Pecos River Joins the Rio Grande

Just west of Del Rio, Texas the Pecos joins the Rio Grande River on its way to the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, Texas.

The Pecos River, in New Mexico and Texas, is yet another river at risk of drying up soon. It runs for around 926 miles and runs from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico into the eastern part of the state of Texas before emptying into the Rio Grande just below the Hwy 90 bridge west of Del Rio.

The Pecos River (Spanish: Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico near Santa Fe 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, NM, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet. The river flows for 926 miles before reaching the Rio Grande near Del Rio.

The name “Pecos” derives from the Keresan (Native American language) term for the Pecos Pueblo, [p’æyok’ona]. The river was also historically referred to as the Río Natagés for the Mescalero people.

The river played a large role in the exploration of Texas by the Spanish.

On June 6, 1990, 20.5 miles of the Pecos River from its headwaters to the townsite of Tererro received National Wild and Scenic River designation.

The Rio Grande, known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio Grande is 1,896 miles. It originates in south-central Colorado, in the United States, and flows to the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, Texas.