Rio Salado | |
Name origin:Spanish, "salty river" [1] | |
Country | United States |
---|---|
State | New Mexico |
County | Socorro, Catron |
Source | Northeast Catron County |
- elevation | 7,990 ft (2,435 m) [2] |
- coordinates | 34°29′44″N107°53′30″W / 34.49556°N 107.89167°W [3] |
Mouth | Rio Grande |
- location | North of Socorro |
- elevation | 4,678 ft (1,426 m) [3] |
- coordinates | 34°16′23″N106°51′31″W / 34.27306°N 106.85861°W Coordinates: 34°16′23″N106°51′31″W / 34.27306°N 106.85861°W [3] |
Length | 86 mi (138 km) [4] |
The Rio Salado is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source in northeast Catron County it flows about 86 miles (138 km) [4] generally east to join the Rio Grande just north of Polvadera and about 15 miles (24 km) north of Socorro. [3] The name Río Salado is Spanish for "salty river". [1]
The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally result in length changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is either the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America.
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States of America; its capital and cultural center is Santa Fe which was founded in 1610 as capital of Nuevo México, while its largest city is Albuquerque with its accompanying metropolitan area. It is one of the Mountain States and shares the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona; its other neighboring states are Oklahoma to the northeast, Texas to the east-southeast, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua to the south and Sonora to the southwest. With a population around two million, New Mexico is the 36th state by population. With a total area of 121,590 sq mi (314,900 km2), it is the fifth-largest and sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states. Due to their geographic locations, northern and eastern New Mexico exhibit a colder, alpine climate, while western and southern New Mexico exhibit a warmer, arid climate.
The Rio Salado originates in northeastern Catron County. It flows east, then north, then southeast through Cow Spring Canyon. It is joined by Miguel Chavez Canyon from the north, which it then flows through, turning eastward. Kicking Bear Wash joins from the north, after which the Rio Salado enters Socorro County. It continues to flow east through Miguel Chavez Canyon, collecting minor tributaries. A longer tributary, Alamocita Creek, joins from the southwest. Then Gallegos Creek joins from the north. Rio Salado passes between Table Mountain and Tres Hermanos Mesa. Alamo Creek and Jaralosa Creek join from the south, then Cottonwood Draw from the north. Rio Salado then passes by Puertecito, after which it is joined by Cañada Bonita from the north. It continues to flow east, joined by a number of minor tributaries flowing from the Bear Mountains and Ladron Peak. As Rio Salado passes through the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge it is joined by La Jenica Creek, Silver Creek, and Arroyo Rendija, from the south, and Cañada Popotosa and Arroyo Tio Lino from the north. Rio Salado empties into the Rio Grande just north of Polvadera, about 15 miles (24 km) north of Socorro. [2]
Ladrón Peak is an isolated, highly visible peak in central New Mexico, lying about 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Albuquerque. Ladron Peak is the only major peak in the compact range known as the Sierra Ladrones, which lies between the Rio Puerco to the east and the Rio Salado to the southwest.
The Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area of New Mexico managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is located in the Chihuahuan desert 20 miles north of Socorro, New Mexico. The Rio Salado flows through the refuge.
Along its course the Rio Salado passes along the northern edge of the Cibola National Forest. [2]
The Cibola National Forest is a 1,633,783 acre United States National Forest in New Mexico, USA. The name Cibola is thought to be the original Zuni Indian name for their pueblos or tribal lands. The name was later interpreted by the Spanish to mean, "buffalo." The forest is disjointed with lands spread across central and northern New Mexico, west Texas and Oklahoma. The Cibola National Forest is divided into four Ranger Districts: the Sandia, Mountainair, Mt. Taylor, and Magdalena. The Forest includes the San Mateo, Magdalena, Datil, Bear, Gallina, Manzano, Sandia, Mt. Taylor, and Zuni Mountains of west-central New Mexico. The Forest also manages four National Grasslands that stretch from northeastern New Mexico eastward into the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma. The Cibola National Forest and Grassland is administered by Region 3 of the United States Forest Service from offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Elevation ranges from 5,000 ft to 11,301 ft. The descending order of Cibola National Forest acres by county are: Socorro, Cibola, McKinley, Catron, Torrance, Bernalillo, Sandoval County, New Mexico, Lincoln, Sierra, and Valencia counties in New Mexico. The Cibola National Forest currently has 137,701 acres designated as Wilderness. In addition to these acres, it has 246,000 acres classified as Inventoried Roadless Areas pursuant to the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
Catron County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,725, making it New Mexico's third-least populous county. Its county seat is Reserve. Catron County is New Mexico's largest county by area.
The name Jornada del Muerto is translated loosely from Spanish, historically referring to it as the "Journey of the Dead Man", though the modern literal translation is closer to "The Working Day of the Dead". As a geographic name, "Jornada del Muerto" is the desert region the Conquistadors had to cross to make it from Las Cruces to Socorro, New Mexico. As a name-place, "Jornada del Muerto" is a loose translations of "single day's journey of the dead man" hence "route of the dead man") in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto Desert basin, and the particularly dry 100-mile (160 km) stretch of a route through it.
The Salt River is a stream in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin is about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2) large. The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the fact that the river flows over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.
