In December, a team of five, including Texans and immigrants, embarked on a monthslong journey from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico along the U.S.-Mexico border and the Rio Grande using different modes of transportation: mountain bikes, horses, and canoes. Their purpose? To document the borderlands before further construction of a border wall and to explore how a physical wall would impact landowners, border culture, wildlife, public lands, and water access. The results will be part of a documentary called The River and the Wall, which they plan to release next year. Texas Monthly is following the, 1,200-mile trip, which is divided into six legs and is expected to end in February, in a three-part photo series.

This first installment includes photographs from their first two legs—there are also a few images from an exploratory trip taken earlier in the year to help them plan their journey. During the first leg, which started December 1, the five adventurers— filmmaker and horse trainer Ben Masters, conservationist Jay Kleberg, wildlife biologist Heather Mackey, Nat Geo Wild star Filipe DeAndrade, and Guatemalan American river guide Austin Alvarado—took mountain bikes from El Paso to Presidio. And for the second segment, which began December 11, they rode horses for 200 miles through Big Bend Ranch State Park to Boquillas.

The River and the Wall
With the dramatic snow-covered mountains across the border in Mexico behind them, the "River and the Wall" expedition team makes a stop while cycling along the remote Chispa-Candelaria dirt road. From left: Austin Alvarado, Heather Mackey, Jay Kleberg, Ben Masters, and Filipe DeAndrade.
Ben Masters
The RIver and the Wall
The Rio Grande River, one of the largest rivers in North America, was barely a trickle when the team started the 1,200-mile journey from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico. What little water was let out of New Mexico was diverted into a canal on the U.S. side, leaving Mexico high and dry. The once mighty river now flows through El Paso as an irrigation ditch between a nearly dry river bed and a border wall.
Ben Masters
The River and the Wall
The documentary's team members pedal close to the wall just outside El Paso near Tornillo.
Ben Masters
The team cycles toward Indian Hot Springs, a historic ranch.
The River and the Wall
Moisture was inescapable in the Forgotten Reach of the Rio Grande as the winter storm hit just when the team entered the area, where no support vehicles could go.
Ben Masters
The River and the Wall
Elk populations are growing across West Texas. This group of bull elk was photographed and filmed just north of Big Bend National Park during the research stage of "The River and The Wall."
The River and the Wall
Bison were wiped out during the European expansion of North America, but private landowners have begun reintroducing this iconic species on a few ranches along the border. These were photographed during the research phase of the journey.
The River and the Wall
The Rio Grande, uniting landscapes as it divides two countries, is shown at flood stage near Lajitas.
River guide Austin Alvarado, who is based out of Terlingua, leads his mustang, Tuf, down a rocky slope in Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas’s largest state park.
Ben Masters
Donquita, the team's accompanying burro adopted from the Bureau of Land Management, seems to ponder the efficacy of a physical border wall.
Ben Masters
Jay Kleberg rides mustang Luke through Big Bend National Park. Luke, born a wild horse on public land in Central Wyoming and later adopted by legendary mustang trainer Val Geissler in Cody, Wyoming. Val gave Luke to Ben Masters to use in the film "Unbranded," a documentary about a 3,000-mile ride across the American West, and he was later donated to the Mustang Heritage Foundation to be auctioned off. Luke raised $25,000—the buyer generously gave the money as a donation to the foundation and gave Luke back to Ben.
Ben Masters
Jay Kleberg takes mustang Dinosaur to get water. Like all the wildlife, livestock, and people who’ve historically traveled up and down the Rio Grande, the team relied on the river for water. If a physical border wall is constructed on the north side of the Rio Grande, it would block access to the most reliable water source along hundreds of miles of the Texas-Mexico border.
Ben Masters