Big Bend National Park, Texas, Day 5-6 and Balmorhea State Park
Saturday, April 16th, 2011April 12th-13th
Big Bend has inspired me to write a lot. It’s one of the remotest places I’ve been in a long time and reminds me of hiking in Patagonia. The landscape is harsh and rugged; the climate is harsh and few people have been brave enough to make their home here. On that note, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise in the desert after an excellent night’s sleep. I was sad to give up that campsite, but we had new areas to explore. We drove to the Boquillas Canyon Trail and took a short walk into the canyon delicately carved by the Rio Grande River. Along the path, there were small souvenirs (walking sticks, wire dolls, bracelets, etc.) with a donation jar, placed by Mexicans who were trying to raise a little money for the school in Boquillas town. You could see where they made the daily crossing by donkey or canoe, to put the items. They were watching from across the river banks as tourists considered their purchases. As we neared the beach we could here singing, Jesus the Mexican, that perches himself on a rock in the middle of the river and serenades the tourists. Here we were a stone’s throw from Mexico. Unfortunately there is no longer an official border crossing in the park; it was closed after the terrorist attacks in 2001. That afternoon, we drove to hot springs; there are even hot springs in Big Bend. Soaking our tired feet in the hot thermal waters would have been more refreshing if it hadn’t been close to 100 degrees outside, but it was fun anyway. Our last night camping in the park was another adventure. This time were doing something called Zone camping. We could camp anywhere in the zone as long as it was a ½ mile from the trailhead and 100 yards from the trail. The ranger had recommended taking the Mule Ears trail (so named for the enormous rocks that looked like mule ears.) When we got to the trailhead we were a little worried- all we could see was cactus laden desert. We finally found a little rocky patch and set up our tent- both doors opening towards menacing cacti. But as the sun went down and the desert changed from beige and brown to red and orange, we relaxed and spent another peaceful night under the stars.
Wednesday was our last day in Big Bend. We packed up camp, hiked back to our car and drove to the end of the road to Santa Elena Canyon, another more impressive canyon upriver from Boquillas. This canyon is popular for “floating” but the water level looked extremely low. We saw a rattlesnake sunning in the grass on the side of the trail, though.
We took a dirt road out of the park, after 5 ½ days we were ready to continue our journey. This was a wonderful stop in a place that I had never heard of, well worth the visit if you’re ready to make that long drive across Texas.
Just outside of the park, we stopped in a little town called Study Butte for some excellent Mexican food. Then we drove 70 miles to Alpine to stock up on groceries and gas. From Alpine, we passed Fort Davis, a town we had planned to stop in to visit the Astronomical Observatory, but they had suffered some devastating forest fires in the previous days. We could see black parched land for miles and smoke in the hills. Apparently at least one third of the town was destroyed. We were shocked by the devastation and reminded that man is no match for nature.
In the late afternoon, e arrived at our destination for the evening, Balmorhea State Park, an oasis in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert. The natural spring has been diverted into the world’s largest natural swimming pool. We dove into the cool water, between 72-76 degrees F, and washed off the desert sands. A few ducks were our only companions.
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