26-January-2024. Rio Grande via Canoe

Merry Christmas! Well - for me it is as today I enjoyed an amazing Christmas gift from my daughter Kristen - a day long canoe trip on the Rio Grande.

We got an early start and our tour guide Tanner was a fun leader filled with lots of information about the park and life here at Big Bend. We spent a couple hours paddling down the river and took a lunch break at a place famous for its Hot Springs. And they sure are super hot! Water temperature comes out at 108° F. There are places along the river where the heat of the hot spring water flowing into the river causes steam to rise off the water. So interesting! We saw lots of turtles and birds along the way ... and yet so odd to be on a river that cuts through a dry and barren desert.

After lunch the geology changed and we were going downstream between large canyon walls. At one point we pulled off to the right side – we were in Mexico! The Rio grande is the international border between the United States and Mexico along most of the Texas southern border. The land on the Mexican side is also a nature preserve and there are farms with cowboys on horses rounding up the herds. It was a sunny day with temperatures in the mid 70s and could not have been nicer.

After canoeing I went to explore a local "ghost town". Terlingua was known to be an active mine town back in the early 1900s but when the mine closed it fell to ruin. It has now come back to life as the gateway to Big Bend National Park with lots of rental units, outdoor activity companies and small restaurants.

Desert sunsets are amazing and I spent a half hour watching the sky change as the sun dropped behind the mountains this evening. It is so picturesque here!

Our canoe guide had recommended a local taco place and I sampled the pastor (pork), Barbados (beef), and nopalito (prickly pear) tacos. They were all delicious!