Sunday, March 11, 2012

Boquillas Canyon bike and hike

At the very southeast corner where the Rio Grande River exits Big Bend National Park, lies Boquillas Canyon.  As with the southwest corner of Santa Elena Canyon, these cliffs rise high to 1400 feet and the Sierra del Carmen mountains rise up on the Mexico side of the river to about 7000+ feet.
The weather was mild so we decided to bike the 6 miles over to the canyon trail then hike the 1.5 miles up the canyon.

We started late in the day and were the last ones on the trail, meeting many hikers on their way out.    We noticed several donation jars for the singers across the river (in Mexico) but they had the day off, so we had the canyon all alone. talk about quiet. I shot this pic with the iphone camera

Sraddha in Boquillas Canyon Bliss
En route we had noticed this little exhibit about a past pre WW1 tramway that ran 7 miles from Mexico, across the river up north to a spot where the ore from the Mexican mines were then loaded into trucks and carts and then transported by truck or cart another 60 miles to the Southern Pacific railhead.
7 mile long Aerial Tramway over the Rio Grande? Woah!
I sat in one of the ore cars used in the tramway to give you a perspective of the size.  Ore probably weighed more.
Me sitting in Ore Car
Not many birds though. We then faced the 6 mile bike ride back to campground over several little hills but we made it before dusk. Really fun day.




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