If you read our Fly Fishing Taos: The Rio Grande Had a Bigger Story to Tell feature, you already know our day on the Rio Grande wasn't exactly a casual walk to the water.
Reaching the river meant descending roughly a mile and 700 feet into the Rio Grande Gorge, scrambling over basalt boulders, crossing the river multiple times and eventually making the steep climb back out. The fishing was only part of the larger “Traction Series: New Mexico” event, which also brought together outdoor brands, conservation organizations and media members for several days around Taos.
Along the way, we also got a firsthand look at Rio Grande fly fishing gear and other outdoor products from several participating brands. Some products went directly into the gorge with us. Others proved useful before or after the fishing, and a few simply stood out enough that they’re worth talking about.
Here’s a look at some of the gear we used during the trip and what caught our attention.
Dometic Coolers
Dometic brought several of its mobile cooling products to New Mexico, including electric coolers, the Recon Hardside Cooler and the 17L Unrestricted Cooler Backpack.
The standout feature of the Recon Hardside is deceptively simple: The cooler opens from either side. The latches double as hinges, so you don’t have to wrestle your way around a packed truck bed or campsite just because you’re standing on the wrong side of the cooler. The lid can also be removed completely for cleaning.
That’s one of those features that makes you wonder why more coolers aren’t built that way.
The 17L Unrestricted Cooler Backpack can hold up to 28 cans, but I found another use for it during our hike into the gorge: It doubled as my camera bag.
When you’re descending 700 feet to reach a river, versatility counts.
Learn more at Dometic.
RELATED: Kifaru Steelhead Chest Rig: Comfortable CCW From Trail to River
SITKA Gear Radiant Sun Hoody and CrossCurrent Boots
SITKA brought quite a bit of gear to the Traction Series event, but two products stood out during our time on the water: the Radiant Sun Hoody and CrossCurrent wading boots.
The Radiant Sun Hoody had a comfortable cut, and I particularly liked the hood. It has a tall chin that provides additional sun coverage and helps keep the hood in place when the wind picks up.
The CrossCurrent boots got a considerably tougher test.
Our day in the gorge involved wet basalt, dry rocks, boulder-hopping and repeated river crossings. The included aluminum studs provided excellent traction both in and out of the water.
SITKA has expanded beyond its hunting roots into fishing apparel and wading systems, and the company also used the New Mexico event to discuss conservation and water access. Its fishing conservation partnerships include the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Rivers, Keep Fish Wet, Captains for Clean Water and a habitat-restoration partnership involving the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Armed Forces Initiative and Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Learn more at SITKA Gear.
BOGS Spruce Chelsea Boots and Boga Slip-Ons
Not every useful piece of gear on a fishing trip needs to be worn while you’re actually fishing.
BOGS provided its Spruce Chelsea waterproof boots and Boga slip-ons during the event. The Chelsea boots offered an easy waterproof footwear option around camp and during the less technical portions of the trip.
But after spending the day climbing over rocks, fighting river currents and then grinding back up the gorge in wading boots, the Boga slip-ons may have arrived at exactly the right time.
They were perfect for giving my feet a break after the hike—with socks or without them.
Sometimes post-fishing comfort deserves its own gear category.
Learn more at BOGS.
onWater Fish App
Let’s get techy with it.
The onWater Fish app combines mapping, access information, water data, regulations, weather and trip-planning tools designed to help anglers better understand a destination before they ever step into the water.
During the New Mexico event, we explored the app using the Rio Grande Gorge as our classroom. We could see access points, water flows, fish species and other information useful for scouting and planning a fishing trip. For someone exploring unfamiliar water, that’s where an app like this becomes particularly useful. Finding a promising-looking river on a map is one thing. Understanding where you can legally reach it and what conditions you’ll encounter is another.
onWater also incorporates conservation-oriented features. Anglers can upload fish photos and observations that can contribute data used to better understand fish populations and watershed health.
Learn more at onWater.
COAST WPH10R Waterproof Headlamp
COAST brought lighting and outdoor tools to the event, including its WPH10R Waterproof Headlamp and LS20R Quarter Mile Spotlight.
I spent most of my time with the WPH10R.
It’s lightweight, puts out plenty of light and has straightforward controls, but the feature I liked most was its versatility. The light body can be removed from the headband and clipped onto the brim of a hat.
The bottom is also magnetic.
Anyone who has ever tried to work around a vehicle in the dark while holding a flashlight in one hand and actually attempting to accomplish something with the other will immediately understand why that’s useful.
Learn more at COAST.
Tactacam REVEAL Pro
Tactacam originally became known for action cameras designed for hunters and anglers, but the company has expanded into cellular trail cameras and other remote monitoring products.
At the Traction Series event, Tactacam demonstrated some of that technology and sent me home with a REVEAL Pro cellular camera.
My immediate test location isn’t an elk trail or remote whitetail scrape.
It’s the wash behind my house.
For $5 a month, I can put the camera back there and perhaps finally discover what the dogs are barking at all night.
The camera can connect to available cellular networks rather than requiring the user to select a single carrier in advance, and it includes built-in storage along with an SD card slot.
We’ll see what shows up.
Learn more at Tactacam.
Humble Brands Deodorant
And then there was deodorant.
Taos-based Humble Brands makes aluminum-free deodorant using a relatively simple list of ingredients, including coconut oil, glycerin, corn starch, baking soda, beeswax and various essential oils and botanical extracts.
We toured the company’s facility during the Traction Series event, which naturally led to the kind of scientific experiment every outdoor journalist dreams about conducting.
Humble vs. Old Spice.
One armpit for each.
After a day outside, I was surprised to admit Humble won. The Humble side still smelled pretty good, while the traditional-deodorant side had developed a little funk.
There was some residue on the SITKA sun shirt on the Humble side—possibly from the baking soda—so this obviously remains an ongoing research project.
Further testing is required.
Learn more at Humble Brands.
Gear Is Different When You Actually Use It
A spec sheet can tell you how many cans fit in a cooler, what materials are used in a pair of boots or how many lumens a headlamp produces.
What it can’t always tell you is whether a cooler backpack also works surprisingly well as a camera bag, whether boot studs inspire confidence on slick basalt, or how good a pair of slip-ons feels after climbing 700 feet out of a river gorge.
That’s what made the gear side of the Traction Series interesting. We weren’t standing around a convention hall looking at products on tables. We had several days in northern New Mexico to actually put some of them to use.
And if you want the story behind the fishing, the landscape and why the Rio Grande Gorge left such an impression on us, start with Fly Fishing Taos: The Rio Grande Had a Bigger Story to Tell.
