Caves and Cactus

On 2/24 (day 14) we awoke to snow on the ground in the desert. The powerful winds the day before blew some horizontal snow overnight. But the wind was calm, and the sun was out. It was the coldest predicted high temperature of our trip so far - around 50ºF. However, months ago we booked two cave tours at Kartchner Caverns, where the temperature in the caves is 70ºF. Plan ahead, get ahead!

A little snow in the desert

The caverns are a fascinating story of two young college students finding it and doing the right thing by keeping it a secret for well over a decade until they could get the state of Arizona to declare it a park and develop it properly. It was a rare cave that had not been visited and looted by people. All the formations are intact. They were also lucky that the governor at the time was a geologist and understood the significance of an undisturbed cave. Here's a great story on how it all came to be - Kartchner Caverns HIstory. No photos are allowed in the cave, so you'll have to go visit yourself - but it's well worth the time to do so.

After the cave tours, we visited Saguaro National Park East. We drove the loop and took a few short hikes before we headed across Tucson to our campground near Saguaro National Park West. When you see the Saguaro from the road, you don't realize how tall they are. They can grow up to 50' tall and live for up to 200 years. The ones around Tucson don't even sprout arms until they are 75 years old.

Saguaro at the eastern park. Bebop keeps an eye on the cactus.

 On 2/25 we toured the western park and the cactus were even bigger and more abundant. The eastern side had let cattle graze in the 60s, and they had trampled most of the younger cactus. The park had to purchase the grazing rights, and it's on the way to being restored. The western side was very beautiful. We took a number of hikes and even found some petroglyphs.

Big Saguaro on the western side

Bebop wanted a hug; Elena pretended she was Marge Simpson; Paul and Elena

Petroglyphs

 On 2/26 we visited Organ Pipe National Monument. It was sunny and 66ºF - just perfect desert weather. Organ pipe cactus are found in northern Mexico, but only a very small area of the US near the border. That's where we went today. We drove the 21-mile unpaved loop road and did a couple mile hike into a canyon. Elena noted that the Organ Pipe cactus looks like a love child of a Saguaro cactus and an Ocotillo plant. Saguaro cactus have only one main trunk, but the Organ Pipe cactus have many trunks that come out of the ground.

Organ Pipe National Monument

- Paul

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Earth, Wind, and Spires - Side 2

I ended the last blog (Earth, Wind, and Spires) with our arrival at Chiricahua National Monument on 2/22. This area was formed when the Turkey Creek Volcano blew about 27 million years ago with a force about 10 times that of Mount St. Helens. The Earth belched. It deposited a deep layer of tuft across the area, which became compressed into rock. Weathering has exposed these rocks, which formed into many vertical columns due to cracking as the plates lifted in the western US. Elena and I visited Masai Point and hiked the Echo Canyon Loop Trail (3.8 miles with 600’ of elevation gain). We wandered through a wonderland of rocks.

Chiricahua National Monument

Chiricahua National Monument - Echo Park Loop Hike

On 2/23 I planned to get up before dawn and tackle the hike up and through the Heart of the Rocks loop. This was 7.7 miles and 1,700’ of elevation gain. That morning as I awoke there were three powerful forces acting on me: Gravity, Inertia, and Snuggling with my wife. I first thought, “Check the temperature and see if it’s too cold out.” Nope - 45ºF - just right. I overcame the forces and got up, then walked the dog, put her back in the van, and headed for the trail. It was close to dawn when I departed. I was only about 0.2 miles in when I came upon a deer along the trail, who I didn’t even see until I was about 5’ away. It barely moved and kept nibbling the leaves on a branch, but it startled me a bit. 

My hike used three trails - the Rhyolite Canyon Trail, the Sarah Deming Trail, and the Heart of Rocks Loop trail. It was a nice, but windy morning. The Sarah Deming section climbed about 1,000 feet in 1.6 miles. I don’t know who Sarah Deming is/was, but I had a few select words for her! I finally arrived at the Heart of Rocks loop and had climbed to about 7,000 feet in elevation. It was windy and cold despite the bright sunshine. The loop was awesome with many interesting rocks. I soon headed back down. I did not see a single other person until I was about a mile from the trailhead. 

