GRANDE SLAM

摘要

Acentury ago, the torrents of the Rio Grande through the Big Bend country of southwest Texas mocked the best efforts of explorers to conquer the river. "Foaming and tumbling in a furious manner," Army Lieutenant Nathaniel Michler wrote in 1852, the river is "totally unmanageable." Today, the fury has been calmed. Dams, diversions, hotter temperatures, and diminishing moisture have all taken a toll. Since Michler's time, the river that once served as a moat between countries has seen its annual flow decline by more than 80 percent at the point where it enters Big Bend. Still, it is premature to write the river's epitaph, as I recently learned on an 83-mile paddling trip through a stretch that Michler had deemed impassable. In fact, we probably should have paid more attention to his cautionary words, because even a parched and weakened river can still slap you around.