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"The scenery was great and the lunch was tasty and filling.
Most of all, however, what made the trip the most enjoyable
were the guides! Their skill,
efficiency, friendliness, and
their concern for our safety were as much as one could hope
for. Thanks for a great outing!"
Bill Stallcup
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"I just wanted to take the time to thank you for a very
enjoyable and well-executed full-day rafting trip... Our guide Josh was superb! He is calm, knowledgeable, interesting,
friendly and above all safe and capable of leading a raft full of novices. We are really thankful we ended up in his care!"
Kate and Bruce Frank
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"I wanted to thank you guys (and especially our
awesome guide Bruce) for a wonderful trip. My son Evan and I had a great time that was all too short. It was Evan's first
time rafting and I really wanted him to enjoy it. Well, not only did he enjoy it but he immediately asked when we could do
the Taos Box, and went on line to email the photos to all his friends."
Rachel Maurer
Santa Fe, NM
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| Our Guides
 Cisco Guevara, owner of Los Rios River Runners, has been running the Rio Grande for over 30 years, since he was a boy in Los Alamos. He has a number of first descents in the Copper Canyon area of Chihuahua, Mexico, and on the Rio Costilla, NM. He also teaches and guides cross-country skiing, and is a champion two-stepper, a passionate fisherman, a trick roper and western entertainer, a flamenco singer, a trained EMT technician, a CPR and first aid instructor, and president of Rio Grande Restoration.
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 Bruce Graff first ran the
Taos Box in 1976, and has been a guide with Los Rios for 19 years. He has held the record for the lowest water descent of
the Box, as well as the first descent of the Canadian river in eastern New Mexico. He is an enthusiastic traveler who
has visited 37 countries, spending long periods in Tobago and Sumatra and hitchhiking across Africa. A keen environmentalist,
he enjoys sharing his knowledge of the botany, zoology, and geology of northern New Mexico. |
 Jerry Sikora has been rafting for 18 years, almost all of them with Los Rios. In the winter he works as a ski mechanic at Taos Ski Valley; he has also done some ski racing and kayaked the Grand Canyon. Originally from southern California, he has lived in Taos since 1976, and takes pride in his extensive knowledge of the history and geology of northern New Mexico.
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 John Harvey grew up in New Mexico, and has a degree in Environmental Science. He has been a river guide with Los Rios since 1992, and in the winter he works on Ski Patrol at Taos Ski Valley. He has traveled around the world, and spent five years paddling outrigger canoes in Hawaii.
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Leslie Hammond has been a river guide for 6 years, all of them
with Los Rios. She grew up in Albuquerque, NM, and went to Northwestern University, where she majored in journalism and
minored in anthropology. A swimmer
throughout college, she competed in the 400 Individual Medley at the U.S. Olympic
Trials in 1996. She loves to ski, and has written for Ski magazine. She has travelled widely in South America and throughout Mexico.
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 Barry Weinstock grew up
in California and Chicago, and has lived in Taos for twelve years. This is his thirteenth season working as a river guide,
which he has done on many rivers across the US. In the winter he works as a ski instructor. He has studied
massage therapy and is currently in his third year of study for a biology degree at UNM.
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 Dan Irion
began boating as a kid on the backyard ditch behind his house in Austin, Texas. While studying finance at the University
of Colorado he got into kayaking. He has been a river guide with Los Rios for 6 years. He plays mandolin in two
regional bands, The Last to Know and Honest Abe, and owns Crossroads Pizza in Taos Ski Valley (ask about the pie and paddle
special). He got married in April 2006.
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Josh
Frederickson is originally from Gettysburg, PA, and has been boating for 13 years, five of them with Los Rios.
He has boated on about 70 different rivers and creeks in 25 states.
He has a B.A. in anthropology from Vassar College, and an M.A. in Parks & Recreation, with an environmental education emphasis,
from UNM. During college he spent six months in West Africa, and has also traveled all over Europe. In winter he teaches skiing at Taos Ski Valley.
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Tony Burchell took his
first river trip at age 12, and has
been guiding professionally for four years. He grew up in northern Kentucky and went to Warren
Wilson College in Asheville, North
Carolina, where he majored in business and also studied outdoor education. In the
fall he guides on the Gauley River in West Virginia, and in winter he runs the children's ski program
at Taos Ski Valley. He has run over 20 different rivers, from West Virginia to
Peru.