Chiricahua NM - Heart of the Rocks Loops

Chiricahua NM - Trail to Heart of the Rocks Loop

 We drove to our next destination - Kartchner Caverns State Park. Tomorrow we’ll do two separate cave hikes into the Caverns. The wind was even worse today. Sustained 30mph with gusts well over 50. The dust was blowing and the van was rockin', but we made it to the campground just as the cold front arrived. It was 65ºF for most of the day, but we’ll be in the upper 20s tonight. It's 33ºF and snowing as I type this. This is far better than home (DFW) where they were in the low 20s in the afternoon with freezing precip. Tomorrow will be our coldest day of our trip, with a high in the upper 40s. Fortunately, the cave is about 70ºF, so we’ll go into the Earth for warmth tomorrow. Considering I booked this cave tour months ago, I must be a better weather prognosticator than a groundhog, or the Old Farmer's Almanac.

 

- Paul

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Earth, Wind, and Spires

 We’ve been mostly offline for a few days and I have a brief connection, so this is a catch-up post

Earth

On 2/20 (Day 10 of our trip) we visited Rockhound State Park in NM. Rocks are definitely earth - in its most solid form. Elena poked around for interesting rocks for several hours. Bebop also looked at rocks.

Rockhound State Park in NM

 On 2/21 we drove toward our next destination of Cave Creek near Portal, AZ. Portal is just west of the NM/AZ border. Rodeo, NM sits on the NM side of the border. On our drive there across southern New Mexico we mostly had the road to ourselves. We would see another vehicle about every 10 miles - and most of those were shiny new border patrol vehicles sitting or driving around. In Texas we even saw a Border Patrol fixed blimp with radar hovering between Fort Davis and Valentine. It looked like a big shark in the sky.

But back to our drive. We crossed the continental divide three times. It ranged from about 4,200 to 4,600 feet, but every time it was just on a flat open parcel of land. The east-west drainage border is very subtle in southern New Mexico. You could see mountains, but they were scattered. The biggest mountain range in the distance was the Coronado Forest / Chiricahua range - and there was even a little snow on some peaks. 

Wind

By mid-morning the southwest wind began to pick up as forecast. It was steady at 30mph with gusts well over 50mph. The van was a rockin'. As we got closer to Portal, the dust began to pick up and blow. This was back to the Earth portion - in dust form. It wasn’t bad enough to stop, but it wasn’t pretty. As we got near Portal, the mountains began to block the winds a bit. 

We turned SW into Cave Creek and found an amazing canyon. It’s like a mini Yosemite Valley, but without all the tourists. We hiked the 4 mile round trip South Fork Trail that runs along a creek bed. The views were impressive up and down this valley. And unlike the desert we just left, it was lush with pine and oak trees. It was also protected from the strong winds. I’ve travelled a lot and I can’t believe this place has been off my radar.  Apparently this is also a big birding area as we saw a few people with bird books, major zoom lenses, and binoculars. We found a spot in the Sunny Flat campground for the night. In the evening, we hiked the 2-mile RT nature trail that departed from our campground.

Cave Creek near Portal, AZ

Sunset from our campground in Cave Creek

On 2/22/22 we headed for the Chiricahua National Monument on the western flank of the mountain range. From our campsite it was only 23 miles, but that was on an unpaved forest service road through the mountains. The visitors center worker told us a couple from Alaska just tried to cross with a 4-wheel drive vehicle, but had to back down (It’s narrow with no place to turn around) due to ice and snow. So, we took the 110-mile loop drive up and around the north end of the mountain range.

 

Google Maps can be cruel. First, it routed us down this narrow road with branches scraping the sides of the van. The road looked like it would connect to a bigger road, but it came to a dead ended. I had to back the van out. Then it put us on a wider road, but the pavement ended, and we had a dirt road with some washboards for about 17 miles. We survived and made it to Chiricahua NM.

Spires

We arrived at Chiricahua around mid-day. It's an old volcanic area with eroding spires. The rocks look like they are all standing up - and there are many. We mapped out a hiking plan that matched our skills. Elena is not good with too much vertical hiking, so she and I hiked the Echo Canyon Loop - 3.8 miles with about 600’ of elevation gain. We also took in the views from the overlook point. I'm planning a long solo hike in the morning. More photos and hike info about this area in the next edition.

