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Aug 29, 2020
Media: Oil
Size: 11x14 in
Floating through Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park should be a bucket list item for any Texan that takes their citizenship seriously. It's a seven mile, two day rafting trip of serenity and surreal beauty on the Rio Grande. The limestone walls on each side of you eventually climb to 1,500 feet and form the border between the United States and Mexico. History is rich here with thousands of archaeological sites within the park which hold traces of the material remains of 10,000 years of Native American occupation of the Big Bend. Some cliff art can be found in this canyon if you know where to look. Our guide took us on a side canyon tour where we were able to cool off in a small but deep pool of water. Surely some of the purest water on earth, having been filtered through solid limestone for many, many years before eventually exiting the rock at the base of the cliff. There were even ferns growing out of the overhanging formation above us. Ferns, in the middle of the desert. A true oasis. As you near the end of the journey, the walls open up as the river exits the canyon and continues on its way to Boquillas. Floating through Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park should be a bucket list item for any Texan that takes their citizenship seriously. It's a seven mile, two day rafting trip of serenity and surreal beauty on the Rio Grande. The limestone walls on each side of you eventually climb to 1,500 feet and form the border between the United States and Mexico. History is rich here with thousands of archaeological sites within the park which hold traces of the material remains of 10,000 years of Native American occupation of the Big Bend. Some cliff art can be found in this canyon if you know where to look. Our guide took us on a side canyon tour where we were able to cool off in a small but deep pool of water. Surely some of the purest water on earth, having been filtered through solid limestone for many, many years before eventually exiting the rock at the base of the cliff. There were even ferns growing out of the overhanging formation above us. Ferns, in the middle of the desert. A true oasis. As you near the end of the journey, the walls open up as the river exits the canyon and continues on its way to Boquillas. |
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