Big Bend National Park is aptly named. Consisting of over 800,000 acres of some of the most alien landscape found in continental United States, it borders Mexico and the Rio Grande in southwestern Texas. It is an earth science instructor’s paradise with orgasmic outlooks at almost every bend in the road that can stir the heart of even novices like us. And it does form a “big bend” with the Rio Grande running southeast at the western edge of the park and northeast at the eastern border. O. J. Langford, an early explorer, described Big Bend as “an area with nothing but rattlesnakes and bandits. That damned country promises more and gives less than any place I ever saw.”
As we entered the park, we were advised by the ranger that since 9/11 it is illegal to cross the Rio Grande and subject to a $5000 fine and a year in jail. People on the Mexican side will try to get park visitors to buy souvenirs and even that is illegal regardless of who crosses river.
The landscape varies in elevation from less than 2000 feet along the Rio Grande to over 8,000 feet in the Chisos Mountains. It is an area with massive canyons, vast desert expanses with a remarkable array of geological features including volcanoes, landslides, flash floods and fossils. Big Bend has been described as a paleontological jewel with fossil records of over 90 species of dinosaurs, 100 plant species, and more than two dozen fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and early mammals. As one enters the visitor’s center, there is a model of the wing of an ancient bird like reptile hanging from the ceiling that is over 10 ft long.
Sara and I camped in the Rio Grande Village on the southeastern end of the park on the banks of the river. We were surprised to see large, lockable metal boxes at each site and were quick to learn that their purpose was to store food and ice chests. Javelinas, also known as collared peccaries, are pig-like creatures that can weigh up to 60 pounds and travel in packs looking for food. They can ransack a campsite in minutes, ripping apart tents and smashing open food containers. Mountain lions and black bears can also visit your campsite but are much less common.
This is dry camping with no hookups so we took on 100 gallons of water at the dump station and were restricted to generator use between the hours of 8 AM to 8 PM. That is plenty of time to recharge the batteries for 12 volt lights in the RV and the propane furnace. We usually run the generator to make breakfast and for the evening meal as we have become dependant on the convection microwave. Also, I must admit with the recent addition of satellite TV to watch, the morning and evening news during our meal has become a generator dependent luxury. Ah, the joys of roughing it in the wild.
While in the park we explored the famous Santa Elena and Boquillas canyons. These amazing clefts in the earth’s crust rise over 1500 ft from the banks of the Rio Grande with walls that are in places only 50-60 ft apart.
The walls of sheer limestone and various other layers of rock tell a story of volcanic activity and the effects of ancient oceans that were present over 144 million years ago. Absolutely amazing. As Sara and I climbed up the railed staircase at the entrance to Santa Elena, we marveled at the thousands of fossil remains of ancient sea creatures and came to realize that this was once an ocean floor.
We had planned to take one of the popular river rafting tours through the canyons, which is really the only practical way to see these attractions close up, but decided that due to the low water levels, the excursion was not worth the price tag. We still are on a budget and are quite frugal when on the road.
We did however indulge in one of Big Bends most popular attractions, soaking in the hot springs that are on the banks of the Rio Grande. The experience has been described by Etta Koch, a 1929 partaker of what the locals call “ seeking the waters” in this way.
Etta writes, “Whether or not the springs were actually the cure-all claimed, it is a fact that a good soak in the hot waters made a new man of you, or woman, as the case may be. As for drinking from the cup chained to the exterior wall of the bathhouse…….well, if that drink with its mineral taste and liquid heat didn’t accomplish some good for anyone who drank it, the illusion was there”. (Etta Koch 1929)
The water is actually what is called “fossil water” because it was deposited deep within the earth over 20,000 years ago and is not being replaced. In 1936 the flow was recorded at an amazing 250,000 gallons a day and has slowed slightly over time. On its way to the surface, it is heated to 105 F and picks up many naturally occurring minerals including calcium carbonate and sulfate, sodium chloride and sulfate among others. The “seekers of the waters” claim that a long soak can cure everything from asthma to warts, but the only documented affect is that drinking from the now non existent cup did have a slight laxative effect. Sara and I soaked for about an hour with several new found friends but decline the traditional plunge into the 47 degree water of the Rio Grande as it rushed by, a mere 1 ft from the edge of the walled hot springs. Any subsequent laxative effect was not experienced later in the RV, thank God.
Sara decided that since the recent demise of her precious Miniature Schnauzers, Ollie and Rudy, our family dogs and traveling companions for the past 13 years, she needed a new hobby to occupy her time. Don always joked with envy that when Ollie and Rudy went to “doggie heaven” that he would be in heaven with all the attention Sara would then shower on him to replace that showered on the pups. Well, the deluge came but was not as well received as anticipated. Comments like, “How much beer did you drink today?” or “Did you take your pills today?” or “Do you think you are gained too much weight today?” or “Do you think we are walking enough today?” or “Are you going to comb your hair today?” or “How long are you going to wear those underpants today?” (It was a wash day.) soon made it apparent that attention would have to be somewhat refocused if we were to survive in this life style.
But what could replace two darling puppies? What activity would appeal to someone who loved to make lists, write down little details about the stuff around her, pride herself in advancing an ever growing list that documents continuing progress toward an uncertain life goal, that is compatible with an ever changing life location, involves learning known stuff about critters that move, and requires a minimal amount of equipment that must be stored an already over stuffed RV?
TA DA……………BIRD WATCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And thus in one of the best bird watching locations on earth, the confluence of one of the famous north south flyways of North America (that is birder talk for where birdies that like it cold and birdies that like it hot, meet to talk about the weather), Big Bend National Park, Sara has begun her new hobby much to the joy of Don and the many campers that have the fortune or misfortune of having been assigned to the next campsite, in a sea of RVs with paper thin walls.
Equipped with the Sibley Guide to Birds of the Western North America, her Audubon Lifetime Bird List and a cheap pair of binoculars, soon to be upgraded to what ever pair she desires, regardless of cost, Sara ventures out into the wilderness daily in search of another specimen in the Class Aves.
Her first positive ID was an English house sparrow, (Passer domesticus) on the roof of the bookstore where we purchased the bird guides. Oh well, you have to start somewhere, and by the way, birds sighted prior to starting your Life List can not be counted according to the rules. Oh yea, they got rules with this deal. Sara is now up to ten positive identifications in her Life List Book, all dutifully recorded with name, date, location and important details, with room for 974 more. Her list increases daily and imagine how fast it will grow when we get back to the Everglades in Florida.
While we were in the park, a record temperature of 92 degrees was set. Imagine running the air conditioner on February 19 while the temperature in Madison, WI was 18 above with 14 inches of snow. As we left the park, we saw a pair of wild burros that crossed the road in front of us and stared as if to say, “This is our home and you can just wait for us to move”.
Regardless of the time of year or the temperature or what ever stands in your way, a visit to Big Bend National Park would be a memorable experience for anyone.
