Canoeing-Camping in Big Bend: When Wind Mixes with Water

Big Bend is located at the southwest border of Texas along the Rio Grande River, across from Mexico. Over millions of years, the river has carved out tall canyons along its sides, not so different from the famous Grand Canyon. In direct sunlight, the canyons are tannish brown speckled with green cacti and shrubbery. Sunrise and sunset cast reds, yellows and oranges onto the canyon canvas. It’s beautiful. While most of the landscape is heavenly, sometimes canoeing and camping in it is not as heavenly.
You see, the canyons create a funnel that traps the wind between the two walls. It whips by with no remorse and pays no mind to the direction it flows. On Sunday, our second day canoeing, the wind decided to pick up tremendously and with it a chill. We woke up to sand all over our belongings. Sand caught between my teeth. Sand was in my food. Sand was in my water. Sand was in my clothes. Sand was in my eyes. Sand was in my ears. Sand was in my nose. Sand was everywhere.
At first we used the wind to our advantage, specifically, to fly a kite that Cameron had brought. Sometimes the kite would go rogue and fly its way near our kitchen table where we were prepping breakfast. Other times it would violently crash on the sand or water, releasing the trapped air in a macro-sonic boom.
Mostly, though, the wind was a disadvantage. Specifically, while steering a canoe against the wind down a not-so-powerful current. The day before, I had sat in the front of the canoe, acting as the “engine” but on the second day, those who’d sat in front were encouraged to sit in the back to try our hands at steering. I was the only one to take on the challenge that day—it was a regrettable decision.  
Let me just say that it took around 7 hours to canoe a length that should normally take 3-4 hours.  On top of my lack of steering ability, the wind would constantly push our canoe the opposite direction, sometimes backwards, out of the current and into the bushes on the bank. We were zig-zagging and eddy-ing out all over the damn river. The force of the wind created more waves than usual, which only helped slow us down more. Breaks in paddling were a rarity. On the plus side, we did a month’s worth of arm workouts in one day. However, that wasn’t even the extent of the fun for the day.
*Check out my next journal for an account of what made this windy day even more eventful---->


This is a picture of me trying to stay in high-spirits despite my physical and mental exhaustion.

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