Fort Davis, Texas

When we left Big Bend we headed north to Fort Davis, Texas. This fort dates to the days of the Apache wars in the 1860s - 1890s.

The county is named after the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. Of course, they shortened it a bit and just called it Jeff Davis County.

In town, we came across Buzz and his rattlesnake pit - he's got more types of rattlesnakes in one place than we've seen before (thank god!).

Really enjoyed our visit to McDonald observatory. Here Joanie stands next to an modern version of the ancient sun dial.

Javelina moved through our camp after dark. Supposedly they're not closely related to pigs, but you couldn't tell that by just looking at them.

We've decided to downsize again. First we sold the house and bought the 5th wheel. Now we're gonna trade the 5th wheel out and get this little gem of a rolling bedroom. Well, maybe not!

Another strange Big Bend Town - Marfa

I am somewhat at a loss for words when it comes to describing Marfa.

The courthouse dominates the entrance to the town.

The Paisano Hotel is upscale. When we walked in I thought that we'd been teleported to Aspen, the prices were off the chart. Shops were empty, though. This is the area where they shot James Dean's last movie, Giant.

Moo. The Paisano has cattle hanging on the walls.

Across the street from the Paisano, I spotted an old 1950's style Porche convertible parked halfway into the entrance to a building. We walked inside. It's an old garage converted into an art gallery. One of the original car lifts lays there, retracted into the concrete floor. We talked a bit with the artist, who told us to walk into the back room, "there's more there". In the back were two more Porches and more than one dozen portraits of Abraham Lincoln hangin' on the walls. Spooky. Really.

Strange Towns in the Big Bend - Terlingua

One of the "big towns" located just east of Big Bend is Terlingua. Established as a mining town, mecury, I think.

These days, it's main claim to fame is hosting the Texas Chile Cookoff in the fall and the Cookie Chilloff in the spring. Kathy's Kosmic Cowgirl Cafe was, unfortunately, closed when we arrived. I was wondering just what Graham Parsons, the original Kosmic Cowboy would've thought about this place. I figure he'd probably get a kick out of it.

Big Bend - Cattail Falls

Within Big Bend National Park, you can find the Chisos Mountains. It'll be cooler in the Chisos than on the river, so we headed there two days to hike. On the first day, we approached the mountains from the plains, hiking up to base at Cattail Falls. If we didn't know it was there, we never would have guessed.

At the base of the cliffs, there's a pour off that collect in a pool at the base. In wet years there's actually a falls. I understand the Chihuahuan desert has been in drought for 13 years now (and believe me, it looks it!), so there was no water running over the falls.

There was, however, a deep mirror faced pool at the base. Water was seeping into the pool, as evidenced by the flow from it into several pools down stream. This small chain of pools extended perhaps 100 yards from the base of the cliff. Past that, the water disappeared.

The Chisos Basin above the falls hosts small white tail deer, bear and mountain lion, among others. You'll find real trees here, including pine and oak. Here we're looking west towards the Window, which is above the area containing Cattail Falls.

Here's a closer look through the Window into the desert below. There is a Park Service lodge in the Chisos Basin. It's a desert, and they're short on water. Instead of fighting this, they've decided to go with the flow. Most of the precipitation in the Chisos basin drains down through the window and out into the desert below. There, the Park Service has drilled a well from which water is pumped 1500 feet back uphill to serve the lodge. Geesh!

Big Bend - Boquillas and Santa Elena Canyons

The major portion of Big Bend National Park on the Rio Grand lies between two canyons, the Santa Elena on the west (upstream) and the Boquillas on the east. The Santa Elena canyon is 1500 feet tall and only 30 feet wide at the base.

The Rio Grand as it exits the Santa Elena Canyon doesn't actually carry any Rio Grand water - by the time the Rio Grand hits El Paso, it's dry. The Rio Concho dumps it's water into the Rio Grand channel at Presidio. So, by the time the river hits the Santa Elena Canyon, perhaps we should start calling it the Rio Concho ...

On the eastern edge of Big Bend the river enter the Boquillas Canyon.

Here, at the entrance to Boquillas Canyon we encountered a group of young (teen age) kids and their guides who had attempted to float the river in canoes. A very strong wind (50-70 mph) blowing up the canyon prevented their progress. After a nasty night, during which their tents blew down, they decided to abort and portage their gear back upstream to the point shown here.

Big Bend - Hot Springs

There's an old hot springs on the Rio Grand in Big Bend. We soaked in this springs for a bit while we were there.



A long time ago there was a resort on the river ...







The inside of these buildings shows the timber and ocotillo roofs that were common at the turn of the century - the 1900s, that is.

The rock nettle on the cliff side were bright yellow.

And the illegals still don't have the message that their crafts are no longer welcome north of the border, unless they bring them in legally. They persist in bringing these things across the border, leaving them with messages saying that the proceeds go to a school in Boquillas. The school doesn't exist.

We both enjoyed the hot springs that continue to flow in what's left of the foundation of the old bath house. The flood last fall wiped a lot of the canyon clean and deposited mud six to twelve inches deep.

Big Bend National Park, Texas - Camp

We planned to turn south from Marathon and follow the road into the park. There's a service station at the junction, we topped off with diesel there (don't do it, it's way cheaper in the park!). There, in the parking lot, was the first Gulfstream Mako that we've seen on the entire trip. It's the little one (25 ft) so it's layed out a bit different, but other than that it was like looking in the mirror. The couple driving it were Canadians, they spoke mainly French. They were heading down the same road to the park, but we never saw them again.

Down in Big Bend we camped on the Rio Grand. One of the Texas folks felt he just had to make sure that everyone on both sides of the border knew that this is Texas, the Lone Star Republic.



The day we pulled into Big Bend the Mercury hit 97 degrees. Way too hot for comfort. No electrical service in the campground. Luckily the Yamaha generator powered the AC and cooled us down to something reasonable.



Our camp wasn't anything to write home about ... Luckily we did have a tree that shaded us from the worst of the heat.

The Rio Grand flooded last fall. The campground was flooded. The bridge crossing this wetlands was ripped apart. They're in process of repairing the damage.

Sunsets on the Sierra Carmen's east of camp were awesome. On top of the Sierra Carmen's there's a population of really small white tail deer they call Carmen Mountain Whitetail. We didn't make the top of the Sierra Carmen, but we did hike in the Chisos and I saw a small whitetail buck there. They are tiny by Rocky Mountain standards.

If you're interested, here's an NPS study on these deer:

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/science/15/contents.htm