While the rest of you were having to endure election ads and news, we took off for the Big Bend. One of the things I love the most about that country is how wild and remote it is. There isn't any internet except in the Chisos Basin Lodge Visitor Center and restaurant (not in the rooms), and cell phone reception is mostly not available. So you are pretty much cut off from the rest of the world. Ahhh! How wonderful!
We left Sunday afternoon and drove to Monahans, stopping to eat in Midland at Clear Springs Restaurant. We didn't realize until we got inside and looked at the menu that it is the same kind of restaurant that we had in Nacogdoches. We enjoyed a good supper and then made it on to our hotel for the night. Monday morning we headed south, stopping for lunch at a nice little diner in Marathon. Our next stop was the Big Bend National Park. It is so remote down there that when you head south out of Fort Stockton, there are only two destinations that signs give you mileage for...Marathon and Big Bend. That's all that is down there!
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| Marathon, TX |
The mountains started coming into view when we left Marathon. I always get excited when I see mountains in the distance! The closer we got, the prettier the landscape was. We saw some mule deer off the road before getting to the park. Big Bend isn't the best park we've been to for seeing wildlife. Most of the animals are nocturnal, since it is desert. But we always keep our eyes peeled, just in case!
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| The Window |
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| Cholla |
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| The mascot of Big Bend! They are everywhere! |
After getting settled into our room at the Chisos Basin Lodge, we went out for some sightseeing. We started out going to the Rio Grande Village, where we had a picnic supper, walked down to the river, and walked amongst the cottonwoods. The fuzz from the cottonwoods looked like snow, flying through the air and covering the ground. We went specifically to look for javelina, but they (as most wildlife) normally come out at dusk, so we had some time to kill. We drove down to the Boquillas Overlook, where the villagers from across the river have a little "store" set up on some rocks. They have pottery and glasswork and other items laid out with prices listed and a "till" where you can insert your money. There are watchers with canoes across the river, keeping their eyes on their wares and rowing across when they need to retrieve their money.
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| The view from our back balcony |
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| cottonwoods in Rio Grande Village |
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| Fluff from cottonwoods |
By the time we got back to the Rio Grande Village, the javelinas were coming out to graze. Dennis got out and got close enough to get some pretty good pictures. I kept my distance! They didn't seem to mind us being there at all though. We also saw some quail and jackrabbits alongside the road as we headed back toward the Basin. Once it got dark, we saw a bright light in the sky. At first we thought it was just a really bright star or planet. Then it started "growing". It would expand to a certain size, growing fuzzier as it did so. Then it would shrink back to a bright light again. It would repeat that cycle over and over. Dennis thinks it was probably a border patrol craft that was surveilling the area. I prefer to think of it as a UFO. Ha!
Tuesday morning, after a wonderful breakfast at the Lodge restaurant, we headed west. Our first stop was at the Sam Nail Ranch ruins. It was a short hike down to the old homesite, where there were a couple of old windmills, some kind of old animal shelter and some broken down adobe walls from where the house had been. There was also a big green tree that they had planted, which you could see for a long ways off. Trees are rare except in the Basin and along the river.
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| Sam Nail Ranch |
We stopped to get pictures of the Mule Ears and Santa Elena Canyon (from a distance). There were a few different vantage points to see the Canyon as you approached it. We finally made it to the river...right at the mouth of the canyon. As we were standing beside the river admiring the view, I heard and felt a big "whoosh"! I ducked, then looked up and saw (what I am pretty sure was) a peregrine falcon soaring away rapidly. It was really exciting! Dennis heard the noise, but by the time he looked up, the bird was too far away for him to identify. Peregrine falcons are currently nesting in the area, and the speed that it was flying makes me believe that is what it was. I wish I could have seen it before it dive-bombed me!
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| The "trail" up the wall of Santa Elena Canyon |
We hiked over to the base of the canyon wall and started climbing. There were steps and ramps to make the ascent fairly easy. We got almost to the top, when I chickened out. I don't like heights and it was getting pretty hot. We had accidentally brought the wrong ice chest with us (containing food rather than drinks), so we decided to call it quits and head back down. When we reached the ground, another group said they'd been watching us descending to see if they thought they could make the climb. I guess they decided if these two old folks could do it, they could too! We stopped at the little store at Castalon to get some drinks, then headed back to the basin for lunch.
After resting up a little, we decided to try our luck at finding some critters. We really wanted to see some desert bighorns, but they are mostly in the Dead Horse Mountains, to the northeast of the park. There was a gravel road which was supposed to go the the base of the mountains. We started out on it, but it was rattling our teeth so bad, we turned around and headed back to pavement. Then we exited the park and headed into the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area. We drove all the way to the river without seeing anything other than roadrunners and other birds. We stopped on the side of the road for a picnic supper and then found a "guzzler" to watch at dusk to see if anything would come to drink at. (Guzzlers are a cistern-type contraption that pipe water to a trough for wildlife to drink from.) Nothing came other than some birds (possibly summer tanagers). As we were driving back in the dark, we saw a couple of javelinas, a coyote, and some jackrabbits.
One of the things that caught my eye as we got into the Big Bend Country was the appearance of pink and purple prickly pear cactus. I couldn't figure out if it was a stage that the cacti were going through or if they were a different subspecies. I finally asked a park ranger, who told me that they are a subspecies. They are really pretty!
Wednesday, we decided to head west to the Big Bend Ranch State Park. It is a very different experience to be had from the national park. It is a beautiful drive along the Rio Grande with mountains on both sides. We drove all the way through the park and onto Presidio for lunch. Then we decided to drive the gravel road that goes to Bob Armstrong Visitor Center, which is the headquarters for the remote camping area in the center of the park. It is about a 30 mile drive, one way (going anywhere from 5 mph to 40 mph). It was pretty and allowed us to see some plants up closer than in other areas, but it was a long drive to nowhere! We were very glad to get back on pavement after that little 2-3 hour sidetrip! One very exciting thing did happen though. We were heading back towards the main highway, when a javelina crossed the road in front of us. We stopped and watched him up close. He did NOT like us being there...raising his hackles and chomping his teeth at us! Unfortunately we weren't fast enough to get a picture of him.
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| cliffs on Mexican side of river as seen from Big Bend Ranch State Park |
We picnicked beside the river and then drove "home" in the dark...pretty road weary from the day. The next morning we loaded up and started for home. We decided to take the scenic route: going east through the Sanderson Canyon to Dryden, then north to I10. (I do NOT recommend taking Hwy 349 unless you have a sterner constitution than I do...it is like riding a rollercoaster!) We made a quick stop at Fort Lancaster, which was a buffalo soldier encampment in the 1800's. We stopped in Kerrville for the night, then came home today (stopping in San Saba to pick up our yearly supply of pecans). It was a great trip, but (as always) I am really glad to be home! We saw some beautiful landscapes, a lot of wildflowers in the Bend, plus a nice starting of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes between Kerrville and Llano. We thoroughly enjoyed the chilly nights and utter peace and quiet in The Bend. It is such a special place!
Ps 72:3 The mountains will bring peace to the people, And the little hills, by righteousness. (NKJV)
