Day 6 - Blog

Our Last Day in the Wild!

    Today was the last day of paddling and camping, and a finale for our experiences in the Big Bend wilderness. We started the day fresh and early, promptly waking around sunrise and packing our sleeping bags and dry bags up. Natalie and Ira went up to the kitchen set up to get a filling breakfast started for the long day of paddling ahead. The rest of us started on our tents and brought all our things down near the boats and the kitchen. Breakfast turned out to be a delicious preparation of scrambled eggs, sausage, and potato hash, with cheese and hot sauce offered as well. It was completely filling and absolutely delicious, and we all finished quickly. Andy and Khadijah cleaned up the cooking space while everyone else got to work packing the canoes. Our guides got the kitchen folded up and in their boats and then did a final sweep of the area. And with that, we were off for our last day in the wild.

We got into our boats quickly and efficiently and got to rowing around nine-thirty. As it was the fourth and last day of canoeing, we were all quite sore and a little slower than the previous days, but still we powered through. Our journey today was described to be the longest yet out of all the days', and would consist of a total of 14 miles, stopping only for lunch and predicted to end around 3 o'clock. We all canoed out of the remainder of the canyon and out into the flatter, more desert-like part of the journey. Out of the canyon, we could feel the real intensity of the Texas sun, and by the time we reached the halfway point for lunch, we were all covered in a fair bit of sweat. Our guides scoped out a brushy little island with plenty of dry
shrubbery in the back for makeshift bathroom space. 

After we'd taken care of our various businesses the guides set up the lunch tables and got out the snacks left over from the days before. It was the last canoeing lunch, which meant we had to finish off whatever odd sandwich ingredients and snacks during this meal. We drank plenty of water, got our life vests back on, and then pushed our boats off the shore to complete the rest of the trip. It was not long before we got out of the sunny, open sections we had been boating through and into rockier areas with faster water and more intense rapids. We actually had to get out of our canoes and assess two of the rapids we came across to see if they'd be safe for our whole group, usually with Mr. Roddy and Andy testing the waters first. In the end, all of us made it through all the rapids without flipping or crashing and while they definitely got our hearts going, it was overall a really exciting day of paddling and we learned a lot. As we neared our finishing point, we were all very tired and thirsty, but very satisfied with our day's work. 

We pulled onto the bank of the beach we had originally started the river trip on and tied our canoes together, and safely mounted to the shore. We got out and unloaded the dry bags and tents and brought them up to each of our own selected tent areas. This particular site had a tall sort of "sand hill", elevating the majority of the land past short, and it made carrying our heavy luggage a pain, especially after having paddled for hours on end. No matter, we got our tents set up and everything set for the night ahead. By now the sun was getting lower into the horizon as well, and a few people had made a game of jumping as far down the sand hill as possible. This silly game was very entertaining to watch, and more people joined in and gathered in the sand around to watch. We all had a lovely evening on the surrounding beach watching Natalie, Ira, and Eli leaping down the hill and chatting pleasantly as the sun went down. Finally, dinner was called and we went over with our bowls and sporks for our last camp meal: ramen and chopped hot dogs. It was quite dark and it was getting chillier by the minute, so the guides got a nice fire going and we all ate around a warm last campfire. We ate and talked and passed snacks around and laughed copiously, enjoying these last perfect moments of the trip.