Along the Rio Grande

Our second full day at Big Bend took us to the far southeastern corner of the national park. It was about a 40-minute drive from the visitor's center to Rio Grande Village, a campsite, store, and visitor's center located at the in-park border crossing to Boquillas, Mexico.

 

We were going to hike the Boquillas Canyon Trail, a well-regarded 1.4-mile hiking trail that climbs a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande, then drops down to follow the river. 

We parked, gathered our gear, and set off. The sun was bright and hot, and we wanted to get an early start before the temperatures climbed too high.

The views from the top of the cliff were incredible! Big Bend was surprisingly green thanks to a snowstorm they had had just a few weeks prior to our visit.

Normally it's very dry dusty, but we got so lucky to see the desert in full bloom while we were visiting.

After walking along the cliff for some time, we descended into the canyon below to walk along the river. It was a quiet morning, and, though there were a few park rangers working on restoring a section of the trail, it felt like we had the entire park to ourselves!

Of all of the hikes that we did while exploring Big Bend, I think that this one was my favorite.

Big Bend National Park is one of the nation's top birding hotspots, and I was excited to add lots of new birds to my life list! In fact, I'll have another post about that coming out in a few days.