Where We Be
Big Bend National Park, Texas
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This may be THE big bend in the Rio Grande River that gives the park its name
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This is a blind (spineless) cactus found only in the Chihuahuan Desert
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Breathtaking Santa Elena Canyon is the scenic highlight of the park
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I love the soft color palette of this desert scene
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This looks like the kind of dramatic scenery you might see in an old Western movie
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Robin sits at the edge of a big dropoff at the top of Lost Mine Trail in the Chisos Mountains
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I love this green tree stubbornly growing in the midst of granite blocks
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This castle-like upthrust is prominently visible from Lost Mine Trail
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Deeper-in view of Santa Elena Canyon
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Soft spring blooms and sharp thorns make an irresistible combination
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This tarantula was big enough to see from our van as it crossed the road!
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This odd-looking piglike animal is called a "javelina" (the "j" is pronounced "h")
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We took a walk through the Chihuahuan Desert -- a new kind of landscape for us with unusual flora and fauna
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The Rio Grande cuts a deep path perpendicularly through this impressive rock wall near Santa Elena Canyon
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Big Bend has big scenery but also little extravagances like this blooming flower
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After 25+ years of hiking, we finally saw black bear on foot!
(but still no mountain lions up close, much to Robin's relief)
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It's a terrible photo, I know, but it's the only one I got of a mother black bear (left)
and her cubs (three center, one barely visible at right) (Hint: look for the ears!)
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Lost Mine Trail is perhaps the premier hike in the Chisos Mountains and offers dramatic 360-degree views
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Quintessential Big Bend scenery
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We took our time and explored the park slowly -- our favorite mode of travel
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Hard to believe this river carved this canyon
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Pretty view at the end of the Boquilla Trail
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The "Window" at the end of Window Trail -- in wetter years a waterfall would be cascading over the edge just behind us
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Dramatic view from the Oak Spring spur trail off Window Trail
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We were surprised to find this wetlands area near the start of the Bluff Nature Trail
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Big Bend is located in the extreme southwestern corner of
the state of Texas. There is a lot of beautiful scenery at Big
Bend, from Chihuahuan Desert panoramas to Chisos
Mountain views to Rio Grande river scenery.
Santa Elena Canyon is the highlight. You drive along a rock
wall 1,500 feet high and a mile long and suddenly come to a
gap in the wall where the river has cut a deep path. You hike
up this gap, climb briefly, then walk along a raised stone path
that hugs the cliff edge on the right side of the river. The
views up the canyon are breathtaking. It takes extra effort to
get to this remote park, but the dramatic landscapes are
worth it.
Hiking around a bend of the Window Trail on our second day,
we happened upon a mother bear and her four cubs! They
were on the trail just ahead of us. My stomach did a flip. The
mother bear made an abrupt U-turn and quickly headed up
the animal trail that ran perpendicular to ours, but the four
cubs were slower making their retreat. They weren't much
larger than cats. They toddled their way up and over a hillock
and disappeared one by one. I managed to get my camera out
in time to take one quick foliage-blocked picture as they
made their retreat.
This unusual spot along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive is the result of volcanic ash deposits
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Mexicans place items for sale unattended on this side of the Rio Grande and collect money in a jar
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That's Mexico just on the other side of the shallow and easily crossed
Rio Grande River (you can even see the Mexican town of Boquilla)
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