 

- Paul

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Do Look Up

On 2/18 we attended the Star Party at the McDonald Observatory outside of Fort Davis, TX. The first time we came to one of these Star Parties back in 2002 it just took my breath away. This is one of the darkest places in the continental US, and it’s at 6,800 foot elevation, so there isn’t even as much atmosphere to block the view. There were countless stars. The Milky Way looked like someone had taken a paint roller and put a white stripe across the sky. There were a few small meteors that shot across the sky as well.

There were several telescopes along the path to the amphitheater, and each is aimed at something interesting. We saw the following through the various scopes. Two galaxies (M81 and M82) in the Ursa Major (the Big Dipper). M81(Bode’s Galaxy) is a spiral galaxy approximately 11.8 million light-years away, while M82 (Cigar Galaxy) is an irregular galaxy at roughly the same distance from Earth. We saw the Orion Nebula (M42), which is only about 1,350 light-years away and is forming new stars. We zoomed in on the Pleiades (M46) just 410 light years from Earth - and saw there were far more than the 7 naked eye visible stars. Finally, we saw NGC1535, sometimes called the Eye of Cleopatra. It’s a dead star about the size of our sun. It ejected the outer layers into space and has a white dwarf star as a core. Our own sun awaits the same fate - but over 5 billion years from now.

It was cold (upper 30s), but calm, but we were dressed for the occasion. Overnight it dropped to 17ºF at our campsite, but we were in our warm camper van.

I tried my camera's astrophotography mode from our campground picnic table, and it did pretty well.

Night sky - you'll recognize Orion's Belt

You should try to make it out to a Star Party (https://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors/programs/evening-programs) and see what you are missing. And Do Look Up.

McDonald Observatory

McDonald Observatory Visitor Center

- Paul

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Bebop - Back on the Trails Again and Blogging

Now that we are out of the National Park, I can hike the trails again and be the leader of my hoomans. At Big Bend Ranch State Park, I visited a rest area Teepee, had a drank from the Rio Grande, and stood on a sand dune.

Teepee rest stop, sand dune, and drinking from the Rio Grande

We hiked a trail called Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park. It wasn’t closed to hoomans or dogs - we just walked right in. The canyon was deep and narrow with a sandy / gravel bottom. Dad let me run around without my leash once we got in the canyon, which was fun. Every so often we would come across an area where the water had carved the rock down, and we would have to climb down. We always made sure we thought we could climb back up on our return. They were all easy for me, but my hoomans had to work a bit on a few of them. It was very pretty. Mom petted some rocks. Finally, we got to an area that had a steep drop-off. There was a sign that said the trail was closed beyond that point. Hence, the name, I guess. We were almost back out of the canyon before we saw a couple of other people coming in.

Follow me in,    Are you coming?    Pick up the pace,    Do you need help up?

Here’s a photo of my hoomans in the canyon with me, and me leading in one of the wider sections.

Waiting on my hoomans to finish taking a photo

I'll lead the way

 Then we saw some hoodoos and a balanced rock. Once again, I took the opportunity to stand in the Rio Grande and have a drink of water.

We drove for a while to a town called Fort Davis and camped in the Davis Mountains State Park. My hoomans went to a Star Party, but dogs weren’t allowed, so they’ll have to tell you about it. I slept in the van, which was comfortable despite temperatures outside in the upper 30s. They came back and joined me before 10pm. Then we all went to sleep on a cold night in our warm Bebopabago camper van (https://enerjazz.com/travato/).

- Bebop

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Big Bend - The West End

Cottonwood campground, on the west side of Big Bend NP, is a small campground - just 17 sites. It sits on the bank of the Rio Grande and just 8 miles from the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon. We reserved the best site - #17 right next to the group campsite - provided the group site is empty, which it was while we were there, except for the dozen javelina which grazed there several times during the day and night. It was a quiet evening. During the first night we heard a very large pack of coyotes loudly celebrating. The next morning I found some small remaining evidence of the former rabbit they were enjoying. I also watched the moon set into Santa Elena Canyon that morning.

