Day 4: Bending Big Bend! Part 1
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Mike and Bone rose early, grabbed some MACdonalds ! (breakfast burritos and coffee) and headed the 73 miles or an hour and a half to Big Bend National Park!
Bright and Sunny Morning on the Way to Big Bend
On the way as they drove through Terlingua, Mike told Bone that it is known for being a famous West Texas ghost town, sort of!
Traveling Thru Terlingua
Its history as a quicksilver (mercury) mining town abandoned in the 1940s, and for hosting the first International Chili Cook-Off in 1967. Visitors are drawn to the historic ghost town's decaying buildings and ruins, making it a VERY busy Ghost Town!
The weather was incredible, it was already in the 60's at 7:00 in the morning on its way into the mid-80's!! Not bad for mid-February! Soon the Boys broke the "barrier' and were in the incredibly large, diverse, and beautiful Big Bend National Park.
Welcome to Big Bend!
Soon, they came up to Big Bend National Park! Bordering Mexico on the Rio Grande is the largest protected area of that includes the Chihuahuan Desert in the United States, and was named after the large bend in the Rio Grande, hence BIG Bend!
A Big Ole' Place Too!
Big Bend has a rich cultural history, from archeological sites dating back nearly 10,000 years to more recent pioneers, ranchers, and miners. The Chisos Mountains are located in the park and are the only mountain range in the United States to be fully contained within the boundary of a national park. Geological features in the park include sea fossils and dinosaur bones, as well as volcanic dikes.
It is a really big park too! Big Bend is an amazing 1,251.8 square miles along the Rio Grande boundary between Mexico and the United States, where the National Park Service has the unenviable task of administering at least 118 miles along that porous boundary (Which Mike and Bone were gonna show!)
Because the Rio Grande serves as an international boundary, the park faces unusual constraints while administering and enforcing park rules, regulations, and policies. In accordance with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the park's territory extends only to the center of the deepest river channel as the river flowed in 1848. The rest of the channel and the land south of it lies within Mexican territory. The park is bordered by the protected areas of Cañón de Santa Elena and Maderas del Carmen in Mexico.
Big Bend is your typical Southwest Desert climate, hot and dry late spring and summer days often exceed 100 ° in the lower elevations. Mike and Bone experienced a very warm day, where the weather was in the low 80’s. Not a bad day for a hike!!!
Mike and Bone ready for a Big Ole' Hike on the Santa Elena Canyon Trail!
Mike had done Big Bend before but started with Bone on the Santa Elena Canyon Trail, which is a scenic, ~1.7-mile roundtrip hike that led the Boys to the Rio Grande River right on them U.S.-Mexico border. The hike includes a short but steep climb via paved steps and switchbacks near the start, but the majority of the trail is level, offering views of the immense, ~1,500-foot-tall canyon walls and desert flora as you approach the river. The trail ends where the canyon walls meet the river, allowing for exploration on foot in the shallow riverbed or wading out to the border.
The Boys starting the Trail!
Walking down the trail to the Canyon, Mike and Bone marveled in the stark beauty. Because of the range in altitude in Big Bend from about 1,800 feet along the river to Emory Peak in the Chisos Mountains at 7,832 feet (something Mike climbed on his earlier trip), you can see the stark changes in landscapes.
Once Mike and Bone got to canyon, they saw a portion of the 118 miles of Rio Grande that form the southern park boundary which is the Santa Elena Canyon. The Rio Grande, which meanders through this portion of the Chihuahuan Desert, has cut deep canyons with nearly vertical walls through three uplifts made primarily of spectacularly colored limestone walls.
Throughout the open desert areas, the highly productive Rio Grande riparian zone includes numerous plant and animal species and significant cultural resources. The vegetative belt extends into the desert along creeks and arroyos.
South of the border lie the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila and newly protected areas for flora and fauna, which are regions known as the Maderas del Carmen and the Cañón de Santa Elena.
Mike and Bone sauntered down to where the trail ends at the canyon walls meet the Rio Grande, allowing for splashing around on foot in the very shallow river, or even wading out to the border!
Mike and Bone at the (Literal) Border Wall!
The Boys headed up the gently sloping hill along the River checking out the AMAZING scenery, both above and below!
