Kayak Camping Big Bend - 3 Days Living in a Canyon

[Music] the rio grande river tears through texas's chihuahuan desert carving sheer landscapes that dwarf the eiffel tower and scale its headwaters form in the high alpine of colorado before flowing south thousands of miles to the gulf of mexico welcome to the santa atlantic canyon our crew selected santelena canyon for a three-day mission 1500 foot vertical walls plunged directly into the river landscapes i never could have imagined until seeing them in person this is insane access is deep within big bend national park an eight hundred acre preserve containing rivers desert and the soaring chisos mountain range the desolate nature of this region makes big bend one of the least visited national parks year after year it's in the middle of nowhere which ups the ante for trips like ours the scenery was wild and challenges were abundant but we had a gnarly crew to take on everything this canyon would throw at us what's up brother good to see you good to see you too so bro what's up chuck i need to put on my bathing suit it's time to roll boys we're getting everything all packed up right now just about to push off from shore our original plan was to paddle downstream through the canyon but once we arrived an outfitter let us know that flows were too low and we'd have to do a boomerang trip instead here we go fighting the current upstream was tough but it was the only way to do a trip at this point all right we're making very low miles per hour this is a struggle i'm not even joking we haven't even probably covered a half mile and we're starting to get tired out i was not for seeing this we should be in the canyon soon it's gonna be a hard press i'm just curious to see what we're gonna find in that canyon hopefully not more of this so far our trip has looked like a hike that's the santa atlanta canyon guys videos definitely don't do this place justice the scale is insane we're talking like 1500 foot cliffs on either side of the river [Music] this is so crazy definitely the craziest place i've ever paddled [Music] it may look like there's plenty of water in this canyon as you can see with chuck just cruising along walking we're not working with much [Music] we just pulled over for a quick copy break actually i don't know if it's going to be quick to be quite honest we were all exhausted it's almost 3 p.m and we've been working hard to go upstream but we have this really cool cave behind us so we're going to set up shop take down a couple espressos and hopefully that'll energize us for the push up to fern canyon man the blocks were everywhere and unfortunately one got me right in the arm okay onward we go after getting lit up by a wasp that sucked [Music] [Music] afternoon and we're back to walking we've honestly probably walked just as much as we paddled today but what's more concerning than that are the clouds that are moving in we've been hearing some thunder so far only a few sprinkles of rain although there is no way to check forecast right now because there's no cell signal literally in the middle of nowhere if we start seeing waterfalls in this canyon it's time to skedaddle right now we're looking for camp that's nice and high away from any fluctuation river level we passed the lady who said there is a high campground just on up beyond fern canyon the views are just insane look at chris against that wall chris just found a place up here it's fine sunscreened up for the evening we dropped our gear at camp and headed towards fern canyon a place that was rumored to have crystal clear spring water we found some clear water it was a decent rock scramble and definitely tested the grip of our river shoes on more than one occasion this one's called the birth canal for obvious reasons [Music] oh yeah see this is the spot this spring water was the rejuvenation we all needed all right i'm going to set up camp right there you'll notice there's some good elevation between here and the river just in case there's a storm that's supposed to come through so stay tuned and watch how that all goes down wind is definitely blowing in it's actually getting pretty crazy out here when i was setting up my tent it flew away and ran into chris's tent over there yeah i think something's blowing in we don't know what though because when you look up at the canyon walls you can't see the horizon i was trying to be like as much so we got burgers cheese meal guy corn on the cob we were all just sitting around the campfire kind of thinking to myself like i hear the water a little bit more we're gonna go check and see where the water is moved because it definitely feels like it's picked up oh my gosh it is way up uh we need to move the boats up stat we're gonna keep playing it by ear paying attention because we are in the middle of nowhere up a canyon hours from cars which are hours from civilization so [Music] the store materialized upstream and the worst of it missed us now we could focus on coffee and planting the day's adventure [Music] [Music] these wasps are out oh oh actually these wasps are no joke either we kill them or they kill us gotta rake their ass over the coals oh yeah okay successfully poured a cup without getting stung so that's an improvement over yesterday the river is back down to a level where we are going to start more upriver exploration let's get after it hell yeah river adventure day two [Music] [Music] oh needle nose gar that's pretty crazy [Music] [Applause] we went deeper into the canyon with lighter boats and renewed energy somehow this place got more and more beautiful with each passing stroke or step depending on where you were scale this canyon just makes you feel so small that is one upside to treachery of hiking up river is that it is stunning here this is hairy [Music] you can see the scale we got house size boulders in here this is tricky so many different currents [Applause] y'all good oh man good save [Music] after negotiating the rockpile rapid we turned our boats down streaming for the first time this trip had current at our back it was a glorious moment for some reason this section just speaks to me i think it's got to be one of the prettiest of the entire canyon [Music] it was so much easier to take in your surroundings while floating with the current in this moment i was finally appreciating everything [Applause] there we go that was cool that's a good time that was pretty treacherous after another long day of paddling we gathered around the fire to rest for tonight we would be admiring the milky way big bend is known for its dark sky and stargazing this was the most vivid night sky i'd ever seen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] what's the verdict [Music] and of course remote designs gear kept our essentials dry the entire trip [Music] one last sip of coffee and it was time to load up the boats head downstream and watch the morning light bounce off the canyon walls this next section of river we have not paddled down yet we've only come up so the views are gonna be completely different and we're excited to explore that this is insane beautiful it looks totally different going this way and because we're not laboring upstream you can actually take in the sights and appreciate it so till next time santa atlanta canyon into the woods [Applause] oh my gosh ow it's so sharp [Music] oh my gosh the 10-hour drive home provided ample time to reflect on all the wonderful memories we made and the tribulations we faced that's so crazy this was a grueling trip at times and i learned that even in the depths you can still take a moment to appreciate nature's gifts this desolate landscape giveth and taketh away but the lads always make these adventures memorable this was a challenging trip but i was so happy with how things turned out this is mason his stories are great and kept us engaged around the campfire he also has the best mustache in when town took out chris gained cell signal and received news that he was a dad he and his wife matched the newborn baby girl in there to adopt her immediately michael was chris's brother and drove with him seven hours straight from the river to the hospital covered in the weekend's finest stench how special is that this was yule's first trip and he brought the endurance he's also charlie's boss so charlie made sure to stay on his best behavior most of the time chuck always brings the comedic relief on these trips it helps so much when you're trudging upstream and things get tough this trip is no short task but it's something anybody can do there's plenty of guides and resources to help you along the way we're saying bye for now but we'll be back many times again

Channel: Gatewood Brown

Views: 733,703

Keywords: big bend, rio grande, national park, kayak camping, canoe camping

Id: e1KK82lgpN0

Length: 15min 9sec (909 seconds)

Published: Sun May 22 2022