Last updated: June 23, 2025
Place
River Running Exhibit
NPS/CA Hoyt
Quick Facts
Location:
Big Bend National Park
Amenities
6 listed
Accessible Sites, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Wheelchair Accessible
Two exhibits sit side by side at this overlook. One discusses the formation of Santa Elena Canyon and the other talks about river runners who navigated the canyon.
The text on the exhibit reads, "On any day you might see rafts emerge from Santa Elena Canyon. Modern equipment and techniques enable river runner to negotiate the rapids upstream, but the trip was not always this safe. Unable to scout the broken, almost impassable terrain, the 1852 Boundary Survey launched an empty wooden boat at the canyon entrance. Only splinters and broken planks emerged at the canyon mouth.
In 1882 a team of surveyors and Texas Rangers made the first documented journey through Santa Elena Canyon, though the portaged around the Rock Slide. Once they entered the sheer-walled gorge there was no escape, no place to climb out."
A caption on the right-hand side reads, "To experience the river on its own terms, plan a future float trip. In the canyon's timeless interior you can recapture the spirit of the 19th-century expedition, when adventure meant stepping off into uncharted terrain.
Six miles upriver is the Rock Slide, a challenge to all canyon navigators. Peering down from the canyon rim, a boatman with the 1882 Survey said it would be "impossible for a boat to pass this fall in safety."
The text on the exhibit reads, "On any day you might see rafts emerge from Santa Elena Canyon. Modern equipment and techniques enable river runner to negotiate the rapids upstream, but the trip was not always this safe. Unable to scout the broken, almost impassable terrain, the 1852 Boundary Survey launched an empty wooden boat at the canyon entrance. Only splinters and broken planks emerged at the canyon mouth.
In 1882 a team of surveyors and Texas Rangers made the first documented journey through Santa Elena Canyon, though the portaged around the Rock Slide. Once they entered the sheer-walled gorge there was no escape, no place to climb out."
A caption on the right-hand side reads, "To experience the river on its own terms, plan a future float trip. In the canyon's timeless interior you can recapture the spirit of the 19th-century expedition, when adventure meant stepping off into uncharted terrain.
Six miles upriver is the Rock Slide, a challenge to all canyon navigators. Peering down from the canyon rim, a boatman with the 1882 Survey said it would be "impossible for a boat to pass this fall in safety."