Big Bend National Park … East Side … Final Hikes Before We Leave

Sunday, 13 February 2016 (Part III)
Rio Grande Village RV Campground — Big Bend National Park, Texas
Temps: Hi 75F (24C) / Lo 39F (4C)

Two days of reporting left to complete our week-long stay at Big Bend National Park (BBNP) … one of which is the day I skipped in the previous post about our activities in and near the Chisos Mountains Basin.  The second day, which ended with an explosion of color, was … well, you’ll just have to read the story to find out more about it.

11 February — Hot Springs Canyon Trail

An oft visited area on this side of BBNP is the historic hot springs where at one time stood a resort.  Most people drive the two-mile long “improved” dirt road to get there.  “Why do that when we can hike the Hot Springs Canyon Trail instead,” we thought to ourselves.

With a tip of the hat, “Howdy Ma’am,” says Mui’s shadow to the other half of Two to Travel.

So that’s exactly what we did, but we also got to see what the road was like.  You see, the day turned so hot by the time we arrived at our destination that we ended up hitchhiking back to the campground from the Hot Springs parking lot, thus doing only the outbound half of the 6-mile (10 km) in-and-out hike … starting from the Daniels Ranch just down the road a bit from our site.

This 1920’s adobe house is the only structure that remains from the
Daniels Ranch, which was a floodplain farm during BB’s agricultural period.

It was only 42F (5C) when we locked the CR-V and left it behind in the Daniels Ranch parking lot at 8:45a … but it didn’t take long for the temp to rocket to 78F (26C) … remember, the heat reflecting off the rocks makes it feel even hotter than it actually is.  On the upside, this effect actually works to our advantage when the temps are low … as in we didn’t even need jackets when we left the car behind at the trailhead.

The narrow dirt path immediately started to rise reasonably steeply to the ridge — the first of several that we crossed over the next couple of hours.  We walked up, we walked flat, we walked down … and then we repeated the cycle again and again before we descended towards the Rio Grande where the scenery boosted our flagging energy.  I wouldn’t necessarily rate the trail as being difficult … moderate is more like it, but the heat did me in … really, it did!

the rusty trailhead sign near the break in the trees is from where we start our hike.

Scenery looking across from the goat-path-narrow trail towards the campground.

We see lots of blind prickly pear on our way to the ridge.

The Rio Grande Overlook offers us a scenic catch-your-breath stop …

… before we lose sight of the water and are left with nothing but an arid desert landscape. …

… Then comes another overlook from which we enjoy the Rio Grande scenery again.

And thus it went until we reached the historic hot springs and found the foundations of the early 1900’s bath house … all that remains of what was once advertised as the “Fountain of Youth that Poncé de León Failed to Find.”  The water is a bubbling 105F (41C) year-round, or so we were told.  There were several people already in the water, so Mui decided not to strip down to his skivvies to check out what the BBNP website describes as “… old water, fossil water, ancient and irreplaceable.”

On the last bit of the trail is a wall of layered rocks with lovely color .

No swimming in “fossil water” for Mr Mui since he didn’t bring his swimwear with him.

We continued our walk to the parking lot on a flat path edged by tall grasses on one side and a white, layered-limestone cliff on the other side — at least I think it was limestone … what do I know … I’m no geologist.  I stopped long enough to check out the nests of the cliff swallows, and search for the pictographs and petroglyps left behind by the ancient people who lived in Big Bend well before our time.

A pleasant walk … except for the brutal sun and the heat reflecting off the white cliff.

Pictographs are painted on, and  …	… Petroglyps are pecked into the rock.

The general store Langford built at the hot springs resort in 1927 also served as a post office.

There’s a short loop trail at the Hot Springs, but by this time I was “plumb wore out” … as people might have said back in the days when a resort flourished here.  A couple — coincidentally in a CR-V with Florida license plates — happily gave us a ride back to the campground.  Whew!  Reading in the shade of the Phaeton that afternoon, with cooling breezes wafting over me felt very, very good.

13 February — The Ernst Tinaja and an Explosion of Color

Skipping over the 12th, which I covered in the previous post …

Mui prefers not to go too far or do anything too strenuous the day before we break camp, so we settled on two short hikes for our last day at BBNP … the Ernst Tinaja is where we went in the morning.  To get to the trailhead, we had to drive another “improved” dirt road … methinks we need to have a talk with the National Park Service about their concept of “improved.” :-)  Luckily, we only had to drive 5 miles (8 km) of the 26-mile (42 km) Old Ore Road to get to the trailhead.

A gravesite on the way to the trailhead — RIP Juan de Leon.

This was another easy trail — 1.2 miles (2 km) roundtrip; flat except at the end where you need to do an easy bit of rock scrambling to see the tinaja.  The nearby layered rock formations actually provide a neat stepping stone to see the tinaja from above.  By the way, if you think there are no difficult or long trails at BBNP, let me disabuse you of that notion.  There are; we simply preferred not to do them this time.

See that canyon in the distance?  We have to traverse this landscape to get there.

The closer we get, the more color the rock formations take on.

Even a non-geologist like me can be awed by formations like these.

“Tinaja” is Spanish for an earthenware jug.  In a geologic sense, the word referS to a
hole carved out of the bedrock by erosion, forming a natural watering hole that
is used by wildlife throughout the year.  This one is particularly deep and has
smooth, high walls … if anything falls in, it stays in as there is no way to get out.

Left: Looking past the Ernst Tinaja to the entrance of the canyon.
Right: Fascinating folded rocks just past the tinaja.

Mui walks deeper into the canyon, but returns to report that it’s not very interesting.

A quiet afternoon of pre-departure chores, and then we were off to watch the sunset from the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail.  What a great place this turned out to be … except for the thousands of swarming gnats.  And what a wonderful sunset reward from Mother Nature, with the added pleasure of brilliant colors mirrored on the Rio Grande — like a bow on a present … or icing on a cake … or whatever other cliché you can come up with.  No need for further words; the pictures tell the story quite well.

Thus, our visit to the east side of Big Bend is concluded.  Tomorrow we head to Lajitas … from where we plan to explore the west side of Big Bend … amongst other places.  I have to admit that when we set out to visit BBNP, I was a bit skeptical about a long stay.  I had seen lots of photos of the place … some great; some not so much.  The desolation I knew I could handle … and even welcome; the flat, arid desert landscape I wasn’t quite so sure of.  I surprised myself … and hopefully, the photos will have surprised you enough to encourage you to add Big Bend National Park to your travel plans.

[There are plenty more photographs from our BBNP visit in my online gallery.]

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