South and West Texas

It’s the 9th of February and we’re in City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico, near Silver City. We’ve been dodging along the Mexican border for the past several weeks: from San Antonio we traveled south to Padre Island in the gulf off Corpus Christi, then west to Big Bend National Park, then north to the Davis Mountains, west to El Paso, and after a month in the Lone Star State, we finally found our way out of Texas. Here’s a recap of the highlights Through Big Bend. We have to drive 30 miles for an internet connection here in New Mexico; hopefully it will be a bit more convenient once we reach Tucson next wee, and I'll complete this missive and add some pictures.

Our decision to head toward the gulf again was finalized after we encountered freezing temps several nights near San Antonio. Enough already- we need some warmth! And we weren’t disappointed. We could, without terrific discomfort, wear shorts for nearly the entire week we were there. Mustang Island S.P., on the northern tip of Padre, doesn’t offer much beyond a big beach. And that was enough. It was good to relax with no real pressing agenda for a while. We met a navy family while there. Dan and Sarah and their three kids choose to live in a trailer while Dan works at a nearby base. After moving many times they decided it’s best just to take their house with them. Our kids hit it off right away, and we arranged playtimes and pot lucks in short order. Next came Harry and Sylvia from Ontario in their RV with 5 kids. Now Ansel and Rainer were really in heaven, the potlucks grew, and friendships are begun.
Dan and Sarah asked for some ideas reconfiguring their dinette. Not being one to actually enjoy too much relaxation, I volunteered to build then a new fold-up dining table and a few shelves. We shopped for hardware and plywood in Corpus, set up a cabinet shop in the campground, and went to work. Harry chipped in. We worked hard (things always take twice as long as I figure they will- not a very good trait for a timber framer..) but had fun.
We did manage to see and do while there. The Padre Island National Sea Shore is fantastic. 50 miles of beach stretching to Brownsville, incredible birding, and ghost crabs to nip at every toe. We also took an excursion boat out of Port Aransas, in search of dolphins and other sea life. The two hour trip was billed as a scientific discovery and we weren’t disappointed. One of the fellas working on the boat set a small shrimp net and a smaller plankton net. After dragging them for a couple hundred yards, we pulled them in to examine the catch (which was later released). There were three stingrays, strange bottom walking fish, a bunch of shrimp, and all the plankton we could look at under hand help microscopes. And we did see a bunch of dolphins, which was icing on the cake.

After nearly a week on Padre we packed up and headed west. We did the drive to Big bend in two stretches- the first was ~300 miles, stopping for 2 nights at Seminole Canyon S.P. But alas, the best laid plans… at about 5:30 that evening I began to notice what I thought was the truck misfiring. We stopped to fix a quick dinner in the Airstream in Chorizo Springs. I checked what I could on the engine but found nothing and assumed I’d bought some bad diesel. When we continued our drive we made it no more than a mile before the trailer brakes locked up. I stopped the truck and discovered that we had been dragging the umbilical (the cable that supplies the trailer with lights and power while hooked to the truck) for quite a ways. It was worn down to a nub, and the wires inside were shorting out quite dramatically. But as luck would have it, we were 100 yards past a small private RV park. I duck taped the umbilical up, we did a “U” turn and parked it for the night. The park owner recommended a shop in the next town- Del Rio- 80 miles further on our route. I called ahead to the shop and they got us right in and fixed us right up while we had a nice Mexican lunch, shopped for groceries, and made a few calls. It is good to have one’s faith in humanity restored every once in a while (especially after paying a Ford dealer (spit, hack) in Corpus way too much to misdiagnose and fix the brakes on the truck). We made it to Seminole Canyon that night- a day late but none the worse for wear.
Seminole was our first real taste of the desert. We knew this by finding the cacti surrounding our campsite in rather unpleasant ways while unhooking in the dark.
But the real attraction of this place is the canyon- or rather what some creative native Americans drew on the walls of the canyon a few millennia ago. One thinks of the Eastern U.S. as being the cradle of our civilization. Not so if these folks are given their due. They were here, living in harmony with the desert, communicating via these incredible symbols before the Egyptians were first experimenting with pyramid building. Columbus “discovered” America in 1492. The Spanish had settlements in these parts by 1530. There is much history in these wide-open places.
We got our first glimpse of the Rio Grande at Seminole Canyon. We were to follow it for the next two weeks along the Mexican border. The Rio Grande, which defines the border, cuts a narrow channel through 300 feet of limestone here. We thought this to be dramatic- and it was- until we saw the channel she cut at Big Bend.

