April 19. We were up early and headed back to Study Butte to pick up our rented canoe. A lady was there to help us put it on the roof of the car and give us a permit for Mexico. She somehow jammed the rope into the mechanism for the trunk latch, and afterwards, it would not stay closed. We tried everything we could think of, but after a frustrating half hour, had to tie it down.


We drove the long way round to Santa Elena Canyon by the paved road, and carried to the river, which was quite a distance from the parking area.


We launched and started up into the canyon. We were surprised at how shallow the river was. At first we hoped to get around the sand bars, which were invisible in the murky water. Soon we realized that the whole river was only a few inched deep. Nevertheless, we worked our way a few km upstream to a beach on the Mexican side, where we disembarked and had our lunch. There were hundreds of Cave Swallows in their mud nests along the cliff face, and several Black Phoebes flitting along the shore. We could constantly hear Common Yellowthroats, but never did see one.


We retraced our path but, on Barbara’s suggestion, Bill canoed on beyond our launch site to the next takeout. This enabled her to bring the car right down to the river, and gave Bill a chance to run a couple of Class I rapids.


We returned the canoe and headed back to Chisos Basin. We decided to check out the sewage lagoons behind the campground for shore birds, as recommended by the Park Ranger. This turned out to be a complete bust, as the lagoons were quite dry. We only saw a few common birds. Then we rushed back to the restaurant for another late supper.