{"id":13644,"date":"2025-03-03T18:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T02:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/streaming2nps.com\/?p=13644"},"modified":"2026-01-04T12:16:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T20:16:20","slug":"on-the-rio-grande","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streaming2nps.com\/?p=13644","title":{"rendered":"On the Rio Grande"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Big Bend National Park<\/strong><\/mark><\/strong> (#60-Revisit)<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One of our favorite National Parks, so far (top 5?), a place in Far West Texas where night skies are dark as coal and rivers carve temple-like canyons in ancient limestone.  Here, at the end of the road, hundreds of bird species take refuge in a solitary mountain range surrounded by weather-beaten desert.  Tenacious cactus bloom in sublime southwestern sun, and species diversity is the best in the country.  Along it\u2019s southern border is\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River<\/strong><\/mark> (#61-Revisit):<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Altogether, a 196 mile free-flowing stretch of the Rio Grande, which winds its way through desert expanses and stunning canyons of stratified rock, from ~the southern point of Big Bend, to well east of Boquillas Canyon in eastern Big Bend, almost all the way to Amistad NRA (just 3 miles short)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our first visit here<\/a>, January 2015, we stayed in a cabin up in Chisos Basin for 4 nights, and in 3 days:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. hiked the 2 most popular trails in Chisos (~10 miles)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. went southwest all the way to Castelon and into St. Elena Canyon, visiting \u201call\u201d the most popular sites & short trails, on our return to Chisos<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. went southeast to Rio Grande Village and to Boquillas Canyon<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This time we camped near the end of the southeastern road, in Rio Grande Village, for 6 nights\/5+ days.  We took more time to \u201cjust hang out\u201d (we actually got out our camp chairs and watched the javelina and road runners in the campground), <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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    attended several Ranger Programs, and repeated little in the way of \u201ctouring\u201d\/hiking (we did hike back into Boquillas Canyon).  We didn\u2019t revisit the western half of the park at all.  One thing both visits had in common\u2026New Moon in an amazing Dark Sky Park!<\/strong>   First time was by accident, this time was planned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    New hikes and adventures included: <\/p>\n\n\n\n