Well,
now, here’s a surprise. We woke up all set to head to Big Bend when I checked
the temperature on my phone. 32
degrees. That’s right. Freezing.
And scheduled to get even colder before it warmed all the way up to the
low 40’s. So glad we did that star party
the night before.
Oh,
I forgot to mention … the hotel graciously allowed us to stay in the same
room. I suppose they managed to contact
the ghost and convince him to switch to a different haunt for one more night. Either that or they moved the people who
hadn’t arrived yet. I’m not sure. But no ghostish personas appeared yet
again. We slept through the night and
enjoyed our last breakfast at the Drug Store.
By the way, they were playing Christian music, so we really enjoyed
ourselves.
Internet
and cell service was terribly spotty in Fort Davis and nonexistent at the
observatory. And we found out later
there is no service at the national park either. We did manage to score reservations for the
spotlight hotel inside the park (the only
hotel inside the park), but only for one night. Without the internet we just had to drive to
the area and do some scouting. Old
school, baby.
The
drive started out very foggy and the temperature hovered around 32 degrees
until we got almost to the park. Interesting
combination for a drive. Chris was, of
course, her usual fabulous chauffeur self.
We passed some interesting sites on the drive. A fully staffed border patrol inspection
station (for cars heading in the other
direction. We didn’t have to stop). Two pretty impressive structures called
Elephant Mountain and Kokernot Mesa. And
for much of the way were actually in the Chihuahuan Desert.
Once
in the park we dove right in. Stopped at
the first ranger station and got our National Park stamp (OK, I messed up and put the wrong one in the right spot, but we
actually ended up with two stamps).
Then we drove to the first of three serious hikes (well, serious for us. They were
marked “easy” in the map guide we received, but anything over a mile or two is
tough when you’re going uphill … both ways.
And I’m pretty sure we were).
The Desert Nature Trail at Dug Out Wells. Not much to that one, other than we met a
nice guy from Waco who comes to the park once a year. We saw him at several of the other
sites. We also made friends with a
couple from Wisconsin who were parked at the site having lunch (My lunch consisted of some cheese crackers
and baked potato flavored Pringles.
Chris had peanut butter crackers and sour cream and onion Pringles. Gotta eat healthy, you know?). We saw this couple just about everywhere we
went, and shared cameras by taking actual photos instead of struggling with
selfies (Although, as you can see from
some of my posts, I’m getting pretty good at selfies). They had even been to the Observatory when we
were there. They recognized my GFD
hat. The hike itself was honestly pretty
mild. We heard some birds making a lot
of racket and tried to track them down, but all we found was a little
bunny. I’m thinking he was actually the
feared predator bunny that once flourished in certain parts of England.
Next
we had to drive to the opposite side of the park. There was another ranger station there with a
different stamp for our book. That vital
task accomplished, we began our quest for the Holy Grail of the Big Bend, that
name-giver, that one who actually does the Big Bending … the Rio Grande
River. Our first attempt to see the
elusive Wet One came when we stumbled upon a camping site filled with 50 or so
tents (Poor souls). But just across the
parking area from them I noticed a sign.
It was in pictures, but easy enough to decipher. Boat ramp.
Now where else would you need a boat ramp in the Big Bend National Park
but at the actual river? I walked down a
ways first to verify, then jumped back in the car and drove down. Yep.
There it was. Perfect place for a
selfie.
Now
that seemed somehow unsatisfying, so Chris located a second way to connect with
Old Man River … a hike. A really long
“easy” hike, with “some fairly steep climbing at the beginning and a bit of a
slide onto the sand” at the end. Sounded
rather suspect to me, but this is why we were here, after all. So now all memories of our prior easy river
discovery were abolished (Well, perhaps
relegated to this blog to be revisited later), and we took the trek down to
the water. Well, it was indeed up a
steep hill first, then down that same hill.
We took a short cut at one point and made our way to the water for a
photo of me putting my fingers in the water and our best selfie yet. We almost didn’t follow the actual trail
after the short cut, but, again, it’s why we were here, right? This part of the trail also led to the beach,
but much further down. Along the way we
passed several random gifts shops, each offering an assortment of wire statues
of crabs, scorpions and other assorted insects.
Gift shops on a hike? You might ask?
They were just unattended piles of rocks with the statues on them and a
jar nearby stating the price and asking you to stick the money in if you buy
something. Honor system. So who was the mystery artist? Probably the guy we saw riding his horse
across the river from the other side.
Chris took a picture of him. Glad
we were well on our way back to the car by then.
The
last hike was down to an actual hot spring was emptying into a fast-moving
branch of the river. Folks were relaxing
in the cordoned off tub. I dipped my toe
in. Chris insisted. Had to have it on film. Interesting thing about this hike … there
were pictographs sketched on the side of the mountain from who knows how many
hundreds of years ago. Of course there
were also scratches and defacings from a more modern era. Sad. Oh,
and we saw some wildlife. You know, I’ve
heard of centipedes and I’ve heard of millipedes. But what we saw? It had to be a gazillipede. That thing was a full six inches long, just
easing his way across the path. Sure
hope he made it.
We
finally made our way out of the park and back to the room we secured. We had some supper in their little diner, and
I found another friend to join us. Carlo
the Coyote. Tiny little thing …
Psalms
34:7 says, “The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”
Father,
thank you for yet another of your many incredible achievements of power and
majesty. The park is truly
beautiful. Amen.
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