Day 21 – Big Bend NP – Day 2

On our second day, we are driving along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive which is the west side of the Chisos Mountains we were at yesterday.  On our way we see this volcanic dome.

More of the lava spires and domes that we have come to see as normal on our drive.

Here is part of the road we are traveling on today.  You can see a volcanic cone in the far distance.

The spines of dark lava rock crossing the desert are called dikes.  Looking a great stone fence, the dikes were created when lava rose along faults or fissures in the rock millions of years ago.

You can see more of the lava flow on this hill where one side of the hill has been eroded.

This is part of the old Homer Wilson Ranch.  Although it looks active, you can see the foreman’s house in the center, it was abandoned in 1945. 

The ranch valley stretches left and rises to these mountains.

We stopped at an overlook and saw these yuccas. 

At the overlook we saw some mountains in the distance with a gorge in them; the light colored wedge in the upper right.  As we read the information at the pull off, those mountains are 14 air miles away!  And the gorge is the Santa Elena Canyon. 

One of the flowers that we’ve seen in this part of the park.

You can clearly see the white limestone strata on this hillside.  It is clear that the hill was pushed up on the one side by the shifting ground.

This is Goat Mountain, created by large lava explosion over an existing lava flow (the darker rock on the bottom of the mountain).  The band of light rock half way to the top is a pyroclastic flow deposit while the top layer is silica-rich lava.

Here’s Carmen taking pictures of the park, while standing next to the tall thin Occatillo plant. 

We are getting closer to the canyon.  You can just see the top over the volcanic cone and sand dune. 

I had to stop at the petrified sand dunes.  It looked like sand but was like walking on rock. 

We stopped at a rest stop to have something to eat and drink.  This was built in 1919 as an outpost during the Mexican revolution.  Later it was used as a trading post and a center for cotton fields.

We finally get to Santa Elena Canyon parking area and it is full of mud from a flooding from two days ago.  The park has been trying to clean it up and we find a nearly clean and dry spot to part.  Hiking about a mile to the gorge, we came to this view of the mountains and the canyon.  It’s a little difficult to see, but on the bottom right of the canyon is a stair case the you can climb to get a view from above.

Here we have a good river-level view of the extent of the carved canyon.  Santa Elena Canyon is 8 miles long and the walls are 1500 feet high.  You can see the staircase better on the bottom right of the picture.

After climbing the stairs we followed the trail along the canyon.  You can see two other people that are also on the trail with us. 

I stopped and looked back to the beginning of the canyon.  From here on it is tricky hiking along the canyon, including climbing over boulders and jumping across water puddles.  Carmen did not continue, but I did.

What a fantastic find; this butterfly landed right in front of me and just stayed there until I took its picture. 

Further in, the canyon floor gets narrower.

After coming back to catch up with Carmen, I got her picture looking out of the canyon.

We headed back to the car and when we got to the parking lot I decided to take a picture of the mud that is still here.

And this is the “lightly” flooded road.  The flood was much higher than this and this is what remains after two days.

Leaving the Canyon, we retrace our drive on the Rose Maxwell Scenic Drive and stopped to take this picture.

Once back on the main park road we still have over 30 miles to go to get to the motorhome.  But, several times today, we have seen a Roadrunner cross the road in front of us or running down the road and by the time we stopped, got the cameras out and even if you could still see the bird we could not get a good picture of it.  Well guess what?  We finally see a roadrunner when we got back to the campground.  We stopped at the visitor store by the campground and there was a Roadrunner in the parking lot.  Go figure.

Tomorrow we will drive to the Big Bend Ranch Texas State Park.  

Day 20 – Big Bend NP – Day 1

There are three different areas in Big Bend National Park and we will spend a day at each one.  The first day, we’ll visited Boquillas Canyon and then later Chisos Basin.  As we begin to leave the campground we have this view.  We later find out that the tall mountains in the distance are in Mexico.

As we approached Boquillas Canyon Carmen took this picture of the mule in the desert.  The buildings in the background are a village in Mexico on the other side of the Rio Grande.

As we begin our hike into the canyon we have a good view of the Rio Grande.  The land to the left of the river is in Mexico.  That is how close we are to the border. 

Here are some of the desert flowers we’ve seen.  They are small but pretty. 

After we began the 1.4 mile round trip hike and got near the river we find these holes in the bedrock along the river.  These are prehistoric mortar holes where the indigenous people would grind seeds, roots and other plants. 

When we started our hike of the canyon we saw a warning sign about the illegality of buying or possessing items obtained from Mexican Nationals.  And that those items would be seized and violators prosecuted.  Well, here are those illegal items. 

