Red River Wild and Scenic River

2025 update: The La Junta Trail is closed until further notice due to unsafe trail conditions. Access to the confluence of the Red River and Río Grande can be reached by hiking down Little or Big Arsenic Trails. 

The Red River, located within the Río Grande del Norte National Monument, is designated Wild and Scenic for its lower 4 lower miles before it joins with the Río Grande. Flowing out of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, the Red River was the head of a smaller Rio Grande of ancient times. Scientists believe that some 400,000 years ago, a closed drainage basin with no outflow existed in the San Luis Valley to the north in Colorado. With changes causing the region to become wetter, the lake within this basin overflowed to the south and drained into the Red River. The volume of water continued to increase as it cut through the earth, forming the modern Río Grande Gorge we know today. As a result, the Red River became a tributary and the headwaters of the Río Grande repositioned to central Colorado. 

The Wild Rivers Recreation Area is on the mesa above the Red River. Exceptional views of the confluence of the Río Grande and Red River is found at the La Junta overlook in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area.