My Texas Canoe Trip

[JohnRich 4]

My previous thread detailing "My Texas Canyon Hike" was mildly popular. So I figured I would start another one with some photos from my latest excursion: a four-day wilderness canoe trip through the canyons of the Rio Grande River, in southwest Texas, on the border with Mexico.

I'll just throw things out here in chronological order, because that's the way my photos are organized. The story will start out a bit slow, then have some really incredible photos worthy of National Geographic, and finally fizzle-out quickly for a long ending.

The canoe trip is to begin in Big Bend National Park. But I stopped along the way to try and take in a day-hike at Seminole Canyon State Park. I've done that hike before, but it's worthy of a repeat trip, and this park is a convenient stopover point on the long drive to Big Bend. It turns out, the Rangers cancelled the hike, because the forecast was threatening rain, and the rock in the canyon gets slippery when wet. And the canyon is so remote, that rescueing anyone that gets hurt is a problem.

So we wandered off elsewhere in the park on top of the mesa. I've seen all that before too, but I was just killing the afternoon.

Photo #1: This deer died an early death. It was a young buck, judging by the single point on the antlers. Was it brought down by a hunter? A mountain lion? I don't know. I couldn't find any teeth marks on the bones indicating eating by other animals. The bones were more scattered than this when we found it. One of my hiking buddies decided to reassemble the parts in approximate correct order. I wanted to bring the skull with antlers back with me, but it still had some skin and fur on it. Euuwww!

Photo #2: I did found another antler to add to my collection! I've got about 10 of these now that I've found on hikes in the desert. It was very odd, as there was some dirt all churned up, from javelina that dig for roots and bugs. And these antlers were partially buried in the loose dirt, with only the points of the tines sticking up. I recognized what it was, but then wondered if there was a whole skull attached underground. Nope. One tip has been chewed down a bit - I understand that rodents nibble on these as a source of calcium. I guess I'm depriving them of their vitamins...

Photo #3: Hiking buddy Dana (left), and me (right). This was a square stone structure, located along the site of an 1880's railroad, so it had something to do with the worker's during the construction of that rail line. But I don't know exactly what. I've run across several others just like this along that rail line. Storage of some type? It was unusually cold that day, for south Texas. A cold front had dropped temperatures into the high 20's. My sleeping bag handled that temperature comfortably, but I really hate crawling out of it in the morning in that kind of chill. Ack! Fortunately, the cold weather only lasted two days, and then the weather was great thereafter.

[JohnRich 4]

If you want to go on a canoe trip, the first thing you need is a canoe. So this photo is titled "Big Red goes canoeing!" That's a 15-footer slung on top, rented from a wilderness outfitter, with straps around the middle, front and back to hold it in place at 70 mph. And I think I chose a very cool mountain for the photo background, to hint at what was to come in the canoe trip.

A funny thing happens with those tie-down straps at about 35 mph: they start vibrating in the wind and make a gosh-awful racket. It sounds like the truck is about to take-off like a jet airplane. The solution: put a twist or two in the strap to break-up the wind flow, so it's not edge-on to the wind. Then it's as quiet as a mouse. Kind of like stowing your slider on your parachute.

I know what some of you are thinking: "Big Red"? Yeah, that's my affectionate name for my truck. Actually it's rather small as SUV's go. But it would sound sissy to call it "Little Red", and male rules require a macho name, so "Big Red" it is.

I selected this truck because it has a six-cylinder engine for relative decent gas mileage, four-wheel drive for off-road travel, and it's big enough to hold all my gear and sleep inside during inclement camping weather. Inside there, I've ridden-out freezing cold nights, 50 mph winds that blew my tent down, a ping-pong ball-sized hail storm, and a rare desert gully-washing rainstorm. She's a good 'ol truck. She's "Big Red".

[popsjumper 2]

Good stuff, John!

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[turtlespeed 212]

Yep - good stuff.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[JohnRich 4]

Now I've arrived at the Big Bend campground, the day before putting canoes into the water.

Photo #1: Can you find the little wild pigee?

