The crescent moon and Venus at dawn

When I was young, the Rio Grande would flood into the Bosque in the springtime and then dry up completely by the end of June and stay dry until the middle of July or the beginning of August after the monsoon rains started. After Cochiti Dam opened in 1973 and the Conservancy started holding water in Cochiti Lake, the spring floodwaters were controlled along with the flow of the Rio Grande. The river has not flooded into the bosque in Corrales in 50 years. The Rio Grande is currently running at its “natural flow,” according to the Conservancy, and it is down to a trickle on the west side of the sand bar at the Alameda Bridge, 3.5 miles south of where we live.

Standing on the bed of the Rio Grande looking north at Alameda Bridge.

Alameda Bridge, looking at the old bridge, now pedestrian. You can see the pillars of the new bridge on the other side. Note the large, rusty pipe running under the bridge. When I was in middle school, I used to get kicked off the school bus often, so I had to walk 6 miles to school, including crossing the old Alameda Bridge. One morning, a friend, who also got kicked off the bus, was walking to school with me. I decided to add some excitement to the walk and tried crawling across the river on the big pipe (painted back then). The river was running low, and while trying to crawl around one of the brackets that held the pipe to the bridge, I slipped off the pipe and fell into the river. I got to school half-wet, my clothes were drying out by the time I got to school, and I was covered with crusty mud. People used to tell my mom I would grow up to be a no-good-for-nothing delinquent. Now that I think about it, I’m grown up and old enough to go on Medicare; those people were right. If I hadn’t dropped out of high school, I could consider going to the 50th high school reunion in 2026. Then those folks who are still alive could say, “I told you so!”

Intermission: Tradescant Rose.

Rio Grande archipelago

I believe this is a boat launch/landing area for rafts, canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, and the annoying airboat the Fire Department uses to patrol the river when the water is high.

Sunset