Where can you see where the Red River ends? Where can you cycle along ancient trees half a millennia old? Where can you trek into the depths of the Rio Grande Gorge? Where can you experience the natural world as Mother Nature intended it to be touched? Why, only at Wild Rivers Recreation Area!
Wild Rivers truly lives up to its name. This public recreation area administered by the federal Bureau of Land Management offers it all. Not only can you sightsee, hike, and camp, but this park lends itself quite well to bird-watching, mountain biking, fly-fishing, and backpacking in and along the Red and Rio Grande gorges. When congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968, it chose both the Red River and Rio Grande as some of the first examples of what a wild and scenic river system is to be like.
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.” (Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, October 2, 1968)
Seventy-eight miles of the Rio Grande Gorge is designated as Wild and Scenic - as are last four miles of the Red River. Yep, the same Red River that begins its trek on the snow-packed crest of Wheeler Peak - the highest mountain in New Mexico - and runs through the town of Red River, escapes from the mountains at the village of Questa and then enters a box canyon only to collide into the Rio Grande at La Junta Point.
From the La Junta Point overlook gazing down 800 feet into the gorge, you will see where the Red River joins with the Rio Grande to become the third longest river system in the nation. In fact, the Red River is the ancestral headwaters of the Rio Grande. About 450 thousand years ago what we now call the Red River was where the Rio Grande started. Looking west from the point, you will see numerous shield volcanoes of the Taos Volcanic Field - one of the largest volcanic fields in New Mexico - a state known by geologist as “the Volcano State.” The well-maintained La Junta trail down to the rivers’ confluence is a challenging one-and-a-quarter mile hike. And that’s one way! Ahh! But the magic of when rivers come together is like nothing else…
