It is a wonderful description of the course of the Rio Grande as it wanders though this arid region.  The banks and flood plains are home to towering cottonwoods and river cane waving in the wind.  Wide meandering sections filled with plant life and critters are set apart by multicolored, narrow, steep walled canyons.  What a world of contrasts.

We explored the hoodoo trail with badlands like formations created by waters rearranging bentonite clay layers. We twisted our way between the towering walls of “Closed Canyon”.  It is so narrow that sunlight virtually never reaches the floor.  Turn after turn and one smooth rock pouroff after another led us closer to the river.  Pouroffs got taller and footholds fewer.  We called it quits when the return climb would have required a 6 foot vertical slick rock climb.  I love canyon hiking!

We saw javelina. Mama was hurrying her young’uns across a clearing along the river.

Conserve water! We use so much/waste so much that the continued existence of this whole ecosystem is threatened.

There is a movie set here…..well the remnants of an old one. It looks about right for an old western scene.