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 Arnie Arnold, a boater since
1985, has rafted in Africa, Alaska, New Zealand, and across the US, including the Grand Canyon. A Harley Davidson
enthusiast and a skier, he has done hydrology work for the US Geological Survey on islands throughout the Pacific and has
traveled to over 80 countries. He takes a keen interest in natural history.
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Adrienne Reynolds, who is from southeast Alaska, came to
New Mexico in 2004. As well as her three years on the Rio Grande, she has guided in Alaska and on the
Southfork river in California. She went to the University of Hawaii and the University of Southeast Alaska, where she
majored in biology and teaching. She is a certified EMT, a scuba instructor, and works on Ski Patrol at Taos Ski Valley.
She has also sailed around the world.
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Joe Cameron, originally from Massachusetts,
came to Taos in 1991 and
learned to raft with Los Rios. He has rafted many rivers across the US, and worked as a
guide on the Gauley River in West Virginia. His other
interests include rock climbing, spelunking, winter camping, and back-country skiing. He is the father of three boys: Jasper, Ocean, and Cyrus.
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Sophia Bryer is a
native northern New Mexican, from Mora. She trained as a guide on the
American River in northern California, and has been
boating on the Rio Grande for five years. She has a degree in theater education and experiential
learning from the University
of New Mexico. In the winter she works on Ski Patrol at Sipapu resort. She also enjoys hiking, biking, and camping.
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Jon Cohen grew up in Queens, NY, and has been a raft
guide for nine years.
He has a degree in park management and recreation from North Georgia College, and served in
Field Artillery in the Army for four years, stationed
at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He left as a First Lieutenant. He is an avid skier, whitewater canoer, and reader of science fiction.
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Sarah McCluskey
was raised in northern California and Oregon, and is currently studying at UNM Taos to be a nurse midwife. For three years
she worked as a forest firefighter. She is also a glass-blower, specializing in jars and beads. She has lived in Taos for
9 years, and this is her third year with Los Rios. |
Brian Barnhart
is an avid swiftwater guide who regards river running as something that
nourishes his life in many ways, and loves bringing
this experience to others. He has been a wilderness traveller across the planet, an artist and
musician, an art
instructor, a backcountry guide by horse and foot, a ski instructor, and a carpenter. Brian has been involved with different
projects
concerning sustainable agriculture and human rights, and in the off-season he travels in North and South America with a creative
group of street-theater
performers.
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Joel Craig was born in Ketchican, Alaska, and moved to Taos when he was three.
He has sixteen years' experience as a restaurant chef, and worked at many of Taos's finest restaurants including the Taos Inn, the Stakeout, and Eske's
Brew Pub. He learned his back-country skills by hiking the Grand Canyon about 15 different times, and is an avid bicyclist. His hobbies include
rock-hounding, stone-carving, gem-cutting and coin-collecting, and he has a lifetime membership of the Gold Prospectors Association of America. He took his
first raft trip in 1995 and joined Los Rios in 2005.
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Rob Hagerty was born
in Bristol, Rhode Island. He has travelled all across America, and is an avid hiker. He has worked as a big-boat fisherman on the Grand Banks, fishing for
monkfish and eel, and as a boat-builder. In winter he works in forestry. He is also a keen drummer on hand drums, playing all kinds of music from African to Celtic to Balkan. After a
childhood spent whitewater canoeing, he became a raft guide in 2005. This is his first season with Los Rios. He got married in June 2006.
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Mackenzi Frederick
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Monica Martin
was born in the San Fernando
Valley area of Los Angeles. She majored in women's studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles. For three years
she lived and worked at the famous Harbin Hot Springs retreat center in northern California, and has also worked
construction, with particular experience in the field of alternative energy. She is an ace volleyball player, and
joined Los Rios in 2006.
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Alexa Schirtzinger
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Marilee Kuehl
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Ed Carlson
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Return to General Information
Los Rios River Runners
PO Box 2734 Taos NM 87571
(800) 544-1181 (505) 776-8854
whitewater@newmex.com
Home Page Design and Navigation by
Taos
Web Design Center.
Remainder of website written and designed by
Allegra Huston.
Photos by Del Dubois, Cisco Guevara, Southern Exposure, and Venus Masci.
Updated 6.05
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