Known as the Rio Grande in the United States and as the Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico. It is the fourth longest river system in the United States at 1,885 miles in length. Beginning it's journey high in the snow packed San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado and ending in the Gulf of Mexico.



Along the way it flows through the San Luis Valley very near the Great Sand Dunes where it makes a turn to the south towards the Colorado - New Mexico state line. Once in New Mexico the river drops into the mighty Rio Grande Rift near Taos before continuing on past Santa Fe and Albuquerque on it's way to El Paso. From this point forward, the river is truly an international river forming the boundary between the United States and Mexico as it borders the great state of Texas.



Much of the river flows through Big Bend country of west Texas where the photographs in this book were created. It is a land of extremes. From low-land deserts, big skies and relentless heat, to a labyrinth of 1,200 foot deep canyons providing cool shade



Award winning photographer Adam Schallau takes us on a photographic journey through a corner of the land not often seen or experienced by most people. The photographs represented in this book chronicle three days spent canoeing the Rio Grande River on its course from Lajitas, Texas, through Santa Elena Canyon, to its mouth in Big Bend National Park.