Big Bend

Easter 2000. Dave and I drove from San Antonio to Big Bend National Park 500 miles West. We spent 3 days rafting down the Rio Grande. The trip was absolutely amazing. The scenery was like nothing else I have ever seen. Here are photos and the email describing the trip.

DAY1

I picked Dave up from San Antonio and we spent a day traveling pretty much Due West for 500 miles or so. It took a while, but was definitely worth it.

There were not too many events on the way - but we did manage to spare a few lucky prairie dogs....only just managed to see them while cruising the long straight roads at 105 miles per hour....we tried to get photos of them on the way back, but they all ran away.....I will just run them over next time I think . . .

We finally arrived at our hotel near Turlingua and had some food and beers before going to bed (in anticipation of the big river trip which was to begin the next morning)......

We actually got far enough from civilisation that there was not a WalMart for miles!

   It looks like L&P but it is El Pacifico a tasty beer from south of the border

DAY2

We pulled in to the Ghost town (and believe me it was) and got set for the trip.

There were 12 other people on the trip - all Americans, and 5 guides - who were all really cool. 3 from the states and 2 from Mexico....We then dropped the car off and jumped in the van for a ride through some of the 801,000 Acre national park to the Rio Grande. About 1/2 an hour was on sealed road, the next hour and a half was all one lane dirt and rock - we were also slowed down by a flat tire - not surprising the terrain was ROUGH (not even a rental car would have handled it!)....

Looks Like we made it!!!

This is a shot of the Chios Mountains in Big Bend National Park

Time for a lunch break (primo food) and Dave and I were in the canoe heading for Meriscal Canyon. Big Bend on one side and the Chihuahua Desert on the other....we must have
crossed the border 50 times during the trip - no border control though.

Here we are at the WORLD headquarters for Far Flung Adventures

The fact is that you could not carry enough water to walk out of that place it is so remote. We were in the canyon before long and it was absolutely spectacular - massive canyon walls and rugged plants and rocks

There were also many birds - falcons, Hawks, roadrunners and vultures. We didn't manage to tip out of the canoe - but some of the others did - and, yes, of course we laughed at them....

Here is our transport - only one flat tire - just as well they carry 2 spares! You can just see some old mining ruins in the background

Before long we had been going for a few hours and set up camp on the grassy verge on the US side of the canyon. We flagged the tent and set up under the stars.....then sat down with some  vodka and tequila for a few hours before dinner.....we thought we were going to be roughing it - but when they pulled out the table cloths and dished out some Eye Fillet steak with all the trimmings and some tasty Merlot....awesome food. Sleeping was no problem, however we go a few minutes of rain a couple of times - first rain since August last year apparently.....The stars were amazing and the moon lit up the entire canyon in a kind of magical way.
 
 

Here are the trusty guides.....Tommy, Christian, Oscar, Billy and Chris. These guys were awesome fun and made the trip just that much cooler. They kept beer cold, cooked awesome meals and (most importantly) knew the way down the river!! Cheers to them!!....remember to keep an eye out for ferocious kiwis though

Some great canyon views

Part of Mariscal Canyon - at the bottom of Bib Bend.

Dave cooling off in the water with his dogs up

DAY3
Waking up to fresh coffee, and bacon and eggs is not how I remember camping back in NZ - but it worked for me....a good feed and we were back on the river for a full day. Again it was just outstanding - you will have to wait for the pictures I guess.....we stopped to see some pictograms on the Mexican side that were left by some Indians . .

This one is from early on in the trip - The actual Canyon is up ahead in the distance.

This is the life!!

Here is me relaxing in the water after a hot days paddling

Lunch , again, was great - and we made it through again without falling out of our canoe - before we knew it we were setting up camp in the Mexican Desert. We hiked up a hill to check out a cave which was very deep...I managed to get nailed by a blind pear plant - which meant I had annoying spikes in my arm that I had to remove using duct tape - I was not that hairy to start with - but it was better than the frickin annoying prickles.

Me clambering around the cnyon in search of treasure

After our boneless chicken breast and chardonnay for dinner, it was dark and Dave and I took the canoe for a night time stealth mission back into the canyon - we got far enough down so we couldn't hear the rest of our camp and just sat in the canoe watching the stars and being investigated by fireflies and curious Bats...it was very surreal - the sky was awesome - no light pollution at all. Again we slept outside without the tent, even though we had reports of a mountain lion rustling in the bushes.....slept fine though....

 A short walk up the hill and a run in with the blind prickly pear plant - It was time for a rest, and a cool view. That is our camp that you can see on the right side of the river

Needless to say - the guys in the raft full of cold beer ended up being good friends of ours

DAY4
We got up and did some more exploring in the canoe before heading a few hours downstream for lunch and to exit at the pickup point....this was fairly easy after the last few days....

It was an absolutely awesome experience and I would recommend it to anyone - in fact I will definitely plan to do it again someday - the next river will hopefully be copper canyon in Mexico later in the year....if anyone can make it - let me know....

Dave won the wildman hair contest