Photo #2: There's the little piggee! This is a javelina (pronounced "have-ah-lean-ah"), also known as a peccary. These critters grow up to about 60 lbs, and have been known to attack and kill pet dogs in campgrounds. They are very aggressive when there is food to be had. This one actually tried to raid our cooler, placed just a few feet away from us, while we were in the middle of cooking dinner. I had to drive it off with a walking stick, and it snarled menacingly. I was ready to jump up onto the picnic table if it attacked. The javelina have become too accustomed to human food left out in the open by dumb campers, who return later to find their stores trashed. And they'll tear right through a tent to get at food left inside. The campground has now installed new steel boxes at each campsite since my last visit, for food storage, to try and remove the food temptation and keep the piggees away. They used to maraude through the campground in a pack, and I didn't see that this time, so maybe it's working.

[turtlespeed 212]

What did you use - 30cal? Or just a 45?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[popsjumper 2]

Should have had wild ham for dinner....

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[JohnRich 4]

Photo: The "last supper" before departing on the river the next morning. I figured this was going to be my last decent meal for a while. More on that later.

We had six people, in five canoes. The canoes are loaded on top of the trucks, and we're parked amidst the $100,000 plus RV's, whose "campers" spend weeks hiding inside their steel shells, complete with satellite TV, instead of experiencing the outdoors. Heck, I come out here to get away from TV, not to drag it along with me. And during the days, I'm off hiking, not sitting around in a lawn chair in the campground. I have to leave a chair or water barrel behind in my parking spot to keep someone else from stealing my spot. I admit I'm an anti-luxury snob. Sometimes those monster RV's occupy all the camp sites, and the poor economy guys like me can't find a site. And they're noisy too. You can't enjoy the great outdoors with all those generators churning away. Blech! But the park has "quiet hours" starting at 8:00 pm, so they have to freeze at night just like everyone else. Ha!

From left to right in the photo are: Dana, Janice, Louis, me, and Natalie. Frazer is taking the photo. They are a diverse group, and all skilled outdoorsmen. (And outdoorswomen.) They were pure pleasure to be with. Not a sole whined about the rigors, the hard work, the deprivations, or the toilet facilities. Louis is the outdoor chef, and boy was he ever nice to have along.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

What did you use - 30cal? Or just a 45?

Should have had wild ham for dinner....

Well, it's federal property, and guns are officially banned. However, I don't think they enforce that strictly, thankfully. In fact, there's a sign at the entrance that says that guns must be unloaded, so that contradicts the official ban. I can live with that - I can reload the magazine darned quickly if needed.

Later on, while getting a reservation for a primitive camp site, we had to listen to the standard littany of questions and advice. One of the questions was: "Do you have any guns?" I made a joke out of it, and said; "Do I need one?". Since they're officially banned, answering "yes" might be self-incrimination and an admission of a crime. It made me curious what would have happened next if I had replied honestly and directly.

Those campground-raiding javelina are like giant rats, and certainly deserve to be controlled by hunting. All I had along was my .45 handgun, but these piggees are so bold that it would have made easy shooting. Then again, if people were shooting at them, they would quickly learn not to raid the campgrounds.

[turtlespeed 212]

well - there is always the bow.

are you going to bring out the tater thingy anytime soon?

I need an air compressor for mine.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[JohnRich 4]

Photo #1: The red dot shows the area of Texas in which this trip was made. This park is called "Big Bend" because of the big bend in the river made by the Rio Grande in that area.

Photo #2: Detail map of the area.

There were some logistic difficulties involved in this canoe trip. The section of river we paddled is 36 miles long. However, to get vehicles to the take-out point where we would finish-up, required a four-hour round-trip drive around a huge mountain range. Ack! Those are the only roads available going where we needed to go.

So we started out by unloading the canoes and supplies at the water's edge, left two people behind to guard our stuff, and then drove all four vehicles two hours to park them at the take-out point. There is a ranch owner there who guards your cars for you, for $3 per car per day, to keep the Mexicans from sneaking over the border like Pancho Villa and breaking into them. A good deal! And then all those drivers hopped into my truck, and I drove everyone two hours back to the put-in location at the river, parking my truck there. After all this vehicle pre-positioning work, we didn't get into the river the first day until 2:00 pm.

