Day 20--Rio Grande Village in Big Bend

Today we started with two short nature hikes along the southeast road to Rio Grande Village, including one at the visitor center at Panther Junction, before taking a one mile, interpretive hike about the desert at Dugout Wells. By the end of it we could identify Engelmann’s, purple-tinged and blind Prickly Pear cactus. We also found out that lechuguillo is a relative of the century agave, and like its cousin, blooms only one time after 25-30 years and then dies. Unlike its cousin, new plants grow from the roots of old ones, not from seeds. On the east side of the mountains we were seeing much less sotol and more of the “traditional” cactus we were expecting. Leaving Dugout Wells, Marv accelerated to 35 mph, put it in neutral, and we coasted for just over 7 miles! Clearly we were going down to the Rio Grande again. We took a 1.4 mile trail into Boquillas Canyon, which was up a steep hill, down to the river side and along a sand dune. Here the canyon walls are 1500 feet above the river. People by the river are completely dwarfed in photographs taken from the top of the hill. There are Mexican nationals along the bank there with goods for sale on our side. They have cans for one to pay a “donation” for the goods. There were also two men serenading hikers from their side, with cans on our side. They apparently come from the nearby village of Boquillas and ride their horses across the Rio Grande to collect whatever is donated. But there was a reminder in one of our brochures that it is illegal to purchase anything from Mexican nationals. In general, it reminded us of our good fortune to have been born on the north side of the Rio Grande. From the canyon we drove to an overlook for the canyon and then on to Rio Grande Village. There wasn’t much to see there but we ate our picnic at what turned out to be the group camping spot that is right on the river. As we made our way back up the drive we took the spur to Hot Springs. This very interesting gravel road leads to the spot where J.O. Langford made a desert oasis for people to come and “take the waters”. He built a house, a 7 room motor court, a store/post office, a primitive campground and, most importantly, the bathhouse, right on the bank of the Rio Grande. There is an interpretive walk through the area and past ancient petroglyphs and pictographs which show that people have “taken the waters” for thousands of years. All that remains of the bathhouse is the foundation, because anytime the Rio Grande goes over three feet, the area would flood. But lots of people still go there to soak in the waters. There seemed to be a men’s retreat or something going on there, with about 16 guys who all knew each other. We satisfied ourselves with just soaking our feet before heading back to the truck. By then it was 73°, the highest temperature we’ve seen on the trip. We returned to the campsite where surprisingly it was in the low 60s and the camper was warmed by the sun. After cleaning up a little bit we hiked a half mile up the mountainside to the lodge to enjoy a dinner out and ended the evening, once again, with a Northern Exposure. We feel like we have done a pretty good job of Big Bend in three nights here but will leave with some things to do should we ever return.