Small Boat Cruise: Big Bend, Texas

I belong to a group of curmudgeons that goes on paddling and sailing adventures. All are Everglades Challenge veterans and two have completed the Around-Florida Ultimate Challenge. Almost all are retired or semi-retired. There is constant e-mail chatter. After our French River, Ontario adventure , talk began of finding totally dark nights since the Everglades is now bordered on the east with the glow of Miami. I remembered previous trips to Big Bend National Park, and the plan began to unfold, including a new moon for greatest effect.

- Doug Cameron

Big Bend is one of the largest national parks at more than 800,000 acres and completely encompases a volcanic mountain range, the Chisos. It is desert, with dirt and gravel more prominent than plant life and with only about 13.5 inches of rain a year. We saw roadrunners, jackrabbits, pronghorns, mountain goats, javelinas, and wild burros, but very few humans. In West Texas, in the bump where the Rio Grande River quits going south from El Paso and starts back northeast, it creates the big bend. The US uses all of the Rio Grande’s water by El Paso; so the water we get in the Park comes from the Rio Conchos in Mexico. The river is rather cold and so thick that it will readily clog up a water filter, causing us to carry all our water. We were also required to carry a fire pan (even during a burning ban!) and a toilet system, both of which are available through several outfitters. A wilderness permit is also required, and there are restrictions on camping on the right (Mexican) bank.

After epic drives of 1,300 to 1,600 miles, we gathered in the old mercury mining ghost town of Terlingua on the west side of the Park. Bill, Toby, and Royd had come from Florida, Gary drove from Michigan, and I arrived from Tennessee. Our vehicles were topped with Verlin Kruger’s wonderful canoes. We gathered for a beer in the minimalist desert campground behind a motel in the adjacent village of Study Butte (stoodie beaut). We ate supper, had another beer, and marveled in the bright stars of the desert night.