Big Bend River Tours — Attraction in Manuel Benavides

Really enjoyed our trip with Big Bend River Tours. My wife and I were visiting Big Bend for our anniversary, but due to timing (early January) and weather (rainy and cold), we were the only ones going out on the river that day. Big Bend River Tours will book a trip even if you are the only 2 going out that day, whereas other outfitters in town require larger bookings than 2 people. Originally we had booked a one day canyon trip. However, the weather was supposed to get worse later in the day (and it did!) and we had to drive 2 hours to Marfa later that evening. The fine people at Big Bend River Tours allowed us switch to a 1/2 day trip so we could still enjoy the river without the stress of driving in bad weather later in the day. This last minute change allowed us to get out of town early enough to miss the worst of the weather. Our 1/2 day trip through Dark Canyon was amazing. The drive through Big Bend State Park was beautiful and our guide La had lots of great information about the region and stories to share. The 1/2 Day trip is great for beginners. We did the trip in canoes, and it was the perfect combination of slow moving water for the majority of the float with a few mild rapids in between. Dark Canyon was beautiful and I am glad we got the chance to see Big Bend State Park as the drive to and from the river was breathtaking. I highly recommend this company due to the kindness of the people that run the office by looking out for our best interests in regards to the weather and La was an amazing guide for our first trip down...

The worst! Make sure you ask what your trip entails! We signed up for a rafting trip, ended up last minute they switched us to kayaking trip. I thought okay, fine—I mentioned that I have never kayaked before and they said it wasn’t an issue. They said there would be no major rapids and it’s a fairly easy course. We get to the site and there’s already a rapid, I ask the instructor snd he said this is the only one and it’s easy—I was like okay, I can do this it’s only one, plus they didn’t give us helmets so it should be fine. Barely did the first one without falling when not even 5 min later there’s another one—I ask the guide and he said “don’t worry, try not to fall”—I let him know that this wasn’t what signed up for and I can’t do another rapid as the last one I barely stayed up—and that I don’t want to do this anymore—he said too bad now your commited—so I took a deep breath and went for it and of course I fell and dislocated my shoulder! I popped it back in place without even realizing—had an MRI done since I was in so much pain post kayaking! On the way back from the kayak trip our instructor said “I forgot to check the water levels today, I think it was too low for 2 people per kayak”—isn’t that something you should be checking every morning. The whole experience was honestly horrible and I just felt like god forbid something terrible happened there’s no way out of there, they have no back up plan and if you go and don’t feel comfortable, there’s...

We were highly pleased with our canoe trip on Santa Elena Canyon. We were low on sunscreen so we went to the local gas station in the morning but Big Bend River Tours actually has a great gift shop that sold sunscreen, chapstick, and souvenirs. Our tour guides Jared and Darin were very friendly and knowledgeable (and funny). All of the equipment were in great condition. A mother/daughter combo couldn't figure out how to paddle upstream in the canoe so one of the guides was kind enough to tie their canoe to his and paddled for them all morning. Paddling upstream was quite a workout and we stopped about every 30-45 minutes for a break and to allow others to catch up. Lunch was really good. For deli meat sandwiches, they had every topping you could possibly imagine.They also served chips, salsa, fruit, cookies, and had water, lemonade and fruit punch drink mixes. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Darin and Jared were going to lead us on a hike during a lunch break back to Fern Canyon. It required lots of climbing and had some difficult spots but I felt safe with Darin and Jared's instruction. The hike was probably less than a mile (one way) and took about 45 minutes. Coming back downstream after lunch was a breeze. The shuttle van was very clean and air conditioner worked great when everyone was hot coming back. I would definitely recommend a trip with Big Bend...