{{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox river | name = Mora River | image = File:Mora River Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge 15 November 2021.png | image_alt = | image_caption = A view of the Mora River looking upstream in the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge on November 15, 2021. | pushpin_map = USA New Mexico#United States | pushpin_map_size = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_map_alt = | source1_location = Osha Mountain | source1_coordinates= {{Coord|36|16|4.47|N|105|19|33.54|W}} | mouth_location = Confluence with Canadian River | mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|35|43|40.14|N|104|23|13.93|W|display=inline,title}} | progression = Canadian River—Arkansas River—Mississippi River—Gulf of Mexico | length = | source1_elevation = {{convert|3128|m|ft|abbr=on}} | mouth_elevation = {{convert|1409|m|ft|abbr=on}} | discharge1_avg = | basin_size = | river_system = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = }}
The '''Mora River''', also known as '''Rio Mora''', is a stream in Mora and San Miguel counties in New Mexico, U.S. Its headwaters are on Osha Mountain<ref>{{GNIS|915868}}</ref> of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The river flows downstream primarily through private land, but there are areas for fishing brown and rainbow trout below on public land in the town of Mora. It is a tributary of the Canadian River.<ref name="Piper">{{cite book|author=Ti Piper|title=Fishing in New Mexico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhePv9eeeXgC&pg=PA166|year=1989|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-1138-2|pages=166, 275}}</ref> It was called ''Rio Mora'' or ''Rio de lo de Mora'' on early maps.
The Mora River should not be confused with another stream also called the ''Rio Mora'', which lies to the southwest of the Mora River in the Pecos Wilderness and is a tributary of the Pecos River.<ref name="Julyan">{{cite book|author=Robert Hixson Julyan|title=The Place Names of New Mexico|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3fMJnT1gx0C&pg=PA235|year=1996|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-1689-9|page=235}}</ref>
==Course== [[File:Rio Mora NWR March Juniper Trail Overlook view 15 November 2021.png|thumb|left|A view of the Mora River in the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge on November 15, 2021.]] thumb|left|250px|The Mora River valley near its source at an elevation of about {{cvt|8000|ft|m}}.
The headwaters are located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Chacon. The stream flows south through Mora, east through La Cueva and Watrous to the confluence at Canadian River, north of Sabinoso.<ref name="Julyan" /> A {{convert|5|mi|0|adj=on|spell=in}} stretch of the river meanders through the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge, sometimes running between steep canyon walls up to {{convert|300|ft|0}} in height.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=<!-- not stated --> |title=Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/rio-mora |website=fws.gov |location= |publisher=United States Fish and Wildlife Service |access-date=July 6, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=<!-- not stated --> |title=Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area About Us |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/rio-mora/about-us |website=fws.gov |location= |publisher=United States Fish and Wildlife Service |access-date=July 6, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |date=<!-- not stated --> |title=Rio Mora Wildlife Refuge Dedicated |url=https://www.nmhu.edu/rio-mora-wildlife-refuge-dedicated/ |website=fws.gov |location= |publisher=New Mexico Highlands University |access-date=July 6, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Miller |first=Brian |date=March 16, 2019 |title=Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area |url=https://rewilding.org/rio-mora-conservation-science-center-at-rio-mora-national-wildlife-refuge/ |website=rewilding.org |location= |publisher=REWILDINGEARTH |access-date=July 6, 2025}}</ref>
==Tributaries== Coyote Creek, which runs through Coyote Creek State Park, is a tributary of Mora River.<ref name="Geology">{{Cite web | title = Coyote Creek State Park | work = Virtual Geologic Tour of New Mexico | publisher = New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources | year = 2008 | url = http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/tour/state/coyote_creek/home.html | accessdate = June 14, 2018}}</ref>
==See also== * List of rivers of New Mexico
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Rivers of San Miguel County, New Mexico Category:Rivers of Mora County, New Mexico