Today we ran Mariscal Canyon, the deepest and most remote of the three canyons along Big Bend National Park.  

We also crossed over the start of the Wild and Scenic Reach of the Rio Grande.  

We are seeing more turtles and birds. There is sign of beaver along the muddy riverbanks. The conductivity of the river has decreased, as has the bacteria count. 

The group has accepted that we will just see this one canyon.  

We have run the rapids, surfed the waves and tomorrow we will climb up to the rim of the canyon and explore campsites that have been used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. 

The weather has been ideal and tonight we are in the same campsite Dan Reicher camped at 37 years ago. According to his journal, he and his fellow explorers spent the night making music that reverberated off the canyon walls.  

The group today is a bit more subdued. Dan brought his recorder and Crystal Allbright is teaching him some Mexican folk tunes.   

There is talk of planning a return trip to see more of the canyons. It’s just too good to only see once.  

“It’s a very humbling experience to come into a canyon,” said Fred St. Goar. “It reminds you of your place in the world. … It’s spiritual.”

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As close as I can tell, I’m halfway to the Gulf of Mexico. Ahead is the most wild and rugged reach of the river and the most urbanized. 

It’s going to be an adventure. To help kick it off, I’m paddling with the most accomplished group of paddlers I have ever been a part of. The guides have more than 100 years of experience between them on the Rio Grande. The guests have first descents in China and California. The youngest member, Nick Gottlieb, is seriously contemplating paddling 240 miles through the Grand Canyon in less than 24 hours.   

Our conversations on the banks of the river range from what it is like to see crocodiles pull down wildebeests in Africa and paddle amongst the icebergs in Alaska to working the halls of Congress.   

I’ve shared my observations from the Rio Grande with them and asked how they compare to what they have seen and experienced.  

The general conclusion is that while the Rio Grande, like almost all other rivers, is highly altered with dams, levees and diversions, it is incredibly resilient and constantly working to restore itself.  

In addition to the natural process of rivers to fill lakes with sediment and cut through barriers of any kind, the public perception of the role of rivers is changing.   

 “We have found there is a growing recognition, even among the winners in water allocation, that the system is broken and in the long run there are no winners,“ said Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers, who is along for this paddle.   

Across the country and around the world, rivers are coming back after being buried in culverts or polluted to the point of toxicity. Decisions are being made to see the river as a complete system, instead of a resource to reach a specific goal, like delivering water to farm fields or removing pollution from a city. 

Rivers can do these things very well, but when we focus on single goals and control, we miss out on the other benefits they can provide, such as recharging aquifers and farm fields, slowing floods and dampening droughts.   

“There is always hope for rivers,” said Irvin, “Even if we have dammed them, polluted them or diverted them, the river is still there.” 

We have done just about everything we can to the Rio Grande, and it is still here. It’s going to be fun to find out in what form over the next 800 miles.

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One week and 37 years ago, an expedition of undergraduates from Dartmouth College passed the campsite we are using tonight.  

Dan Reicher was the biologist on that expedition. He brought along a copy of his journal from the 1977 expedition to share with us as he revisits the river. Rob Portman was a liaison with locals and went on to become the U.S. Senator for Ohio. He could not make the trip because of his work campaigning for his fellow Republicans. But he called in via a satellite phone so he could be part of the trip.  

For the most part, the diary entries and stories told by Portman do not seem dated. There was trouble with the rapids in Mariscal Canyon and the supply canoe flipped. Some tourists from Kentucky told Reicher to not rush into marriage unless he was done with such adventures. There was concern about safety along the border. 

But overall, there is less water to float boats and the border itself has changed. The town of Santa Elena and the ferry to it are gone. That’s where Reicher met the advice-giving tourists. The border was closed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Residents were cut off from the income stream from tourists and from the stores of Big Bend National Park, which were the only local place to buy necessities.  

Portman said the trip made him sort of fall in love with the Rio Grande and especially the border. He wrote his senior paper about the region and came back to work as a ranch hand. He later returned to the same ranch to spend his honeymoon on the Rio Grande and then later brought his children. The kayak he used on the expedition hangs in his office.  

“I always tell the story that no one would be crazy enough to do it again,” he said. “I’m glad to be talking to someone who is.” 

When the issue of the border wall comes up, especially in remote areas like where we are now, Portman points out it would not work.  

“People say we need a wall across the border,” he said. “I do believe in control of the border, but having a wall does not make sense to me. It would create a lot of hardship in a lot of communities.”  

That comment brought a sigh of relief among the river guides and river advocates I’m traveling with. Then Portman made a very divisive comment.  

“My first love is still canoeing,” he said.   

The canoe may not have flipped if it had not been loaded down with the gear from those in the kayaks. It is hard to forget adventure like that on the Rio Grande.  

Some things never change.   

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