We only had a day to visit most of the park so after a quick drive around the parking lot we headed back down towards Panther Junction. The next stop would be Rio Grande Village 20 miles to the southeast. This would be our first glimpse of the Rio Grande River.
There is a small store in the “village” and parking lots. We found a boat launch down along the river and took these pictures.
We drove back up to the road that leads to the Boquillas Canyon Trail. There is a nice overlook before you get to the end of the road and parking lot. Here are a couple of pictures from the Boquillas Canyon Overlook.
After visiting the overlook we continued on to the parking lot for the canyon trail. One thing you will notice are signs warning you not to pick up hitchhikers or buy trinkets from people along the trails. Once I got out of the cars I headed up the trail. I passed a couple other people coming back to the parking lot on the hill before you get to the river.
Around the next corner I hear someone yelling at me. I stopped to listen and saw a guy leaning up against the rocks across the river in the shade. He was saying “Hey Mister, Do you want me to sing to Jesus for you?”. Of course I would but I read the signs and kept walking. He yelled again. “Hey Mister, You want to buy some trinkets?”. Sure enough he knew I was right at a display of things for sale and a donation jar along the path. He got me to stop, you have to give him credit for that.
To be honest, I was quite a ways into the canyon at this point and there was nobody else around so I decided to do a u-turn and head back to the car. I wasn’t sure if this guys had any friends with him and I was all alone.
