The Rio Bonito is a small
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 ...
in the
Sierra Blanca mountains of southern
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, United States. The headwaters of the river start in 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 ...
on the slopes of Sierra Blanca and travel eastward until they merge with the south fork of the Rio Bonito just west of
Bonito Lake, a man-made reservoir. After passing through the reservoir, the river continues in a generally eastward direction passing alongside the historic
Fort Stanton
Fort Stanton was a United States Army fort near Lincoln, New Mexico.
Army Fort
It was built in 1855 by the 1st Dragoon and the 3rd and 8th Infantry Regiments to serve as a base of military operations against the Mescalero Apaches. Numerous ...
and the home of
Billy the Kid
Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who was linked to nine murders: four for which he was solely res ...
,
Lincoln, New Mexico. The Rio Bonito merges past Lincoln with the
Rio Ruidoso in the town of
Hondo, New Mexico where the two rivers join to form the
Rio Hondo which then flows towards the
Pecos River
The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...
, though not reaching the Pecos except during floods.
Several fish species live within the waters of the Rio Ruidoso, including:
* Several species of
trout
Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...
*
Rio Grande Sucker
* Rio Grande Chub
* Longnose Dace
*
Fathead minnow
Fathead minnow (''Pimephales promelas''), also known as fathead or tuffy, is a species of freshwater Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Leuciscidae, the shiners, daces and minnows. The natural geographic ra ...
See also
*
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 ...
*
List of New Mexico rivers
*
Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation
*
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Ruidoso (Spanish for "noisy") is a village in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 7,679 at the 2020 census. The city of Ruidoso Downs and the unincorporated area of Alto ar ...
*
Sacramento Mountains
*
Sierra Blanca
Notes and references
Rivers of New Mexico
Rivers of Lincoln County, New Mexico
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