Class II-III Rio Grande, TX

The Rio Grande provides a variety of recreational opportunities that allow visitors to experience a spectacular river corridor as it carves its way through the Chihuahuan Desert. Colorful, expansive landscapes give way to vault-like canyons that carry travelers through time and space, providing world-class year-around boating, hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, photography, and natural springs. Visitors can enjoy and experience rare desert flora and fauna, solitude, natural sounds, and amazing night skies in a remote and dramatic landscape that is largely wild and undeveloped.

Mysterious and intimate, Mariscal Canyon is the most remote canyon in Big Bend National Park. Here the Rio Grande swings northward, forming the big bend of the river. Mariscal Canyon is accessible only by a dirt road which, although lengthy, affords spectacular and seldom-seen views of the Chisos Mountains. This section (Talley to Soils) covers a 10-mile stretch of the Rio Grande through beautiful rock formations that have narrow canyon walls reaching 1,800 feet above the river.

Since you need a high clearance vehicle to reach Mariscal Canyon, it is a wonderfully remote day or overnight river trip. It is the shortest canyon in the park, 10 miles long, with varied scenery and stunning limestone cliffs rising up to 1,400 feet. A few Class II-III rapids (depending on water levels) give this excursion some excitement. Check with a ranger about road conditions before embarking on your journey.

 

 

For More Information Visit:

Rio Grande, TX - rivers.gov