The Rio Ruidoso is a long

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

located in the Sierra Blanca and Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln County and

Otero County, New Mexico Otero County () is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,839. Its county seat is Alamogordo. Its southern boundary is the Texas state line. It is named for Miguel Antonio Otero, the ter ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and is part of the Rio Ruidoso Watershed. The Spanish term, ''río ruidoso'', translated into English means literally "noisy river". The

headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...

of the Rio Ruidoso are located near the top of Sierra Blanca Peak, in the rugged Sierra Blanca mountains, which is located within the

Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-central New Mexico. In ...

. The upper reaches of the river are divided into three forks, the longest of which is the North Fork of the Rio Ruidoso. It begins on the north side of Sierra Blanca at Ice Spring near the Ski Apache ski area. The south and middle forks begin on the south side of the mountain. They merge in Cow Canyon approximately west of the point at which the south fork merges with the north fork. From there, the river winds its way down through the Sacramento Mountains, which are part of the

Lincoln National Forest Lincoln National Forest is a unit of the U.S. Forest Service located in southern New Mexico. The Lincoln National Forest covers an extensive 1.1 million acres in southeastern New Mexico. Established by Presidential Proclamation in 1902 as the Li ...

and through the village of Ruidoso, which was named after the river. Just east of Ruidoso two major tributaries, Cedar Creek and Carrizo Creek flow into the Rio Ruidoso. Along its course, the river drops in elevation. Just west of

Hondo, New Mexico Hondo is an unincorporated community in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States. It is located about thirty-five miles downstream (east) from Ruidoso Downs, where the Rio Bonito and Rio Ruidoso rivers join together to form the Rio Hondo. I ...

the river merges with the Rio Bonito to form the Rio Hondo. Several fish species live within the waters of the Rio Ruidoso, including: *

Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

Brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

Rio Grande cutthroat trout The Rio Grande cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus virginalis virginalis''), a member of the family Salmonidae, is found in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in tributaries of the Rio Grande. It is one of 9 subspecies of the Rocky Mountain ...

See also