Big Bend is one of the largest national parks at over 800,000 acres. It encompasses an entire mountain range (the Chisos) within its boundaries. And yet it is the least visited of all the national parks. This is due, I guess, to its remoteness. 250 miles from El Paso (the closest population center), 600 miles from Dallas, it requires a commitment to get here. The drive from Seminole Canyon was the first in which I filled the truck’s fuel tank at every opportunity, as with a 300 mile range, we could run out before we got to the next town if we made one wrong turn.
The park is named for the huge ox bow the river makes here- heading south, then east, then north- before resuming it’s south easterly meander to the gulf. We camped at the point where the river changes course from east to north, directly across from the Mexican Sierra del Carmen Mountains. This range presents a view of its sheer 2,000 foot cliffs to us gringos. The top of the cliffs- which appear level- consistently have clouds hanging on them and spilling over, giving the appearance of milk spilled from a huge table that somehow magically evaporates on its way to the river- some 7,000 feet below. At sunset the cliffs change from tan to pink to black. The campground comes to a complete stop while everyone watches this amazing show. Then the stars come out. Being hundreds of miles from any city makes for beautifully dark nights. If you never knew how the Milky Way got its name you need to spend a few nights at Big Bend.

We had met another family traveling with kids at Seminole. Kevin and Christine have 3 kids- two of which are very close in age to Ansel and Rainer. They have been traveling for 10 months with their “fiver” (fifth wheel) and dodge diesel dually and are on their way back to their home in Sacramento California- completing a full year on the road. We hooked up with them again in Big Bend. The kids built a fort, we shared a couple of meals, and did some hiking together. These kind of acquaintances really make this lifestyle fun. Ansel wants to visit his new friend Connor at his house. I bet we can arrange that.

One day, while it was too cold to hike up in the high elevations of the Chisos, our family decided to go for a hike on one of the lower elevation mountains that crop up in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert. We drove on a four- wheel drive road across the desert to get to the trail head. The hike eastward over the mountain, while providing nice views and beautiful cacti, was otherwise uneventful. When we came down off the far side of the mountain we encountered a spot where a creek had cut a deep canyon through the mountain back west toward where we started our hike. Upon studying our topo map, it appeared as though a trail started up this canyon from the west, and that if we could pick our way through the first half of the canyon we could meet up with this trail- enjoying the unique geology, flora and fauna one finds in canyons here.
The first third of the hike was easy, hiking along the dry creek bed’s level gravel. Then we began encountering areas where the creek had cut through the basalt bedrock, creating beautiful organic shapes in the stone. The hiking gradually got more difficult, as we scrambled over this bizarre moonscape. Soon we found ourselves wishing we had brought a rope and climbing gear, for the pleasant hike along a gravel stream bed had become a descent through a full fledged slot canyon. But after a few challenging climbs along steep cuts the trail gradually opened back up and we soon found ourselves back out on the open desert. This was one of the most memorable hikes we’ve had on our trip to date. The beautiful shapes of the rock, the geologic history laid bare before us, the beautiful cacti- were nothing short of magical. For me this is what it’s all about.

We did three more hikes while in Big Bend: one with a geologist into a canyon in which the volcanic history of this part of the park were laid bare; one to see the beautiful 1,000 foot sheer limestone cliffs that the Rio Grande cuts through the south eastern border of the park; and one up in to the Chisos mountains. We had waited until the weather cleared a bit before attempting a hike in these craggy peaks. When we left our camp, it was sunny and warm and the mountains appeared clear from our view 25 miles away. But when we got up in to the mountains- gaining 5,000 feet in elevation- we encountered clouds and snow. The hike was chilly, the views were less than spectacular, but the mountains shrouded in clouds and cactus covered in frost were magical.
Big Bend is a place with a strange magnetic attraction. Most folks don’t go out of their way to get to this place. It’s barren and inhospitable to those who refuse to play by Big Bend’s rules. But if one can learn to get along with the desert on her own terms she shows you glimpses of her beauty which leaves one wanting more. We’ll be back here some day.