Moon set into the Santa Elena Canyon mouth

On 2/16 We headed down to the beautiful Santa Elena Canyon, that I like to think is named for my lovely wife Elena. Boquillas was nice, but Santa Elena is even more impressive. The Rio Grande has carved a 1,500 foot vertical slice right through the rock. You can wade through Terlingua Creek, then hike in about 0.8 miles until you run out of edge to walk on. Back in 2002 we rafted through the entire canyon. The water was low then, but it’s far lower now.

Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend NP

We visited some old ruins of farms that gave it a try back in the 1920s. Many lasted for a decade or two by pumping water from the river. Now they are just historical sites. The weather has been mild so far. We’ve been in the low 30s or upper 20s most nights, with sunny highs in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Last night only cooled to the mid 50s, and we were in the upper 80s today, though with only 10% relative humidity. 

This afternoon we watched the roadrunners and the dozen javalina eat and play around our campsite, then took a nice siesta. wildlife wildlife1 

The squadron of 12 javelina (peccary) at our campsite.

Roadrunners at our campsite

 

As we were taking our evening walk, a man from Boston asked us where the Rio Grande was and if the water flowing beside our camp site fed into it. He was quite shocked when we told him that narrow, shallow stream of water along our campsite IS the Rio Grande. 

On 2/17 we began the drive out of the national park. We made one more hike, the 5-mile round trip hike to the Chimneys. These volcanic formations just poke up out of the ground. There is a great view of the Santa Elena Canyon slot for most of the way down. We found some petroglyphs and an old shelter area built into one of the chimneys. A cool front came in overnight, and it was sunny and about 60ºF for our hike.

The chimneys hike in Big Bend NP

We headed out of the park into the towns of Terilingua / Study Butte. We cooked all our meals in the van for the first week, so we enjoyed a delicious BBQ meal in old Terlingua. Finally, we headed into Big Bend Ranch State Park where our primitive campsite awaited in Lower Medera Canyon. Adjacent to the campsite is a rest stop with some teepees. We recognized them from our trip 20 years ago through here and did a few Then and Now photos. We had to reverse direction due to the sun angle, and Kendall wasn’t here, but we did our best.

- Paul

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Big Bend - Rio Grande Village

On our full day (2/14/22) at Rio Grande Village (RGV) in Big Bend NP we took a couple of outings. We hiked into Boquillas Canyon in the morning. The river has sliced a narrow path through at least 1,000 foot high rock. You can’t even see the narrow canyon entrance until you are very close. We arrived to find two other cars in the lot and both couples were exiting the trail. We had the canyon to ourselves - at least from tourists. On every trail near the river, there are little souvenir shops set up along the trails. People come across the river and set up these honor system sales booths with a pay bucket. None of them were staffed, until we arrived a the canyon. There were about 8 people and several stations. Two of them had ridden their horses over. One was a young child who ran up to us sporting a great smile and displaying the handmade necklaces. Most of the items are jewelry or small animals shaped out of wire. Some had embroidered items or t-shirts. One was selling chicken tamales. They were all nice people just trying to make some money, but I really prefer my parks and trails to be vendor free. We saw many border patrol vehicles over the past few days - most of them just driving around in their cars. 

We hiked into Boquillas Canyon until the river met the vertical walls. Elena found some interesting rocks. The river water was very clear. Bebop took a nap in the van. 

In the afternoon we went to a natural hot springs on the river. It was a big resort a century ago. There is an old hall, house, and even motel where people used to drive down to enjoy the hot springs. They even have a huge palm growing, which was obviously imported and planted. The only remaining functioning item is the most important - the spring and the rock area built to contain the hot water. The water comes out at 105ºF, so the pool is generally around 100ºF - like a nice hot bath that never cools down. You can just slide over the rock wall into the river and swim, too - or wade across into Mexico. This happened to be Valentine's Day and this was probably the best gift I could have given Elena as she loves being in water. 

The old springs ruins

Natural hot springs along the Rio Grande

We hiked on the nature trail adjacent to our campsite and took some lovely sunset photos of the Sierra del Carmen range and the Chisos mountains. 

