Hiking – more history and meeting the local flora and fauna

9/30/2016; Big Bend National Park

Ruins of old pioneer ranches are still a desert oasis

Early pioneers dug wells that in some cases are still pumping water that support wildlife and non-native trees that they planted (cottonwood, pecan, figs).  I enjoyed the shade and coolness of a couple of these - besides the windmills, little else remains.  I saw the foundation of a dugout house and a partial adobe wall.  But, I like that the windmills are still running and producing water. Dugout Wells and the Sam Nail ranch are great places to rest a bit and bird watch.

The desert is full of stinging, biting, poking things!

Well, that's not exactly a news flash - but if you're careful, only the mosquitos will actually get you.

Agave - or Century Plant

There's been so much rain that the Ocotillo is leafed out and blooming!

englemans prickly pear

Blind PP - no big spines - lots of tiny hairlike spines

3-4 inch spines - red turning to tan

Lechugilla

Much harder to photograph the moving things . . .

I saw deer and 3 bears, but moving too fast to get good pics.  The bear were so black they looked like bear-shaped cutouts in the landscape.

Bear butt - crossed the road and disappeared up the hillside.  I saw this same bear on 3 different occasions

I know that they are near - just where??

You see signs of javelina all over the place - but they've been elusive.

Prickly pear pad provided lunch for some javelina

Javelina print in the sand

I'll spare you the pics of javelina scat.  So sad, no sightings of actual javelina.

Bug day!

One day I saw a tarantula crossing the road.  I swerved to avoid hitting it and was sad that there wasn't a pullover so I could photograph it.  Then, the next time I stopped at an overlook, there was a tarantula!  And, for the rest of the day, I saw tarantulas every where I stopped - over a distance of about 40 miles.  

After that day, I haven't seen a single tarantula.

Saw these guys everywhere!

Greater Earless Lizard

Huge! and so brightly colored

Time to say goodbye to Big Bend for this trip

Pioneer History in the Park

9/29/2016; Big Bend National Park

Castalon and Cottonwood Campground

Near the Cottonwood Campground is the Castalon Visitor Center and Store.  Nearby are several buildings dating back to the early 1900’s when the area served as a commercial center for trade and supply between nearby farming and ranching operations, both on the Mexican and US sides of the border.  It also served as a military outpost.

This store was called Las Harmonias - a hopeful call for harmony among the many varied peoples who traded there.

Boquillas Del Carmen, Mexico

On the other side of the park, near the Rio Grande Village campground complex, the ties with Mexico are even stronger.  A few days a week, there is a border crossing opened for tourists to travel to Boquillas Mexico – an old mining town that you can see from the US side of the river.  Near Boquillas Canyon lie some of the foundations to an ‘Aerial Tramway’ that spanned the Rio Grande from 1915-1919 transporting zinc, silver, and lead ore from mines in Boquillas to the US where it was then trucked to Marathon, Tx to a rail head. The tramway transported 70 tons of ore per hour across the border.

Boquilas Del Carmen

Ore Bucket

One of 4 of the foundation areas for the first tramway support from the river

Borders are really only marks on a map

As you hike along the Rio Grande, you can’t help but notice that the land across the river is identical to land where you are walking – same geological features, same desert plants, same birds flying back and forth.  Unlike on maps, the ground isn’t a different color.   As you hike, canoes and small boats are beached on the Mexican side of the river; you can see small palapas or shade-shelters nearby with folks making small wire sculptures, bags, and painted hiking staffs; these hand-crafted souvenirs are placed along the most popular hikes with an ‘honor jar’.  I met a gentleman selling souvenirs and offering Mexican Songs for sale as I hiked the Boquillas Canyon.  I remembered enough Spanish to have a short conversation (Hello, how are you; no, I don’t want to buy anything).