Rio Grand River Cruise

This past week, we several from our park took a two-hour cruise on the Rio Grand River. Unfortunately, it was a cool and overcast day. Those conditions greatly reduced the enjoyment of the trip, to say the least.

The parting comment of the Captain/narrator was, "And we have ice-cold beer available inside!" No sales were made to our group!

River Data

My estimate is that the river was between 300 and 500 feet wide. The Captain said that it was between 8 and 50' deep.

I few years ago, it flooded terribly. There's a levee on the US side but none on the Mexican side, so they suffered a lot of damage. Not all has been repaired yet.

Landscape

Actually, there was very little to see! The river bank on each side was about 8' above the water level. Most of the land was covered with brush or tall sugar cane. The result was that we could not see much except the bank itself.

We traveled upstream for about an hour, which would have taken us about 7 miles from our starting point, which was Riverside Club in Mission for those who are familiar with the area.

We went past a couple of huge homes on the Mexican side and two or three recreation areas, also on the Mexican side. On the outside, very, very, few buildings.

That's why there are no pictures of buildings!

Border Patrol

The U.S. Border Patrol had a clear presence! We saw three of their boats stopped along the US shore, and a couple passed us during our Rio Grand River cruise.

The "mini-control tower" in the headline picture is a portable observation stand. (It would make a great deer stand!) Most local police departments down here have them. They park them along the road with the hope that the mere presence of them will slow traffic, I think. At times, I'm sure they are occupied, though.