Hands down must do experience. This is an excellent way to really experience Big Bend and the Rio Grande. The scenery, sunsets, and sunrises are stunning. A bit more private and out the way, we absolutely loved the Mariscal Canyon trip.
We did a 3 day/2 night trip, with our guide Matthew, who candidly, made this trip greater than we could expect. This was the first river trip like this for us, but not our last. From the time we inquired about the trip to the end of the trip, Matthew was genuinely attentive, taking time to get to know us us, and really making us feel welcomed. He was helpful with anything we asked, and it was evident he has a passion for what he does. His love for this really showed.
He was our cook, travel companion, and “River Boat Captain” during this trip and we enjoyed having him guide us through this experience. He prepared some absolutely great dishes that one might not expect when primitive camping, and overall took care of everything necessary to make sure this was a great trip for us.
We were celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary trip on the first day of the river trip and Matthew helped kick off well. He was very supportive of our not so great canoeing skills (I'm sure he had to laugh at us at some times) and while we started out not knowing how to really navigate or pack our canoe, we feel confident in saying by the end of the trip we are much more capable and knowledgeable.
We would be remiss in not mentioning our concerns with Covid, both as we planned and prepared for the trip, but we can’t say enough about the attention and care Matthew demonstrated to make this a safe journey. From the drive to our launch point, to the dining setup, to the steps taken to ensure everything we might come in contact with had some consideration for cleanliness and safety.
We cannot recommend Matthew and Wild Adventure Outfitters enough, and hopefully we’ll get a chance to do a longer trip on the Rio Grande another time. We communicated with several of the other staff via email and all were easy to work with and very polite. Do yourself a favor and book a river trip.