Sunset from the natural trail adjacent to our camp site in Rio Grande Village, Big Bend NP

On Tue (2/15) we crossed the park and moved from the eastern end to the western end. We made a quick stop in the Chisos Basin along the way. I’ve been to Chisos a couple of times, and it was busier, so we didn’t stay too long. We headed to the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, which led to the Cottonwood Campground. We hiked the Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff and Tuff Canyon, and made the obligatory stop at Mule Ears. Who wore them better - Kendall in 2002 or Paul in 2022?

 

Mule Ears - 20 years apart

Bebop can't go on National Park trails, so you'll have to put up with my blogging until she can get back on the trail with us and write some more. 

 - Paul

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Seminole Canyon to Big Bend NP

Before we departed Seminole Canyon, we took an archeologist guided tour of one of the overhang shelters that had been used for thousands of years. The Pecos style wall paintings were fascinating, as was learning about the way people survived in this desert environment for hundreds of generations. The cave art dates from around 4000 - 1000 years old. Our archeologist (Jack) didn’t try to tell us what it meant. He could tell us what he thought they meant. He could tell us figures and shapes that were common across the region. But what the figures and colors meant could only be truly known by the people that drew them and the culture they lived in. Here’s a modern day sculpture at the visitors center.

Here is the shelter and are a few of the most interesting drawings: 

From our campsite in Seminole Canyon, we could look SW and see the mountains of Big Bend. They were about 100 miles away, and it was a 220-mile drive to get there. Along the way we stopped in the town of Sanderson where Elena’s grandparents met back in the early 1930s. Here’s Elena in front of the high school (Sanderson High School) where her grandfather taught after he graduated from college. 

We arrived at Big Bend and went to our first campsite at Rio Grande Village. A javelina strolled past within minutes of our arrival. We took an evening walk along the nature trail down to the Rio Grande and watched the sunset on Sierra del Carmen Mountains near Boquillas. (RGV1-002 and 004)

Looking back at the Chisos Mountains from the Rio Grande

Sunset on the Sierra del Carmen Mountains

 

 I'm posting this connected to the Wifi at the Rio Grande Village Store - the only connection to the outside world. No cell or other signals out here.

- Paul

 

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Bebop - Back in the Bebopabago

I got worried this week when my hoomans started gathering their stuff. They went to Florida without me last month, and I don't care for that - even if I get to stay with the best neighbor in the world. I followed dad out on every trip to the van and jumped in to secure my spot. I was happy when they carried my bowls and stuff out to the van. We are off on a long trip all the way to Death Valley. The name doesn't seem like very good marketing, but dad said that's why we are going in winter.

Our first day was a lot of driving down to a little town called Sonora, TX. On our way dad stopped in Lipan, TX to top off the propane tank. It was showing about 3/4 full, but propane (and propane accessories via Hank Hill) would be scarce in many of our stops the first week. The lady who helped us was a very nice hooman. The tank didn't quite take a gallon, and she said there would be no charge. Dogs can judge people, and I liked her.

We made it to Sonora for an overnight rest stop. We stopped at a place called Stadium Park. It was a trailer/RV park next to the local HS stadium. A very nice man named Mike got us set up in a spot. He even had a friendly cat. After we left Sonora, we stopped at a crossing of Devils River. It's a wild and scenic river in a very empty part of the state. It was pretty.

Devils River

Today we are in Seminole Canyon State Park. State Parks let me hike the trails, so I like them. Dad said this park had hooman habitation over 10,000 years ago. They left many large drawings on the walls of the rock shelters along the canyon. One pictograph was a mountain lion, and the drawing was over 10 feet long. I hope that wasn't actual scale! 

Mountain Lion (also named as a Panther) wall art - 10 feet across

We hiked to the Rio Grande. I could see Mexico. It looks the same as the US - you hoomans are all the same species, so I don't understand why you try to divide into subgroups. There weren't many hoomans on the trail, but I was awe-inspiring. Every time we passed someone they would look and me and say "Awww . . how cute."

Scenes along Seminole Canyon

Bebop leads the way to the Rio Grande.

In the morning, mom and dad go on a ranger guided tour of a large set of pictographs. Dogs aren't allowed on that tour, so I will take a nap. Our Rio Grande hike was 8 miles round trip, so I am tired. 

We burned some calories today

Next, we'll be on our way to Big Bend National Park for four nights.

-Bebop

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