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.   

Fun and Fabulous February! Texas here we come!

Wildflowers in Big Bend National Park

February had record breaking cold temperatures here in Grand Haven, Michigan and gladly I missed some of that with an 11 day trip to Texas.   As you know our son Andrew and family live in Midland, Texas, and they have a new baby girl, Finley Rose.  I did get a trip to Texas in December but babies grow fast so we needed to visit again.

We had a trip to the Big Bend National Park planned for the first 4 days of the trip.  Big Bend is ~ a 4 hour drive from Midland, I thought we had left the snow in Michigan but what did we find in Alpine, Texas?  Snow!

 As we drove, we passed through the snow and came to Rancho Mula Oso, where we stayed for three nights..  I liked it there - clean, and full interesting things throughout the ranch.

Our first hike was the Upper Burro Mesa Pour-Off Trail.  This hike is ~3.6 mile round trip, starting from the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

The photo above is looking down the pour-off, about a 100 foot drop.
The photo below is looking up one of the more challenging climbs to get to the pour-off.  I made it down and up with just a little help.

 That same day we walked the Grapevine Hills trail (~2.2 mile) to see the Balanced Rock.  Along the way we saw mountains!

 Almost there...
Here it is - the balanced rock.  We all had our turn pretending to hold it up. 

 Along Grapevine Hills Trail


All seven of us were up early the next morning, so we could get parking at the Lost Mine Trailhead.  This trail is located in the Chisos Mountains, it is about a 5 mile hike with an elevation gain of 1300 feet.  The views from this trail, of Pine Canyon and the Sierra del Carmen in Mexico, are great! 

 Photo above is looking toward the Chisos Basin, photo below is looking south toward Mexico (Mexico is about 17 to 20 miles south of here as the crow flies).  It was a bit hazy.

 After the Lost Mine Trail hike we stopped at the Chisos Basin store for ice cream.  The weather was perfect for hiking.  And for ice cream.  The same day some of us went on to hike the Window Trail and the Oak Spring Trail (another 5 miles).

 After peering out the window we went on to the Oak Springs trail. 

First heading uphill over some uneven footing, lots of rocks on the trail, then high above the Window Trail.  Next you head out along the side of a mountain, fun and just a little scary.  There are many switchbacks, this area is also very rocky, still fun. 

Wow! We just came down the side of that mountain!

So the next morning we stopped by Indian Head, just to play on the rocks. 

 Here we found more wildflowers blooming!

 
And a scorpion!

After Indian Head we drove out to Andy's property in Terlingua Ranch (An association that represents some 5,000 property owners who collectively own some 200,000 acres of private land in the Big Bend region).  We visited here last year but it was dark that time.  We had a picnic lunch and explored.  Here is a view from the high point of his property.  What beautiful views!

 He even has Texas Bluebonnet growing there!

 Now it was time for us to drive back to Midland.   We took the longer but more scenic drive back, Highway 170.  It follows along the Rio Grande River which separates Texas from Mexico. 

All the way to Presidio then north through Marfa and on home. 

Mike caught an early flight home the next morning, Betsy and I got to stay on for the week to watch Finley Rose while her mom went back to work.  I wish they didn't live so far from Michigan.

                                Finley Rose at 12 weeks old

We took Finley one afternoon to Big Spring where we visited Hangar 25 Air Museum.  Finley was very interested in the planes.

And Big Spring State Park.

Another good trip to Texas then home again to lots of snow and cold.