Trip Report: Big Bend National Park – Boquillas Canyon
Thursday, June 13 – Sunday, June 16, 2013
My four buddies and I left Dallas early on Thursday for the long trek to Big Bend. The drive through Midland/Odessa was nuts. I work in the oil/gas industry, and you don’t fully realize the magnitude of the current “oil boom” until you make that drive on I20.
We made it to the park at about 3:00PM on Thursday, just as it started to rain. Our plan was to camp by Rio Grande Village on Thursday night and canoe the 36 mile Boquillas Canyon Friday-Sunday.
We checked in at Panther Junction where the Park Ranger informed us that Mexico had just released a lot of water from the dam upstream, but she said that the rain and dam water probably wouldn’t reach us, and we would still be dragging and carrying quite a bit through the canyon. We ignored the warnings and proceeded on with our planned itinerary.
After some guidance from the Park Ranger, we decided to make camp at Gravel Pit 3 near the river. We missed our turn from the main road and ended up at the Hot Springs. It was pouring rain at this point, and we weren’t really prepared to take a dip, but it was still neat to check out!
We finally made it to our campsite at Gravel Pit 3 after navigating the washed out “road”. The 4-wheel drive came in handy. It continued to rain for the next few hours, but it provided some great views of the clouds coming over the mountains and through the canyons.
On Friday morning, we met our outfitter (Big Bend River Tours) at the Rio Grande Village Store. We rented the canoes and did not use their guide service. We signed the waivers, and he let us know that we had about 14 feet of water coming our way from the rain and dam release. We put in and started our journey. We ran into some “wild”? horses and donkeys along the way.
As we snaked along towards the entrance of the canyon, we took in the sights and sounds of the river. We passed the Boquillas border crossing to the sound of the locals singing “Cielito Lindo”. We waved and kept moving as we were not quite sure of what kind of effort it would take to make the 36 miles by Sunday morning.
As we approached the entrance to Boquillas Canyon, there was a large rain storm headed our way. We stopped and ate lunch at the entrance of the canyon.
After getting blasted by the rain and wind howling through the canyon, the sky cleared, and the heat ensued. But the views kept getting better…
We made camp halfway through Boquillas Canyon. There were a few donkeys that kept us company through the evening.
During the night, the water rose significantly, and the river was moving fast! The “bubble” must have made it down stream. The canyon walls were impairing our GPS, so we did not have a great idea of our location. We set out on Saturday morning to put some serious miles behind us.
We did not have any problem with keeping the pace up. We basically just tried to keep the canoes straight and navigate and rapids without tipping.
Before we knew it, we were out of the canyon before lunch. We decided to push on to see if we could finish and head back to the park for our final night. We made it to our take-out at Heath Canyon Ranch by 3:00PM. The La Linda Fluorspar mine sits abandoned on the Mexico side. It was own and operated by Dow/DuPont with its operations HQ located where the Heath Canyon Ranch sits today. The La Linda International Bridge is closed, and a ghost town sits on the other side.
We chatted with Fred, the caretaker at Heath Canyon Ranch. He shared all his cartel, fishing, wildlife, river, border jumper, etc. stories. We could not get a lift back to the park, so we camped at his place down by the river and made the long journey home on Sunday.
We had an amazing trip. We were all in awe of the sheer size and expanse of Big Bend. We are definitely novice campers and canoers, and we survived. If you are thinking about going, or want a cheapish vacation…GO SEE BIG BEND!
[This message has been edited by Killin Me Smalls (edited 6/19/2013 1:43p).]
[This message has been edited by Killin Me Smalls (edited 6/19/2013 1:50p).]
Thursday, June 13 – Sunday, June 16, 2013
My four buddies and I left Dallas early on Thursday for the long trek to Big Bend. The drive through Midland/Odessa was nuts. I work in the oil/gas industry, and you don’t fully realize the magnitude of the current “oil boom” until you make that drive on I20.
We made it to the park at about 3:00PM on Thursday, just as it started to rain. Our plan was to camp by Rio Grande Village on Thursday night and canoe the 36 mile Boquillas Canyon Friday-Sunday.
We checked in at Panther Junction where the Park Ranger informed us that Mexico had just released a lot of water from the dam upstream, but she said that the rain and dam water probably wouldn’t reach us, and we would still be dragging and carrying quite a bit through the canyon. We ignored the warnings and proceeded on with our planned itinerary.
After some guidance from the Park Ranger, we decided to make camp at Gravel Pit 3 near the river. We missed our turn from the main road and ended up at the Hot Springs. It was pouring rain at this point, and we weren’t really prepared to take a dip, but it was still neat to check out!
We finally made it to our campsite at Gravel Pit 3 after navigating the washed out “road”. The 4-wheel drive came in handy. It continued to rain for the next few hours, but it provided some great views of the clouds coming over the mountains and through the canyons.
On Friday morning, we met our outfitter (Big Bend River Tours) at the Rio Grande Village Store. We rented the canoes and did not use their guide service. We signed the waivers, and he let us know that we had about 14 feet of water coming our way from the rain and dam release. We put in and started our journey. We ran into some “wild”? horses and donkeys along the way.
As we snaked along towards the entrance of the canyon, we took in the sights and sounds of the river. We passed the Boquillas border crossing to the sound of the locals singing “Cielito Lindo”. We waved and kept moving as we were not quite sure of what kind of effort it would take to make the 36 miles by Sunday morning.
As we approached the entrance to Boquillas Canyon, there was a large rain storm headed our way. We stopped and ate lunch at the entrance of the canyon.
After getting blasted by the rain and wind howling through the canyon, the sky cleared, and the heat ensued. But the views kept getting better…
We made camp halfway through Boquillas Canyon. There were a few donkeys that kept us company through the evening.
During the night, the water rose significantly, and the river was moving fast! The “bubble” must have made it down stream. The canyon walls were impairing our GPS, so we did not have a great idea of our location. We set out on Saturday morning to put some serious miles behind us.
We did not have any problem with keeping the pace up. We basically just tried to keep the canoes straight and navigate and rapids without tipping.
Before we knew it, we were out of the canyon before lunch. We decided to push on to see if we could finish and head back to the park for our final night. We made it to our take-out at Heath Canyon Ranch by 3:00PM. The La Linda Fluorspar mine sits abandoned on the Mexico side. It was own and operated by Dow/DuPont with its operations HQ located where the Heath Canyon Ranch sits today. The La Linda International Bridge is closed, and a ghost town sits on the other side.
We chatted with Fred, the caretaker at Heath Canyon Ranch. He shared all his cartel, fishing, wildlife, river, border jumper, etc. stories. We could not get a lift back to the park, so we camped at his place down by the river and made the long journey home on Sunday.
We had an amazing trip. We were all in awe of the sheer size and expanse of Big Bend. We are definitely novice campers and canoers, and we survived. If you are thinking about going, or want a cheapish vacation…GO SEE BIG BEND!
[This message has been edited by Killin Me Smalls (edited 6/19/2013 1:43p).]
[This message has been edited by Killin Me Smalls (edited 6/19/2013 1:50p).]