Big Bend Ranch State Park February 2018

February 2018  Our trip to Big Bend continues...
One of our days at Big Bend we drove to Big Bend Ranch State Park.  It is  ~ 72 miles from Terlingua to the Sauceda Ranger Station in Big Bend Ranch State Park.

"Big Bend State Park is a 275,000-acre preserve managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Brewster and Presidio Counties. Much of The Park is high desert uplands and peaks that average over average over 4000 feet. The predominantly igneous rock tells the tale of violent volcanic activity between 15 and 30 million years ago."

 From Terlingua to the state park we drove west along Camino del Rio or River Road.  Again, the river is the Rio Grande and it is the border of Texas with Mexico.

 Our first adventure was the Ojito Adentro Trail.  It is just a short walk but an interesting area.  I really enjoyed the green of the cottonwood trees and the very blue sky.

 

 See the cottonwood trees off in the distance...

 

 

 We had to do some scrambling up and over huge boulders, finally it got to the point we just couldn't go any farther. And we never saw the main water feature here, Bofecillos Creek. 

 We did come to some wet areas and this is what we saw there!  A beautiful yellow monkeyflower! 

We made our way back to the car, then onto the next fun place.  Which was Cinco Tinajas Trail, where you will find several tinajas (Spanish for water-filled basins).  We followed the trail down to the lower tinajas first.  Mike climbed up into that canyon, I stayed put.

 

 Tinaja

Leyva Creek is near here but we didn't go that far, or maybe we did and it was dry.  Since this was last year, it makes it a bit difficult to remember. 

 

Looking down into the canyon, we were just in.  I didn't want to get too close to the edge.

 We walked up out of the canyon and found more tinajas.  Then we saw some perfect Texas Bluebonnet! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the truck once again.  We drove the mile farther to the Sauceda Ranger Station then turned around and headed back to Tiny Terlingua. 

 

 

 

 Our final night at Tiny Terlingua.

 
The next morning we packed up and drove through Big Bend National Park.  We decided to check out the balanced rock, even though we have been here before.

 

Grapevine Hills Trail

Difficulty: Easy; Distance: 2.2 miles round trip
Begin 6 miles down Grapevine Hills improved dirt road at the parking area
This trail leads to a group of balanced rocks in the heart of the Grapevine Hills. Initially, the trail follows a gravel wash, then climbs steeply for the last quarter mile into the boulders. Grapevine Hills is an exposed laccolith, with many giant, rounded boulders that are tempting to climb, but watch for snakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

We drove the four hours back to Midland, and had another day to play with the grandkids.  Then back to Michigan.   

Big Bend National Park, a trip to Texas - February 2014 (Part one)

Texas here we come...

We have had quite the winter here in Grand Haven Michigan, very cold and tons of snow.  I like the snow but it can warm up now, it is the end of February. 

Mike and I took a break from winter and visited our oldest son, Andy, (and family) in Midland, Texas.  Andy planned a fun trip for us while we visited, this time we went to Big Bend National Park.  This was our second trip to Big Bend, we went there in 2011.

Our first day in Midland, Mike and Andy took the dirt bikes for a ride at an adventure park. They rode around for a couple hours while I stayed with the truck and sought out bugs and plants.  I found a few bugs not many plants, and it was warm.

The next day we drove to Terlingua, Texas where we rented an Airstream motor home from Retro Rents.



The Retro Rents Airstream was fine for a home base, except for the fact that the water supply was not secure and twice flooded the back half of the unit. 

Andy has some property nearby which we visited (mostly when it was dark).  Here are a couple views from the high point of the property looking at the moon rising.

We hiked the next day to Cattail Falls, oh cattails that reminds me of marshy Michigan...

 Along the trail to Cattail Falls...

It was very warm and I think it was at this point my cold Michigan bones thawed, it felt good.

 Cattail Falls had some water trickling down, and there were cattails and a pond.

Rock reflecting in the pond.

I saw several butterflies, and some sort of red trumpet type flower, maybe Scarlet Sage.

    Back to the truck and air-conditioning. 

Just driving along there are mountains, beautiful mountains.  Texas also has a huge sky and it seems to be mostly blue.  Since Andy is a PhD geologist, and is familiar with Big Bend, he tells us interesting information, as we ride along, about the mountains and rocks.  Unfortunately, I remember very little of what he says, but I thoroughly enjoy listening.

We started seeing these flowers alongside the road, Andy pulled over so I could get out and photograph these beautiful wildflowers, Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis).  Wildflowers!

Next on to Santa Elena Canyon, we did a quick walk here, it was getting dark.  The water level was high in the Rio Grande River.  The rock on the left side of this photo is Mexico.

A pretty mountain in Big Bend National Park, Texas

A nice home in Grand Haven, Michigan. 

 

In case you are not familiar with the location of Big Bend National Park, I circled the approximate area in red on the map below. The park is huge with ~ 801,163 acres!  In the next post, the second half of the trip, including a river rafting trip on the Rio Grande River.