Day 14 - More Exploring of Big Bend National Park

We were up at 7:30 and I spent time downloading photos to the blog I posted last evening.  The internet service here is very slow and non-existent at times. We packed our lunches and then made omelettes and ate our breakfast outside. It was near 70 and so nice!

The 4 of us left the CG in our CRV at 11 and headed to the Park.  We drove 13 miles on the main road and then 22 more miles on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, which was amazing.  We saw a large Bull Snake that at 1st we thought was a rattlesnake.  No matter what kind, we were sure it had to be "a killer". He was large, had some geometric design, and raised his head like he wanted to attack us.  We were frightened, so we quickly closed the car windows.  We weren't taking any chances.  We also some gorgeous flowers including a Strawberry Pitaya cactus, lots of Ocotillo cacti and prickly pear cacti, yucca that resemble palm trees, and beautiful Texas bluebonnets.  We drove to the Castolon Visitor Center which is housed in an old barracks and ate our packed lunch there.  The Ranger identified the snake as a non-poisonous bullsnake, but what does he know.  That snake was vicious and dangerous!!!!

A flowering Ocotillo Cactus up close!

This is what the actual Ocotillo cactus looks like from a distance!

More gorgeous scenery!

Our friendly bull snake we saw on the road!

He was watching us,,.

and now he is "raised up" and angry!

Hard to imagine no one has lived here since 1945!

A prickly pear cactus - beautiful don't you think????

One of its flowers up close and personal!

The buds and the flowers that are about to open  start out as red!

A sotol plant!

This is the mule ears formation!

Texas Bluebonnets from farther away!

Texas bluebonnets up close!

A strawberry pitaya cactus!

Leaping Lizard!

So colorful!

The scenery along our drove was gorgeous!

The old barracks is now a store and the Visitors Center

From the visitor center we drove on to the Santa Elena Canyon where there was a beautiful 1.7 mile trail to the base of the canyon.  The Rio Grande River flowing through the area was so beautiful.  When you stand in the middle of the Rio Grande in that location you are on the border of Mexico and the US.  It was the most peaceful place (so quiet) and then Melissa sang Amazing Grace with her voice bouncing off the walls of the canyon.  She said she always wanted to do that and it was beautiful!

The volcanic rock formations are incredible!

This is the base of the trail along the Rio Grande River!
The rocks on the left are in Mexico and those on the right
are in the USA!

I love the beautiful flowering cacti!

Here we go climbing up to go down to the bottom of the canyon!
What goes up must go down!!!

.....and up

... up!

Another prickly pear cactus on the top of the rock!

Still climbing!

The view gets better and better and then
you even add a cactus!

In the canyon we saw some huge animal tracks,
and they weren't a dog or human!

Down to the bottom of the canyon and it was so quiet
and peaceful!

It was overwhelming!  Melissa is singing Amazing Grace!

This is the narrowest part of the Canyon! 

A rock in the middle of the water!

The front of that rock looks like the face of a prehistoric
dinosaur with a mouth full of teeth!

Back down from our climb with the canyon in the background!

 We left the canyon and decided to take the 13 mile dirt road back to the entrance to the park.  Ken was hoping to see more wildlife!  We did get a great photo of a jack rabbit, but the roadrunners were too fast for us to get a photo. The road was okay, but the CRV surely was a dusty mess when we got back to the CG at 6.

Those palm tree looking things are actually yucca plants!

Don't you just love the huge ears on a jack rabbit?

... and the big eyes!

We grilled and ate outside and then because the evening was so beautiful we played 2 card games outside.  The men won both!

Getting ready to play cards at our campsite! 

,,..and who just raced by but a road runner!

This has been another amazing day.  You could spend weeks here and still not see everything.

Tomorrow we are going to the Rio Grande Village here in the park, about 50 miles from our CG.  From there, you can go thru customs and get in a rowboat to go over to Mexico.  Once you cleared customs there, you can get in the back of a pick-up truck or ride a burro into a small, very poor village of Mexico where the people depend on the Americans for their income.  So, if you do not hear from me in several days, send someone to come looking for us.  We really don't plan on becoming Mexican citizens!  (Actually, the park rangers have told us about this excursion and assured us it is safe.  I hope they are right!)  It should be a great experience as long as the boats offer a return trip!