.


But the good times took a tragic turn for the worse in June 1997 when Kathy’s son, Brahm Reynolds, 23, lost his life while kayaking on the south fork of the Payette River in Idaho.

Reynolds was following in his mother’s footsteps and working on the river and at the slopes at the time.

“He was born to row, it was literally in his blood,” Kathy says.

Having been brought up on the river, Brahm had all the skills needed to make it on his own.

“He embraced the lifestyle we were enjoying but wanted to experience the big rivers,” Kathy says. “He was looking for adventure like any young man his age.”

Kathy says the only consolation she can find in her son’s death is that he died doing what he loved.

“I like to remember him for his love of nature, his self assured, quiet confidence, his ability to make people feel comfortable and safe,” Kathy says. “I miss him terribly.”

Brahm at 7-years-old and already an experienced river runner.

Kathy now finds some peace in having finally having achieved her goal of living on the river.

“It’s something I’ve been scheming on for years,” she says.

With a little luck, a lot of savings and the help of a small family inheritance, the couple was finally able to make their move.

And at the start of the 2008 season, as gas prices soared to four bucks a gallon, the Millers were bailing out of Santa Fe and moving their rafting business north to Embudo and a new home down on the Rio Grande.

No more running school bus loads of customers fifty miles from the “City Different” to the boat launch at Pilar, Steve noted with a sigh.

“We didn’t lose any business and significantly improved our profitability,” Steve says.


The Millers attribute much of their success to their dedicated, longtime employees like Dave “New Wave Dave” Wassil, Mike Boren, Britt Huggins and Neil Oberheide, just to name a few.

They also credit their many repeat customers with helping keep the business afloat during the change in location.

Asked about some of his more notable clients over the years, Steve remembers most former Governor John Connally of Texas who was sitting next to then President John F. Kennedy when he was shot and killed by a sniper as the politicians rode in a motorcade through Dallas back in 1963.

Steve says Connally showed him his scar from the wound he received from one of the sniper’s bullets that passed through Kennedy.

Steve says actor John Travolta and his family also rode with New Wave as did fellow actor Beau Bridges while Steve’s son, Ethan, had the pleasure one time of guiding members of the band, “Z.Z. Top” down the river.

Ethan, 41, Steve’s son from a previous marriage, now lives in San Francisco where he works in computer programming and design and has three children.

Kathy’s daughter from a previous marriage, Laina, 36, also lives in San Francisco and has two children and with a Ph.D. in Peace Studies works for the organization, Partners for Democratic Change, which is engaged in peace and confliction resolution in emerging democratic countries.

Steve is also president of the New Mexico River Outfitters Association which represents the majority of Bureau of Land Management-permitted outfitters on the Rio Grande and the Chama River.

The association presents a unified voice on behalf of the industry and seeks to maintain the highest standards of safety and service, he says.

The Taos Gorge Bride over the Rio Grande. Photo by Britt Huggins of New Wave Rafting Co..

Steve is also an accomplished photographer whose work is featured in his book “The Grand: The Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, a Photo Journey,” published by Wilderness Press and the Grand Canyon Association.

Photographs in the book were taken over the course of 13 trips through the Grand Canyon, dating back to 1971 and represents some incredible work. Check out the Miller's website at www.newwaverafting.com for more info.

And to what does Steve Miller attribute his longevity and good health?

He fishes regularly and comes from good stock. His mother is still alive and kicking at the tender age of 102 and his father lived to the ripe old age of 94.

(All photos courtesy of Steve Miller of New Wave Rafting Co., Embudo, New Mexico 1-800-984-1444