Santa Elena Canyon — Big Bend National Park

Camping inside the canyon after canoeing up the river! The canoe trek can be difficult, especially with low water. Expect the canyon to be 5-10 degrees warmer than the temperature above the canyon in the park. If you camp on a sandbar make sure you are high enough that rising water doesn’t reach you tent. The night we camped the park ranger estimated the temperature inside the canyon was over 110. We sat in the water that night to cool off. In the middle of the night we heard javelinas splashing in the river.

We travel with a kayak so we were fortunate we didn't have to rent one. However, there are lots of rules and extra things you have to carry with you to do this trip. Like - extra life jacket, paddle, waste system and a fire pan. You can rent from the outfitters in town if necessary. We initially wanted to do the point to point trip, but the water level wasn't cooperating so we did a boomerang trip. We kayaked upstream into the canyon, spent the night and came out the next day. It was incredible! We had the canyon to ourselves and loved every minute. If you can manage to do this, definitely do!!