MAY 19, 2013  BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK  - DAY 2

Today’s adventure once again finds us in Big Bend National Park.  Our route will begin shortly after we get inside the Park gates and we turn onto Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.  This is the drive the Rangers recommend if you only have one day in the park, the must see drive.  I think we supported this theory by taking 174 pictures.   There was some amazing scenery, amazing varied scenery and scenery that just couldn’t be captured by the camera.

The drive started by turning right at the Castolon/Santa Elena Junction which would take us straight into the Chisos Mountains.  Our first stop was shortly after we turned onto the drive when we noticed a green clump of trees in the middle brown and dry.  What we were looking at was the original homestead of Sam Nail who arrived in the park in 1916.  One of the things he did in order to sustain his was to build a well.  I do not know how long Sam stayed in the area but the both the well and the windmill are still there and still working.  The windmill is still pumping water which keeps the fruit trees that he planted alive and vibrant. 

 

We left Sam’s place and continued on towards the Chisos Mountains.   They looked like paintings.  Sometimes when you are reviewing pictures they look like paintings and not photographs, no idea why. Here the actual mountains looked like paintings, it was pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was while we were driving through the mountains that I learned something new.  I learned that there are dikes in the mountains.  What are they????

The spines of rock of dark rock marching across the desert floor are called dikes.  Contemporaries of the Chisos Mountains, these outcrops are evidence of the most recent igneous activity in the area.  Like great stone fences, dikes can be traced for miles across the park – reminders of the molten world beneath the quiet desert surface.

I knew this because I took it right off an exhibit sign. 

 

 

I took a few pictures that show the dikes and how they travel across the mountains.  Very interesting.

 

We slowly, and I mean slowly continued through the mountains, taking pictures and enjoying the fabulous scenery.  In one picture you can the remains of the Homer Wilson Ranch which was one of the original homesteads in this area.  The National Park Service bought it 1942 and incorporated it into Big Bend Park.  The ranch was abandoned in 1945, a year after Homer Wilson died.
 

 

A short jaunt up the road we came to Sotol Vista which gave us an overview of the remainder of the park to the south.  The cliffs in the distance of the first picture belong to Mexico.  We could see Trap Mountain, Goat Mountain, Santa Elena Canyon (which was our final destination) and Kit Mountain.  Also visible was Tule Mountain, Burro Mesa, Little Christmas Mountain and Christmas Mountain.  I wish I had a lens that could have captured what we saw, it was a spectacular view.

 

 

 

We left the vista and dropped down onto the valley floor and made short stops at Burro Mesa Pouroff, Mule Ears View Point and Tuff Canyon.  Burro Mesa Pouroff and Tuff Canyon would be an amazing place to visit during the monsoon season.  I just wouldn’t want to be too close.  Mule Ears Peaks are one of the more famous and widely photographed landmarks.

 

 

Burro Mesa Pouroff

Mule Ears Peaks

Tuff Canyon

 

We stopped at a Visitors Centre where we had our first real look at the Rio Grande Valley.  I was amazed to learn that at one time cotton was grown in the valley.  A gentleman by the name of Wayne Cartledge raised cotton from 1922 to 1942 when production costs forced him to forgo the venture. 
 

 

 

One unique area was Cerro Castellan or Castolon Peak. 

Cerro Castellan

 

The layers visible in Cerro Castellan reveal millions of years of volcanic events.  Stacked in this tower are several lava flows and volcanic tuffs (ash deposits), with layers of gravel and clay from periods of erosion between eruptions.   We also took pictures of further signs of volcanism, pale beds of volcanic ash and dark basaltic boulders.
 

 

 

As we continued we finally got our first look at the Rio Grande.  This time of the year it does not look so large but you can see how the banks expand during the monsoon season. 

 

 

 

The next and last stop will be Santa Elena Canyon where we planned to hike into the canyon.  This is rated as one of the premium short hikes in the park.

Santa Elena Canyon

 

 

We arrived at the trail head, loaded up with water, grabbed the camera and headed out.  The hike was only 1.8 miles but there was a lot of climbing.  The heat and altitude really got to us and this hike took us pretty much to our limits.  Thankfully we took lots of water.  The trip took us into the narrowest part of the canyon which separates Mexico and Texas.  It was pretty spectacular and of course we took a few pictures.

 

 

When we got back to the car it was 106 degrees and we wondered why were exhausted.  We decided at that point to take Old Maverick Road back to the main road.  This cut about 25 miles off of our return trip.  It was a gravel road and unusable during certain times of the year but this was not one of them.  Of course we stopped for a couple of pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

We reached the main road and headed home.  We were exhausted but very pleased with our day, another great retirement day.