At the end of the trip at the take-out, I had to load my canoe on top of someone else's truck, and they had to drive me two hours back to my truck. I then transferred my canoe from their truck to mine, and drove it back to the rental place, which was another hour away. This was a very large pain in the butt, but a necessary part of the trip planning.

There are local folks who you can pay to shuttle your vehicles for you, but they charge an arm and a leg for the service - something like $150 per vehicle. No thank you, I can do it myself!

[JohnRich 4]

Okay, all the preliminaries are done - let's head for the water!

Photo #1: The "put-in" site. This is a crude boat ramp near the campground. You back up your truck, drop the canoe and all your supplies, and push off into the water. Here you see my canoe, loaded with tons of stuff: tent, sleeping bag, pad & pillow, collapsible chair, bag of clothes, waterproof buckets of food, 5-gallon water jug, kitchen stuff, ground tarp, cooler, extra paddle, extra life vest, bailing scoop and sponge, blah blah blah. It's a lot of stuff. I managed to get it all in there, and leave one section open for my legs. And it all has to be tied down with rope inside so that if you tip the canoe over (which I fully expected to do) all your stuff stays inside instead of spilling out and disappearing downstream or underwater.

Oh, the canoe is a two-seater, and I'm paddling solo - that's all the outfitter had. That presents a problem. The stern (rear) seat is closer to the stern, than the bow (front) seat is to the bow. In other words, the bow seat is closer to the middle. So if you sit in the stern seat as a solo paddler, you're not as maneuverable, and the load can be unbalanced such that you are weighed down in back with the bow sticking up in the air. The solution: turn the canoe around, sit in the bow seat, but paddle the canoe facing "backwards". That balances things out better so the bow isn't sticking up in the air, and your efforts to steer have more effect.

Photo #2: In the water, and headed into the first canyon!

I've previously canoed only a few times in my life, and all of that was on flat water lakes. So this river with rapids was going to be a challenge for me. I read two books on the subject so I'd at least have the concepts in my head. And I stayed in the middle or rear of the pack most of the time so I could watch how others handled things first, and then tried to mimic their techniques. They told me I had "good balance", which I think means they were surprised I didn't go unintentionally swimming. By the fourth day I sometimes charged ahead and was the first one through on several rapids, and I seemed to be getting the knack of it.

There's a lot of new terminology here. "Painters" are the bow and stern lines. The sides of the canoe are called "gunwales", but pronounced "gunnels". Paddle techniques include things like the "stern pry", "J-stroke" and "eddy turn". "Lining" is when you get out of the boat and float it past a bad spot by holding on to the painters like a dog on a leash. And fortunately, we never had to "portage", where the river runs dry and you carry hundreds of pounds of stuff over land.

[Amanduh 0]

HEREEEEE KITTY KITTY..... *calling JeNnEjEnn!!!!*


WE GOTTA GO!!


JR - Me and Jenn are canuding masters. Seriously. It took us about 5 hours in one to get the hang of it - and to stop allowing the boat to drift backwards or sideways down the river or to learn to stop falling out and getting pinned in between trees with our heads stuck in the water...wait..maybe that was the vodka..hehe! - but you should have seen us after that. Canuding MASTA'S! That place is absolutely gorgeous!!! I wanna go now ..thanks for posting!

[JohnRich 4]

Photo #1: Natalie paddling towards the Mexican village of Boquillos. The U.S. is on the left, and Mexico is on the right. Those tall cliffs in the background are where we're heading.

This is a former mining town from the early 1900's. Ore was mined on the Mexican side of the river, carried across to the US and over land 7 miles by a tramway cable system loaded with large buckets. From there the ore was loaded onto trucks, and driven 100 miles north across the desert to the rail head. Finally, the ore was loaded onto a train and taken to California for processing. Phew! The tramway was powered by a steam engine, and a steam engine requires two things: wood and water, neither of which is available in the desert. So those items were brought back by train and truck on the reverse trip.

This used to be the site of an official border crossing port of entry, but after 9-11-01, it was closed down, and no legal crossing can occur here any more. It used to be a popular thing for hikers to wade across the river and get beer and burritos in the Mexican village. But no more.

Remaining photos: The scenary is getting good now! The cliffs are as high as 1,500 feet on both sides.

