Big Bend National Park

 

Hello from Big Bend National Park in Texas! It's true what they say about everything being bigger in Texas, this park is ginormous! It is 865,952 acres and larger than the state of Rhode Island.

 

Even the campground "host"was big!😄

We saw several new and different plants than we have ever seen before. To the right is the Ocotillo which is so unusual. We were lucky enough to catch a few of them still in bloom.

 

Fuzzy wuzzy cactus?

While it wasn't in bloom anymore, this Agave harvardiana grows for 50 years to bloom just once and then dies. Bummer we just missed it. We did catch a pretty sky from our campground though!

Time to do some hiking! We did several miles on the lost mine trail and never found the mine; it must be really lost! 

We did find some terrific overlooks and pretty flowers along the way.

We were a little concerned about the signs warning of black bears and mountain lions but we never saw any. Don't worry mom, I also brought my bear spray. 😁

 

A probably more realistic concern would be falling into one of these on the trail...ouch, that would hurt!

Dave posing for a picture for me...while enjoying this incredible view...

What he looks like when hes not posing and trying to convince me to turn around!! 😄


I agreed but only so we could get to the next hike to see the infamous Window View.

A perfect spot to stop and have our picnic dinner and watch the sunset.

Even the drive back to the campground the colors kept going and going, which was lovely because it was a 40 minute drive! 

The next day we went 4 wheeling on Old Maverick Road, which was supposed to be a short cut...

...but we had to go slow because the road was pretty rough, kind of like this "house" called Luna's Jacal where Gilberto Luna raised his large family. No indoor plumbing there!

 

We did meet some "friends" along the way though.

 

Finally at our designation, the Santa Elena Canyon Trail. The first part of the trail is an easy hike down to the Rio Grande River and the Terlingua Creek.

 

It's been very hot here so a lot of the creeks and side tributaries are completely dry. We took advantage of it and were able to cross over and continue the trail, after we climbed up the side...

and through the mesquite trees...to an absolutely amazing path along side the Rio Grande!

 

The trail continued and went up and up... until it went down and down, all the way into the river!

 

We sat on this rock and had our snack (I have to feed Dave to keep him going!) and recorded a special birthday greeting for our dear friend Linsey. The view was just spectacular looking down along the 1500ft of canyon walls.

Back out the trail we went climbing back up to go back down...still beautiful all the way.

We were almost back to the parking lot when we ran into these two javelinas. They are so funny looking with their very narrow heads but also just mean looking enough we finished the trail quickly!

The Ross Maxwell Scenic drive did not disappoint on the way home. The colors in the soils were so different than in the other parts of the park. We saw the "Mules Ears" and were treated to another amazing sunset sky.

I only wish my camera could have caught the full night sky. With not a single town for over 100 miles the park offers an unparalleled panorama of stars.

Our final day in the park and we did a little R & R like the cats get to do every day. 😸

 

We visited the Ghost-town of Terlingua and Dave spent some time in jail. Don't worry, I busted him out so we could go to the Starlight Theater for dinner and a show.  It was a great park but so BIG we could have used a few more days here. Maybe next time but for now we're on the road again to Seminole State park and San Antonio.