For our last day in Big Bend National Park we drove the Ross Maxwell scenic drive to Santa Elena Canyon. We took the relatively short hike into the canyon. The trail information noted that the trail crossed the Terlingua Creek and that hikers should be prepared for water or mud though the creek was usually dry. Reading that, we thought the creek would be knee high at best. Ha!
We simply stared at the lady climbing out the creek on the other side, water almost up to her waist. Hmm, do we really want to do this? Just as we were deciding against the crossing, we heard other hikers saying that if you didn't want to get wet, you could walk up the riverside a bit and cross at a dry spot. It was a bit mountain goat hilly at that spot, but it was dry. The park service frowns on crossing there. However, I took the position that they should have had a better place to cross or at least a better warning about the water depth. Too bad the rowboats from Boquillas weren't around!
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| Terlingua Creek flowing into Rio Grande |