Some of the local 46 species of cacti that live in the park; look but don’t touch.  I think this is some sort of prickly pear.

Nearing the entrance to the canyon, you can see the waters of the Rio Grande turn left between the rocks.  The cliff in the background is on the Mexican side. 

We figured these horses belonged to the Mexican men who were on both sides of the river.  On this side we think they would check to make sure people paid for the items they took.  The horses were grazing on the grass that did not exist on the other side of the river.

Looking into the canyon you lose where the rivers runs between the rocks.  In the picture where the “V” is formed by the sky, splits the countries; the USA on the left and Mexico on the right.

We have been seeing all kinds of animals, but this lotus, grasshopper, or whatever is unusual.

Some of the rock layers along the walls. 

This is one of the first lizards I've seen today.  In ran into these reeds and it was difficult to get a good bead on it.  If I hadn't been watching it  move into the reeds, I would not have seen it.

While we were on our way back to the car, we came across this unusual flowering bush.  Seems like some sort of a milkweed type of flower.

As we were passing the last of the reedy area of the trail, a dragonfly landed on one of the branches of the small trees.  It stayed there long enough for me to get a good picture of it.  This almost never happens when I'm trying to get a picture of a dragonfly.

Here we are on the last part of the trail before we return to the parking lot.  You can see another couple just behind Carmen on the trail.  One we get to the top, just to the left of the picture, its downhill to the car.

From almost at the parking lot and now that the sun is shining brightly on the rocks, we have a good view of the mountains on the US side.

No animal this time, just a beast.  Check out this vehicle that was parked in the parking lot when we got back. 

Leaving the Boquillas Canyon, we are now heading to Panther Junction where we will then go to the Chisos Basin.  To get to Panther Junction we drive the 20 miles from the canyon trail and have to pass through the tunnel again. 

Some of the scenery we see as we drive to our next turnoff.  Those mountains are quite a distance away and o  the Mexican side of the river.

Look at the different colored strata in this hill; very interesting.

The junction and Ranger Station are to the right at the base of this mountain, still some distance away.

This is what we are seeing from the car as we are driving.  Look at how blue the sky is.

We’ve turned the corner at Panther Junction and are on our way to Chisos Basin.  These rocks look like they are lava based.

More of the mountain that we see.  This is the same mountain, but from the opposite side, of the picture three pictures ago. 

The mountains with their jagged edges and carved valleys are really remarkable and with the sun moving throughout the day, the shadows make it even more remarkable.  We come to a section of the road to the basin and see a sign that indicates the road is not recommended for RVs longer than 24 feet.  Maybe it is because of terrain like this. 

One of the times when we were stopped and were taking pictures of the mountains, I saw this snake as it was slithering to some bushes.  When it got there it coiled itself and stuck its head out of the grasses.  I did not tell Carmen it was there, she would have freaked

There are some pretty spectacular rock formations in this section of the Park.

Here’s Carmen at one of the overlooks on our way to the Chisos Visitor Center.

The “V” between the two mountains is titled “La Ventana o the Window”; do not ask me why, I haven’t a clue.  It is in the Chisos mountains and this was our view from the visitor center.

So back on the main road, we decided to take a little hike on the Grapevine Hills Trail.  As the sign says the trail enters a realm of petrified fire.  In other words under pressure molten rock ballooned up beneath the surface and as the ground eroded the exposed dome fractured into a moonscape of giant boulders.

Landscape structures like these provided windows in the rock formations.

Here we have a balancing rock along with two spires.

Some of the flowers from this hike and I'm not sure what they are, but I think they may be Desert Marigolds of some sort.

We saw may landscapes like these jumble of rocks and spires.  On the top of the cliff is a rock balancing on two smaller rocks.  I would almost guess that if we came back in f years it would have fallen.

This almost looks like a saw blade with all the rock protrusions. 

Any lizard is a good lizard.  At least this one is in the clear without any obstruction around it.  I think it is a Greater Earless lizard, but that is only a guess.

Carmen overlooking the valley we just hiked up.  We are now on a side trail to “Balanced Rock”.

This is the view just before we reached balanced rock.

Balanced Rock

The view on the back side of the hills from our hike to see balanced rock.  You can see for quite some distance.

Walking back to the car we have this view. 

Back in the car we drive back to the motorhome.  Now that the sun in the west and shining on the cliffs, we have a good view of the rock strata on the mountains on the both of the Rio Grande river.  The tall mountains with the white bands are in Mexico while the more rounded darker hills below the white bands are in the US.

Our last picture before we get back to the motorhome and it gets to dark.  You can see the different colors in the eroded side of this hill.  We are soon having dinner and getting ready for tomorrow where we will drive along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.