From up top, the Boys could see the Chisos Mountains, which are "sky islands" surrounded by desert. A significant part of the park's tremendous biodiversity is represented by isolated populations of plants and animals found in the Chisos Mountains and in many of the desert springs distributed across the park.
Mike in the Epic Santa Elena Canyon!
The trail walked up the cliffs and wasn't that high nor technical, but darn! It was beautiful!
Bone, Bumbleing in the Big-ass Boulders!
The trail then took the Boy down to the very shallow Rio Grande where they were able to talk out on a little island smack, dab in the middle
Mike and Bone, On the Border! (Literally!)
The trail walked up the cliffs and wasn't that high nor technical, but darn! It was beautiful!
Mike, an "Island" between Mexico and the US!
The Boys could haver spent the whole day in the Santa Elena Canyon, but there is a lot to see in Big Bend! So after 10 minutes Mike and Bone headed out!
The Path Back
Getting back to the Mike's Land Cruiser, Mike and Bone considered the next move, Mike gave Bone the option of picking a trail, since it was getting pretty darn hot in the mid aftenoon.
Bone's traipsing down the Oak Spring Trail!
Getting back to the Mike's Land Cruiser, Mike and Bone considered the next move, Mike gave Bone the option of picking a trail, since it was getting pretty darn hot in the mid afternoon!
The the Lost Mine Trail they took on was actually two trails: One was a moderate 1.5 mile trail, that then connected to a longer 6 mile trail. The Boys hiked in for the first mile and a half, throughly enjoying the stark desert in the late afternoon.
Mike & Bone, on the Trail again!
At the smaller trailhead, the Boys took a break, drank a little (much needed) water and decided to head back since it was getting close to 5:00 and the Boys were getting Hungry!
Trekking to get to Terlingua!
On the way back, the Boys really got a great view of the broad landscape of Big Bend, is vast desert and magical mountains!
The Amazing Chisos on the trek back!
The very Cool Lost Mine Mountain
Of course, on the way back Bone fell way behind and finally got back to the Land Cruiser a full 20 minutes behind Mike! Now thirsty and starved the Boy bolted the almost two hours back to their Hotel for the evening, about 10 miles out of Terlingua, called Big Bend Station. As the the Boys checked in the Hotel, the Hotel Clerk mentioned that here and her family loved the little Rio Bravo Mexican food truck just down the block.
Since the Boys hadn't eaten since McDonalds at 6:30 AM and they were starving! So, before dinner in Terlingua, they stopped for a snack before dinner!
Mexican Horse Ovaries, errr Hors D’oeuvres at the Rio Bravo Food Truck!?!
Boy! Were Mike and Bone glad they stopped!! This humble little food truck, did in fact, have some of the very best soft tacos the Boys ever had! Mike was so smitten that he called his Son-Law Jake, a big Mexican food fan on how good the food was! With a little food in their bellies, the Boys headed into the busiest Ghost Town in the West!
"I don't see no Ghosts!" The (Non) Ghost Town of Terlingua
Every where in this very cool and electic town were ramshackle buildings filled with boutiques, restaurants, and wanna be cowboys! This included and old honky tonk bar, that Mike and Bone hadda check out!
Mike and Bone, Terrorizing Terlingua @ the Trading Company!
Despite the amazing tacos Mike and Bone still had a hankering! So they chose a hard-scrabble honky-tonk, the Terlingua Trading Company, replete with rude hostesses and barkeeps!
West Texas Performance Art with Steaks and Margies!
February is the time to visit since it is warm, but not broiling, and frozen northerners (like Mike and Bone!) like to come down. So there was a very loooong line of people wanting a table, and the hostess let everyone know that she woul seat them when she was damned good and ready! Politely putting their names in, they grabbed two margies and watch a couple of local sing country rock up on stage.
After a bit, the Hostess came up and told them they could have two seats at the bar. She really was not open to discussion, "take'em, or leave!" Mike and Bone took and settled in with two fairly good ribeyes, and a couple more margies.
At first the Bartender appeared to dislike the Boys, after listening to them dicker with the locals, she warmed up and the margies flowed faster and better! Which was good since the guy sitting next to Mike mentioned this was his second day there, and apparently he could barely get her to bring him anything!
The meal was good, the dickering with locals awesome, and the margies, well they caused a bit of a headache the next day, but it turned into a typical, but epic Mike and Bone evening!