Big Bend National Park

We are still on our raging war path to finish our list of National Parks in the U.S. and the next one on our list was the Big Bend National Park. So I am going to cut right to the chase and tell you we flew into Brewster Country Airport and got a taxi ride to a nearby a Thrifty Rental Car. We rented a Jeep Grand Cherokee and decided to spend the night before heading over to the canyon. We also made sure our reservations for the guide would still be valid.

We got up early the next morning and headed over the canyon and the spot where we were supposed to meet our guide. We noticed almost instantly as we got closer how the air got musty… is that a word? When we arrived our guide led us and three other groups down… or up to the ridge where we had the opportunity to peer over the edge. Im not sure how far down we were looking but the guide said the deepest point of the river was 1,800 feet below sea level.

I am so glad we had a guide because the magnitude of the canyon is amazing, but other than two solid rock walls there is really not much to learn. He explained that the park contained over four hundred species of birds and nearly 75 species of fish. I don’t know about you but seventy five species of fish is a really big number for a river. We were led very carefully down to the bottom of the canyon. The guide continued to say that not everyone gets to go down because of the water height, and that sensors were set up to ensure there wasn’t a flash flood while we were down there… very comforting.

The two rock walls on either side are solid rock walls, it’s very intimidating. The bottom is really smooth sand and small pools of water, something that changes at random apparently. We really enjoyed the park, its rather simple but really astounding.