Big Bend sheds a different light on the US frontier

Take a river journey on the Rio Grande through Big Bend National Park in West Texas. You'll see the US-Mexico border in a new, wild light.

(CNN) — It's late afternoon in Santa Elena Canyon -- a 19-mile gorge that separates Big Bend National Park in West Texas and three national parks in Mexico -- and we're setting up camp along a remote stretch of the Rio Grande. We came across two other canoe groups this morning, but they were day trippers. The only ones staying over on this night in early 2021 are myself, my daughter Shannon, and river guide Mike Gamboni. Call it extreme social distancing. As we sit around the campfire that night, another thought occurs. Despite all the talk over the past few years about blocking off the Mexican border, here's a stretch that will likely never see a wall, fence, barbed wire or any other kind of man-made barrier.