Big Bend - Feb.22-27

Reflections on Big Bend......

The park was surreal due to the variations in terrain and the overall size - around 1,000 square miles of desert, mountains, canyons, rivers, etc.

 

My buddy Jason (below) organized the trip; he is a frequenter of the park.

 

Jason failed to warn me that the desert hike would basically include straddling cactus for about 8 miles.
 I was the only one wearing shorts that day.

This cactus reminded me of Aliana - short, pink and sharp ;-)

Native American graffiti, now celebrated as "pictographs".

 

Believe it or not this is actually a section of Rio Grande. The cliff wall on the Mexico side is pretty impressive. 

Talk about a natural border. If you can make it down that cliff wall, cross the river and make it 300 miles through the desert to the first small town...that shows tenacity.

An amazing rock that broke off from the cliff above. It may not appear so but Jason is actually 8'9" and nearly 600lbs to give you an idea how big the rock is  ;-)

 

This is looking into Cleavage Canyon.

You can actually see the small track to the lower right of the cat paw that is likely what the cat was chasing for breakfast.
(To be totally fair, Jason found the footprint first)

Part of the long walk up Emory peak, the tallest peak in the park.

 

We discussed how we could get out of that deep hole if we fell in. We discussed it of course from a cowardly distance.

 

This area was once filled with water from a water fall up the hill.

 

Love the way you can see how the earth has formed over hundreds and hundreds of years.

This was an old mercury and silver mine up until the early 1940's. 

 

It is just amazing that people used to work and live out in this area.