There are so many twists and turns in the river, that it often looks like there is nothing but a cliff wall straight ahead.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

JR - Me and Jenn are canuding masters. Seriously. It took us about 5 hours in one to get the hang of it - and to stop allowing the boat to drift backwards or sideways down the river or to learn to stop falling out and getting pinned in between trees with our heads stuck in the water...

I feel your pain.

Natalie is only 5'1" tall, and she paddled with a kayak paddle, with a blade on each end of a pole, instead of just a single blade. She is so expert that she makes only little bitty arm movements, dips with no noise whatsoever, and seems to glide effortlessly across the water. I was envious.

As for me, I was paddling for all I'm worth just to keep up, made loud splashing noises with nearly every dip of my paddle, and often banged my paddle against the side of the boat creating quite a racket. I couldn't sneak up on anyone.

The boat I was using was the main problem. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. Mine was a "barge" that was wide for stability. The other pros that had their own boats have more advanced designs, which are narrower. The wide boat means that you are more likely to whack the paddle on the sides, because it's not as easy to dip in the water beside you. My boat was also flat from bow to stern, which makes for a lot of resistance when you need to turn it. The pros have boats called "rockers", which means the keel (bottom) of the boat is bent upwards on each end a little bit, like the rail on a rocking chair, so that they can spin it quickly to make it turn in a different direction. So given a more advanced boat, I might have been as quiet and graceful as the pros - but I probably would have been overturning it a lot. Such are the compromises in canoe design, apparently. For my experience level, a barge was probabliy the right choice. But I sure felt clumsy compared to the experienced canoeists.

[swedishcelt 0]

I want to do a kayak trip in Colorado this summer very badly.

[shropshire 0]

Loverly - you do some sweet trips John.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[masterrig 1]

That's some beautiful but rugged country through there. Good stuff, John!


Chuck

[JeNnEjEnN 0]

Quote

HEREEEEE KITTY KITTY..... *calling JeNnEjEnn!!!!*

MeOw!!! Hell yeah! Lets go!

-------------------------------------------
"Scars remind you that the past is real..."

[JohnRich 4]

Photo #1: There are wild burros out here in the desert, descendants from the mining days when mule trains were used to haul ore to the railroad 80 miles to the north. They are as sure-footed as mountain goats. This pack of about five somehow managed to get half-way up (or half-way down) a 1,500 foot cliff. Gosh only knows how... There is a ledge half-way up, upon which grows vegetation that is more lush than up on top of the mesa. So the burros work their way down there, somehow, to feast on the banquet.

Photo #2: Pulling over onto a sand bar to make camp on the afternoon of Day 1. We take the first good campsite we can find after 3:00 pm. This schedule gets you almost a full day of paddling, but you don't wait too long and get caught on the river in the dark searching for someplace to pull over. A "good place to camp" is one that has easy canoe access, smooth level ground for tents and sleeping bags, and some height above the water in case the water level rises overnight. The canoes are tied to bushes to make sure that they don't drift away unexpectedly.

Regarding a "good place to camp" and finding a flat spot for comfortable sleeping: A few people had fold-up cots, which means the ground terrain doesn’t matter, because they're sleeping above it. That's a smart idea I may have to try. But cots are bulky, even when folded up. When you're sleeping on the ground with only three-quarters of an inch of foam between you and earth, every little rock and pothole counts. I spend a few minutes "grooming" my spot to remove all the annoying rocks, which might later dig into my body through the foam sleeping pad.

Photo #3: I've climbed up the hillside a bit to get an aerial photo of the campsite for Day #1, which is a sandbar on an inside bend in the river. A tent has sprung up already, as the experienced campers race to grab the best sleeping spots, while the dumb guy (me) climbs the mountain to take a picture. Steep cliff walls are on both sides. There is no escape except by three days of paddling downstream. We are totally alone. And totally free.

Photo #4: Another view of the campsite location, showing the towering cliffs on both sides.

[JohnRich 4]

Culinary functions.

Photo #1: Dinner is being prepared. Furniture is fold-up tables and chairs, which fit in canoes. Louis, in back, is an expert canoeist, who has written guidebooks for canoeing wilderness Texas rivers. Dana, in front, is 79 years old and can out-hike and out-paddle men one-quarter his age.

