Rio Grande Village

Jeff Moore, Alan Cressler, Doug Strait, Paul Aughey, Manuel Beers

11-10-06  Ernst Tinaja Canyon, TX

Brewster, Rio Grande Village

Campsite:  NAD27  291509.83  1030106.50 +-12

The road out to the spring is one of the rougher roads we drove.  The road split and both lanes skirted along a narrow edge dropping 10 feet below into a wash.  A few cars scattered the large, gravel parking lot.  We jumped out and quickly walked approximately half a mile to the hot spring.  I felt excited walking along a cliff and through the tall reeds listening to the howl of the turbulent Rio Grand splash closer through the brush. 

Finally, we stepped down a dirt embankment to the bathing area.  A few people sat in the pool.  I wondered briefly about the bathing procedure but soon stripped off all my clothes, walked across a cement wall, and stepped down into hot, shallow water.  It grew late, but I’ll never know if the other occupants soon left because of the time or maybe they couldn’t handle so much bare flesh.  Either way, I don’t care.  It was great laying back in the hot water gazing into the milky way surrounded by friends.  I hopped out into the class 2 waters of the Rio Grande a few times to cool off before departing. 

After our warm bath, I felt quite tired which didn’t help on the long drive down a bumpy gravel road to our new campsite at Ernst Tinaja, GPS:  NAD27  291509.83  1030106.50 +-12.  Upon arrival, all I really cared about was falling asleep.  I set up my tent and later retired early falling asleep almost immediately. 

Rio Grande Village Gallery

Rio Grande Village

Rio Grande Village