Another short, rewarding hike from Big Bend National Park. Less than three river-miles east of the Boquillas Crossing is an over-too-quickly hike to the mouth of Boquillas Canyon. Easy, extremely pleasant, and chock full of scenic beauty, this trail is definitely worth your while. The trailhead departs from a parking area at the end of Boquillas Canyon Road.

The trail starts out climbing, cutting a dusty track up the side of a hill on the banks of the Rio Grande. As soon as we crested the hill, our view of the river opened up. Also, we began to see small collections of copper and bead ornaments and woven novelties along the trail. Sometimes, these pop-up souvenir shops were staffed by children; others ran on the honor system. All were relatively unobtrusive, taking up just a couple of square feet of Texas desert. AllTrails user “t m.” mentioned them in a…