Ten Big Days In Big Bend

We had a great time in Big Bend. It is a really big park with many varied highlights to see. We stayed in the park 10 nights -- in 3 different campgrounds.

This is a view of the Rio Grande as it flows out of the Santa Elena Canyon. A canoe tour was setting off on a river adventure. They paddled up stream into the mouth of the canyon before going downstream for a few miles. We hiked the short trail into the cool shaded canyon. The Chisos mountains are in the background of this photo. The Chisos are the only mountain range entirely within a national park. The Santa Elena Canyon crates a huge notch in the mountains which is visible for many miles across the desert. 

The walls are about 1500' high on both sides... it is difficult to imagine what sort of wall would go here. A fellow hiker waded across to the Mexican side. Santa Elena is one of 3 major canyons on the river in the park. We were able to see some of only two of them.

Our second park hike was the Chimneys Trail. Our destination was the rock formations seen in this photo. Notice the notch in the background...that is Santa Elena Canyon with the Rio Grande flowing through. Mexico is on the left US on the right. 

These two photos are from the Chimneys --petroglyphs and a small rock arch. 

 We didn't hike all of the time. Here is Dan relaxing in the grassy shade of our first camp spot at the Cottonwood Campground. The river bottom area was farmed about 100 years ago. At one point enough cotton was harvested to make it worthwhile for there to be a cotton gin. 

 Both afternoons while we relaxed in the campground we were visited by a herd of 15 Javelinas. They browsed their way through the park. They are an interesting animal, more closely related to deer than pigs. When startled they have a big ridge of dark hair that stands up on their head and back, plus they have a "skunkish" odor. 

 At the Cottonwood Campground we had the camper off of the truck so we could travel on some gravel roads. We set up a screen room where I could use my sewing machine for some quilting.

When we planned our trip we were trying to get here before spring break crowds...it turns out spring break in Texas began March 10th and continues through the month.

 The smallest and busiest campground for spring breakers is the Chisos Basin Campground. We left Cottonwood very early on Wednesday and arrived in Chisos by 8.  We found a workable site... no shade, no room to offload camper, but the bathroom was close and the view is terrific in every direction from every site.

Chisos Basin camp Casa Grande is peak behind camper.

We were able to take a few hikes without driving the truck. One was the Window Trail; the trail goes down along Oak Creek to a "Pour Off". Pour Off is Texas lingo for dry water fall. 

My style of "tequila" shot! There were beautiful agave plants along the Window Trail. The plant bases are about 3-4 feet in diameter, they grow storing sugar for up to 50 years before making one huge bloom stalk about 10-12 feet tall. Then the plant dies and gradually decomposes back to mother earth.

I am always drawn to old trees that struggle to survive in tough environments. This tree is at the peak of the Lost Mine Trail at about 6800' elevation. Casa Grande is the mountain showing through the branches. The camp ground is way beyond and lower-- we drove up to the trailhead. Phone coverage and internet showed up at many random locations in the park. While we sat in the shade of this little pine for a snack and to enjoy the view, I had a call from Martha...morning sickness had struck hard and she needed to tell me about her struggles. 

Our final evening in the Chisos Basin we were treated to a threat of a storm and a beautiful rainbow. 

After four nights in the Chisos Mountains we got up early Sunday morning to head to our third camp in the park at Rio Grande Village. We really found the spring break crowd there, but luckily found a nice fairly isolated camp sight with plenty of room to unload the camper and it had a nice shaded table. 

A unique opportunity near Rio Grande Village is a chance to cross the border to visit the Mexican village of Boquillas. The "port of entry" on the US side is closed Monday and Tuesday, so we decided to have Sunday lunch in Mexico! 

For $5 each roundtrip we were ferried across the river. We then walked a half mile or so to the village. For an additional $8 we could have ridden in a pick-up bed or on a burro. 

There were two restaurant options, we chose "The Falcon's Nest" and had a tasty lunch of tamale, tacos and a margarita. 

Boquillas Canyon is nearby, a short hike leads to the mouth of the canyon. 

This is a hot spring we visited a few miles from our camp. There were lots of people! The warm water was great and the river was good also. That is me waving from the river, I did wade/swim across, just so I could say I did it. 

Just across the road from our camp sight was a trail to a river overlook where there were great sunset views. 

As I finish typing this post we have moved on to San Antonio and we are in a nice RV park. The laundry is done and showers taken. Tomorrow the Alamo!

Before we took off on this trip we installed a solar panel on our roof that can charge the camper batteries whenever the camper is in the sun. In the past we needed to get full hook-ups to re-charge every four or five days... we were in Big Bend 10 nights and had plenty of "juice" the whole time. This is a long post... if your hung in and read to to the end please let me know. Don't worry about trying to comment on the blog itself, Google seems to make that difficult. 

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mule Ears at dawn