Big Bend National Park

TUE 18 May

After effectively being blown off the road last night by the storm I found a RV campground and chose to dry-camp because I wasn’t about to go out in the driving rain to hook up electrical and water [no TV was offered]. I was tired and in this neck of the woods the sun sets a bit after 9:00 PM because it’s on the western edge of the time-zone.

Wasn’t hard going to sleep but because of the closeness of the RR tracks and the trains that blew their whistles and came by every 45 – 60 minutes it was hard staying a sleep; 7 trains between 11:30 PM and 5:30 AM.

The drive down the final 70 miles into park headquarters was wonderful desert waking up in the morning; cool, clear with not a cloud in the sky. The Turkey Buzzards sitting on the fence-posts warming themselves up and drying out from the rain of the night before and waiting for the heat of the day to start the thermal currents so they could ride them up to search for food. The coyotes were also out searching for food and the Jack Rabbits knew it and were running for cover. And small birds everywhere waking up and making noise. Later in the day when it was warmer the lizards came out and they knew everyone was looking to make a meal of them.

I did a couple of short hikes to Boquillas Canyon and to a hot springs area, it was 1030 when I was the only one at the hot springs and I was taking a very slow hiking pace. Also got in a few miles on my bicycle.

The Rio Grande River is not very wide or deep here but illegal crossing isn’t that big of a problem because of the lack of roads out of the area and because it is over 100 miles to a major highway for dispersal; but you still see Border Patrol in the area. And yes I did wet my toes in the RG, it was warm, muddy [possibly from the rain of the night before or maybe it’s that way always] and the rocks were very slippery.

I read in National Geographic magazine a couple of months ago that Big Bend National Park is one of the darkest places in the US because there aren’t any large cities with their lights to light up the night sky. Yep, it’s dark at night and stars are everywhere, I’m going to run out of superlatives on the trip I know, the stars were wonderful to experience and see.