A thick blanket of white clouds hung like a vast sea in the desert with the high mountains as islands. We descended into the cold clouds to Panther Junction where we loaded up a canoe and gear. We drove through the gloom to Rio Grande Village. The ceiling lifted but it was still cloudy and cold when we pushed off and paddled upstream towards Hot Springs Canyon. We waved at an old man sitting next to the river in Mexico (he looked surprised to see people canoeing upstream), then entered into the walls of a low canyon. We worked our way up this interesting canyon, through a few shallow rapids where we had to drag the canoe. The water was significantly warmer here than it was during our trip into the Santa Elena Canyon a month ago. At the Hot Springs, we encountered some extensive rapids, so instead of continuing to battle them, we turned and rode them back down through the canyon.
A warm sun came out, accompanied by a piercing blue sky. We stopped for lunch at a large rocky outcropping, then rode the rapids back through the rest of the canyon, passing beautiful, ancient rock walls on the way to our car. It was a fun day on the Rio Grande!
I think we would have loved soaking in that hot spring...especially considering what the weather was like when we were visiting you in Big Bend!
ReplyDeleteI think we would have loved soaking in that hot spring...especially considering what the weather was like when we were visiting you in Big Bend!
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