The Conejos River is a tributary of the Rio Grande, approximately 92.5 miles (148.9 km) long, in south-central Colorado in the United States. It drains a scenic area of the eastern San Juan Mountains west of the San Luis Valley.
An arroyo, also called a wash, is a dry creek, stream bed or gulch that temporarily or seasonally fills and flows after sufficient rain. Flash floods are common in arroyos following thunderstorms.
The Galisteo Basin is a surface basin and a closely related groundwater basin in north-central New Mexico. Its primary watercourse is the Galisteo River or Galisteo Creek, a perennial stream, for part of its course, that flows from the eastern highlands down into the Rio Grande about three miles above the Santo Domingo Pueblo. The Galisteo basin covers approximately 467,200 acres and runs from San Miguel County in the east, across Santa Fe County, and into Sandoval County at its westernmost point, the Rio Grande. Northeast of Galisteo Basin rise the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and to the southwest lie the Sandia Mountains. Because of its location lying between mountain ranges and connecting the Rio Grande Valley with the Great Plains, the Galisteo Basin was used as a trade route by prehistoric and historic indigenous and later also by the Spanish explorers.
The Rio Chama, a major tributary river of the Rio Grande, is located in the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico. The river is about 130 miles (210 km) long altogether. From its source to El Vado Dam its length is about 50 miles (80 km), from El Vado Dam to Abiquiu Dam is about 51 miles (82 km), and from Abiquiu Dam to its confluence with the Rio Grande is about 34 miles (55 km).
The Rio Grande Trail is a proposed long distance trail along the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The river extends over 1,800 total miles, some 700 miles (1,100 km) of which pass through the heart of New Mexico. It is the state's primary drainage feature and most valuable natural and cultural resource. The river and its bosque provide a wide variety of recreation, including hunting and fishing, birdwatching, river rafting, hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The river also flows through or beside numerous spectacular and geologically interesting landforms, the result of extensive volcanism and erosion within the Rio Grande Rift. Although some trail advocates would like to see the trail extended the full distance through New Mexico, from the Colorado border to the United States–Mexico border, the portion proposed for initial development extends 300 miles (480 km), from Bernalillo south to Las Cruces.
Salt Creek is a small coastal stream in southern Orange County in the U.S. state of California. The 4-mile (6.4 km) creek drains 6.1 square miles (16 km2) in parts of the cities of Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, and San Juan Capistrano. The mostly channelized creek has no named surface tributaries. The creek begins in the central portion of the city of Laguna Niguel and flows west and south through a narrow canyon referred to as the Salt Creek Corridor, which is mostly inside a long and narrow regional park. It then flows into the Monarch Beach Golf Course in the city of Dana Point and enters a subsurface storm channel which carries it to its discharge point at Salt Creek County Beach.
Polvadera is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Socorro County in central New Mexico, USA. It is located on the west bank of the Rio Grande, near the mouth of the Rio Salado, and on the western spur of El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
The Piedra River is a river in the U.S. state of Colorado. It drains parts of Archuleta, Hinsdale, and Mineral counties along a mainstem length of about 40 miles (64 km). The river flows through a series of isolated box canyons, emptying into the San Juan River at Navajo Lake. Its name stems from the Spanish word, piedra, meaning rock.
The Rio Hondo is a 79-mile-long (127 km) river in southern New Mexico which begins at the confluence of the Rio Bonito and Rio Ruidoso rivers near the town of Hondo, New Mexico. The river flows eastward through the Hondo Valley in the foothills of the Sierra Blanca and Capitan Mountains, roughly paralleling the route of U.S. Route 70 through the towns of Picacho and Tinnie. Near the community of Riverside the river passes through a deep canyon before entering the rolling hills west of Roswell.
The Jemez River is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The river is formed by the confluence of the East Fork Jemez River and San Antonio Creek, which drain a number of tributaries in the area of the Jemez Mountains and Santa Fe National Forest. The Jemez River is about 50 miles (80 km) long, or about 80 miles (130 km) long if its longest headwater tributary, San Antonio Creek, is included. The East Fork Jemez River is about 22 miles (35 km) long. Both San Antonio Creek and the East Fork Jemez River flow through intricate meanders along their courses. The East Fork Jemez is a National Wild and Scenic River.
The Rio Pueblo de Taos, also known as Rio Pueblo, is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains it flows about 33 miles (53 km), generally south and west, to join the Rio Grande in the Rio Grande Gorge. On the way the river passes by Taos and through Taos Pueblo.
The Caballo Mountains, are a mountain range located in Sierra and Doña Ana Counties, New Mexico, United States. The range is located east of the Rio Grande and Caballo Lake, and west of the Jornada del Muerto; the south of the range extends into northwest Doña Ana County. The nearest towns are Truth or Consequences and Hatch.
Canada Alamosa, is a term historically applied to four geographical features, all in the same immediate area in southwest Socorro and northwest Sierra Counties, New Mexico. In historical texts the name, Canada Alamosa is applied inter-changeably to the four features, and it is often only the context that distinguishes one feature from the other.
The Rio Brazos is a 42-mile (68 km) long river flowing through northern New Mexico in the United States. It rises in the Tusas Mountains, a subrange of the San Juan Mountains, and runs generally southwest to a confluence with the Rio Chama, part of the larger Rio Grande system.