Louis has a two-burner camp stove and cooks some delicious wilderness meals. I ate better out here than I usually do at home! I was included in "the meal plan": Louis cooks recipes that serve four, and I was asked to join in as the fourth. It cost me just $27 for a week of food, three meals per day. Louis cooks, while I assisted with the other two in "the plan", doing things like chopping onions, peeling potatoes, setting the table and washing dishes. Breakfasts included items like pancakes, hash browns, eggs and bacon. Lunch was simple, with sandwiches of luncheon meat and cheese, and a fruit like an apple or pear. Dinner was sumptuous, and included salad and dressing, with things like ham & potato casserole, tuna croquettes, spaghetti with meat sauce, jambalaya, and chicken pot pie with homemade biscuits on top. Dessert was pudding flavors made with powdered milk and water. Wow! I expected to lose weight due to the rigors and spartan food on this trip, but I came home the same weight as when I departed.

Photo #2: Breakfast before sunrise. Ugh!

A funny thing occurred here. Louis likes to cook the evening meal before sunset, so that all the clean-up can be done before sunset at about 6:30, to avoid the difficulty of working in the dark. That sounds reasonable, right? So why then does he get up an hour before sunrise to cook breakfast in the dark? Hmmm? Inquiring minds want to know! And if you're not there to eat it, then you miss the breakfast. So drag your tired butt out of your warm sleeping bag into the cold chill, and eat your pancakes!

Actually, this morning schedule was designed to allow us to eat, get all the camping gear folded up and stowed in the boats, and hit the water by 9:00 am. It's a lot of work setting up and taking down camp, and unloading and loading boats, each and every night and morning.

[warpedskydiver 0]

Great trip and pics John

did you see any of these on the trip?

hehehe j/k

[JohnRich 4]

Let's talk shit. Literally.

Here's my story about toilet facilities on this stretch of the wilderness. Because poop takes so long to decompose in the desert, since it is so dry, and because of the limited number of campsites along the river, the Park requires that you take along a portable toilet of some type. Otherwise, the sand bar campsites would quickly become filled with old poop. Yech! I thought this wouldn't be a big deal - we'll have some kind of bucket to sit on just like a real toilet, right? No! Enter the "squat toilet" as shown in the attached photo.

This consists of a plastic box not much bigger than a loaf of bread, partially filled with some kind of liquid chemical. Underneath the handle on top, is a lid which you unscrew to open a hole in top. You straddle-squat over top of it, aim precisely, and let loose with #2. #1 must be done elsewhere first, as that would fill the box up too quick. Do you realize how hard it is to do #1, while holding in #2? Or to do #2 while holding in #1? Ack!

Those functions aren't normally separated in time, and this was a difficult mental and physical challenge! The box is too small and not sturdy enough to sit upon. If you're good, everything goes inside and there's no mess to clean up. I had excellent aim every time. Then you put the lid back on, ready for the next user. Toilet paper goes into a plastic bag next to the box, and is also packed out with you - nothing is left behind. And this procedure seems to work fairly well, as there was no clutter of litter of any kind along the river - it was surprisingly clean of human trash. Anyone serious enough about the outdoors to get this far away from civilization is also serious about taking care of it.

The squat box would be located behind a bush somewhere for privacy, and a paddle was leaned upright against the bush to indicate "not in use". If the paddle was lying on the ground, the toilet is "occupied", and you must wait your turn. It's amazing that this little box holds four days of poop from six people. Then at the end of the trip you empty it out into a trailer dump station in the park, where RV's clean out their tanks. I'm glad this wasn't my task.

Wasn't that a pleasant message! I guess all those people that have never been primitive camping before, don't want to now...

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

did you see any of these on the trip? (Cupacabra)

Nope, didn't see the legendary Mexican Yeti. Heck, I've never even been lucky enough to see a mountain lion, but they're out there. There were beaver around too - I didn't see them directly, but the evidence was around in the form of random river cane chewed through with sharp teeth. And also peregrine falcons, which I got to observe personally!

[shropshire 0]

Wow - that's jolly civilised. ....... That's the <> not the latrine!!

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome