January 12, 2006

January 12, 2006

Big Bend National Park, Texas

YEAR 2 DAY 209

 

Today was intensely sunny, very warm, with a warm Texas desert wind.

This morning when Joanne came in from walking Bo, she told me to get up, get dressed quickly, and rush outside with the binoculars. There were 5 javelinas foraging about 200 feet away. WOW ! Late in the afternoon we came across a group of 4 deer ; 2 does and 2 fawns. The white tail deer down here in Texas are different. The underside of their tails are bushy, with long white hair. It looks like a big white cheerleader pompom when they lift their tails. As we pulled back into the campground at dusk, there was a coyote trotting alongside the campground road.

This morning we set off for a day of exploring Big Bend National Park, by road, and by hiking trail. By the end of a long, tiring day we had driven over 200 miles, and hiked many miles. And we only saw about 2/3 of what we wanted to see. What a huge park. Welcome to Texas ! We're going to stay another day, to finish our sightseeing.

We drove about 60 miles to see Santa Elena Canyon. We parked in the lot at the trailhead, and had lunch before setting off for the long hike into the canyon. A short distance from the parking lot we came to Terlingua Creek, right where it meets the Rio Grande River. We walked along the creek quite a ways looking for a place to cross it, to get to the canyon hike. The first place I tried to cross, the water was deeper than my shoe. The next place I tried to cross, it was muddy. Finally we found a place where we could cross by stepping carefully on stones, without stepping in water that was deeper than our shoes. The hike into Santa Elena Canyon, following the Rio Grande River, was much longer, and more difficult, than we had expected. But the views in the canyon were worth it. On the side of the canyon we were on, it's Texas. Across the river, the other side of the canyon is Mexico. We hiked into the canyon as far as the trail went, then hiked back out. Whew ! I knew I should have gone back to the truck for my hiking stick, when I remembered it, just after we started the hike, and we were only a few hundred yards from the parking lot. My knees aren't as young as they used to be.

Next we drove back along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to the ghost town of Castolon. We bought a couple of soft drinks in the old General Store and Post Office that the National Parks Service operates as a small convenience store and souvenir shop. We walked around the old, abandoned village, seeing old buildings, inside and out. From Castolon we continued along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, stopping next at the Sam Nail Ranch. There was a short hike across the desert, to an oasis and old homestead farmed by Sam Nail and his wife, in the 1930's. It's difficult to imagine trying to subsistence farm on this fairly useless west Texas desert land, even with a small oasis. There were 2 windmills on the property, one of which was still working slightly, pumping a very small amount of water up from the well dug underneath it. Water was dripping out of a pipe, into a dirty, little puddle. It seemed as if every bird within 50 miles was there lining up to get a drink. From the Sam Nail Ranch we drove to the Chisos Basin Road, then up that road into the Chisos Mountains. At the end of the road, we parked, had a bit of a snack, then hiked a short distance to the Chisos Basin Window View, to watch the sun set in the basin, between 2 mountains. We were fairly high up in the mountains, so it wasn't the only sunset we saw today. After driving out of the mountains, and back onto the flat desert, we were able to watch the sun set again. Wow ... 2 sunsets in one day. As it got dark, we drove back towards our campground at Rio Grande Village.

Once back at the trailer, we walked a jubilant Bo, who was very excited to see us after being left in the trailer all day, and fed a starving Teddy, who had missed his lunch time meal. Teddy really hates to miss a meal. While Joanne prepared supper, I cleaned the Terlingua Creek mud, and desert dust off my shoes, then replaced the bedroom closet door latches. The ones I bought the other day in El Paso were better quality than the ones that were on there now, which I had purchased in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We had supper. Joanne washed dishes while I worked on today's accounting and journal entry. We both realized how very, very tired we were. I'm typing this at 9:15 P.M.. Joanne is falling asleep on the sofa. Bo's asleep on the sofa. Teddy's asleep on the swivel rocker. I seem to be the only one still awake. Well ... not for much longer !

DSK