Wanting to float (canoe) the Rio Grande; Looking for suggestions........

[jdrich12]

I'm wanting to take a float (2-3 days) on the Rio.
I've hiked the outer loop a few times and am interested in a canoe trip this time.
I've read the RG Village to La Linda (Heath) is a decent trip.
I'm not sure of the best river height (as measured at RG Village).
Any suggestions?? Is late Feb to late March usually good for the river height??
Any comments would be helpful! !
THANKS! ! !

[okiehiker]

Typically February and March are not great times, but with irrigation, precipitation and dam release patterns over the years it has generally gotten worse through the years and has always been somewhat unpredictable.  '05 Feb was good March was bad.  '06 Feb through march 20 was terrible, the very end of March was good '07 Feb through March 12 was bad.  Mar 13 on was spectacular. 

Basically water level is a crapshoot. 

There are several threads that talk about people's favorite runs.  There are at least six canyons that are nice. 

The record flow at Johnson Ranch was 65,000 cfs in October 1978 I think.  I'm sorry I missed it!

[TheWildWestGuy]

I would call "Jan" at Big Bend River Tours and ask her advice, nothing beats local knowledge and she has been there a long time (just google it for the phone number).   If your planning on bringing your own boat she can provide shuttle service as well but the logistics are rough because you probably will not have any phone available (cell or landline) for the entire trip including the take-out's.   In low water conditions Boquillas canyon will have a lot of sandbars and rocks.  A better and shorter low water trip (IMO) would be to paddle upstream into Santa Elena Canyon from the mouth near Terlingua Creek.  The outfitters do this as a day trip to Fern Canyon but you could keep going further West and find someplace on the USA side to camp overnight.  Beware that if you go without a guide service you will need a NPS Permit, safety gear, and be sure to follow SOP and tie up your boat at night - water releases from the Mexican side can seriously change the river overnight without warning.. TWWG

[jdrich12]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSES ! !! !

[deadlizard]

Best and most unpredictable flows seem to be the summer monsoons. I've looked at quite a bit of data and historical trends and as OkieHiker states, it's a roll of the die.

I responded to your thread in paddling.net concerning this so have more data there.  RGV to Heath in 2 days doesn't leave much time out of the boat.

[aggiehiker]

I do Boquillas every other year in March and have only found a few time where we've had to get out and drag our boats-the rest have been good. It's still worth the effort. We'll be out there again for Spring Break and I, too, am watching the water levels.

[missourimike]

My wife and I did enjoy the "boomerang" trip up the Santa Elena. At first upstream movement was very easy but after 1.5 mile or so I was forced to pull her and the gear upstream past the ripples.  Love it though. 

The Mariscal Canyon was really nice, but remote. 

Michael