Big Bend
I don't want to sound like the Rainbow Guy, but "Whoa!" Big Bend NP is stupendous. OK, a million people have said that before me, but it really is spectacular.
The river in the above picture is more "lake" than river. There is a big sand bar about a quarter mile downstream, so the water is backed up.
We drove down to Big Bend from Marathon, going by miles and miles of flat, desert lands with very little vegetation. Big sky territory, but not very interesting.
A Historical Marker discussed camels. I thought the Alaskan land bridge was a one way path for the early peoples migrating to the Americas from Asia. Apparently camels and horses originated in North America and migrated to Asia. Like many big mammals such as mammoths, they died off thousands of years ago, probably hunted to extinction by humans. Horses were re-introduced to the Americas 500 years ago by the Spanish. The escapees are now an invasive species. The US Army tried to introduce camels as beasts of burden during the late 19th century Indian Wars. It didn't work; seems mostly that the Army mule drivers just didn't like them. I guess a camel's bite is worse than a horse.
Apparently-working but overgrazed ranches, with gates generally in good repair, some sporting non-tattered flags (USA or Texas) line the highway. Very little livestock was visible, and any buildings visible were generally quite modest, or just a trailer. These lands do not support much livestock, and were not vacation home.
Immediately crossing into the park, the land seemed almost ''lush", and not overgrazed. Still very dry, but much better than the private lands. The rangers had another story.
All the land in the park had been seriously overgrazed, even more so than than the private ranches we drove by. While the State of Texas was acquiring the already overgrazed land for the park, the ranchers were given three years to move out. The ranchers then tripled their herds. Seventy years later, much of the land is still degraded.
Another great hike was up Lost Mine Trail up to 6850 feet. Gorgeous views, of course. Legend is that Spanish enslavers forced Chisos Indians to work the mine for incredible wealth (gold, silver, etc.). They blindfolded the enslaved so the location was kept secret. The enslaved revolted, killed all the Spanish, and buried the entrance. Despite lots of geological work all around Big Bend, no evidence of gold or silver ores has ever been found.
The Windows Trail has an amazing chimney split lining up with another slit. There should be a die-for shot of a perfect sunset, but not when we were there.
Note the very polished floor. When it rains the water flows fast through this narrow slot and creates a several hundred foot waterfall.
Nearly adjacent to Big Bend National Park (865,000 acres, about the size of the King Ranch and larger than Rhode Island) is the Big Bend Ranch State Park (311,000 acres), which is almost unknown outside of Texas. The state park get less than 50,000 visitors a year, compared to 400,000 in the national park.
An exquisite dry canyon, Closed Canyon is a flash-flood tributary to the Rio Grande in the state park. Very narrow, walls hundreds of feet high, a lot of sand to walk on, with occasional highly polished boulders. Beautiful 1.5 mile hike, one of the nicest I've been on.
We did not get much time to explore the state park. A more rugged vehicle would be an advantage.
We did a lot of "four wheeling" on semi-improved gravel/dirt roads, and got to a fair amount of less traveled parts of the park.
We saw half a dozen horses running free. A ranger told us they were from Mexico. The owners bring them over to graze. Umm, weren't we just talking about overgrazing and illegal incursions?
There are large deposits of white volcanic ash and igneous rock layer. The solid white ash resembles sand dunes, but are pretty hard rock.
A recurring theme in West Texas is water, of course. News media hype droughts, megadroughts, and the lack of rain. The truth is this area is, and has been, really arid for thousand of years. Drought implies a only temporary lack of rainfall, not permanent aridity. One reason the rock art of the People-Without-a-Name has survived is there is no water or humidity.
The Rio Grande is a tiny "river" nowadays. All the water has been taken. The Rio Grande starts in New Mexico, is dammed, and doesn't leave. The dams completely stop the water and pump it to farms. There usually is no water flow from El Paso to Presidio. At Presidio, the Rio Conchos flows from Mexico into the (empty) Rio Grande channel, which is the water seen above.
Twenty two dams, many of then now nearly dry, stop the flow to divert primarily to agriculture, and to a minor degree to municipalities. The Rio Grande often does not flow into the Gulf of Mexico anymore. All the water in the river is oversubscribed. The "drought" is actually a flood a lawsuits and irresponsible and/or corrupt politicians. This land is desert; sometimes it rains a little. Hoping, praying and suing does not make more rain.
We saw the nearly dry lakes at Falcon and Amistad. Amistad is 48 feet below "full". Falcon is only at 23% of capacity.
We really loved Big Bend, and plan to return in 2025, when we expect to have our new Tesla pickup. There were several rough roads we wanted to go, but exceeded our car's capability. Longer driving range towing our trailer would also be really nice.
Anyone want to join us in a convoy?
We leave the coyotes for now. At one campground, we were cooking over charcoal and had a fire in a ring. Two different campers came up to tell us that they saw coyotes nearby, smelling the cooking. "Keep your dog safe!" We did, had a great meal, and did not see any coyotes that night.
Left side Mexico. Canyon walls are 1000-1500 feet high
We drove down to Big Bend from Marathon, going by miles and miles of flat, desert lands with very little vegetation. Big sky territory, but not very interesting.
A Historical Marker discussed camels. I thought the Alaskan land bridge was a one way path for the early peoples migrating to the Americas from Asia. Apparently camels and horses originated in North America and migrated to Asia. Like many big mammals such as mammoths, they died off thousands of years ago, probably hunted to extinction by humans. Horses were re-introduced to the Americas 500 years ago by the Spanish. The escapees are now an invasive species. The US Army tried to introduce camels as beasts of burden during the late 19th century Indian Wars. It didn't work; seems mostly that the Army mule drivers just didn't like them. I guess a camel's bite is worse than a horse.
Apparently-working but overgrazed ranches, with gates generally in good repair, some sporting non-tattered flags (USA or Texas) line the highway. Very little livestock was visible, and any buildings visible were generally quite modest, or just a trailer. These lands do not support much livestock, and were not vacation home.
Immediately crossing into the park, the land seemed almost ''lush", and not overgrazed. Still very dry, but much better than the private lands. The rangers had another story.
All the land in the park had been seriously overgrazed, even more so than than the private ranches we drove by. While the State of Texas was acquiring the already overgrazed land for the park, the ranchers were given three years to move out. The ranchers then tripled their herds. Seventy years later, much of the land is still degraded.
The degraded lands have little vegetation and do not store rainfall. Rain runs off, creating gullies and erosion.
Of course overgrazing has been a human activity for thousand of years, as described in the Bible and most other desert cultures. Overeducated nerds from the gub'mint have been trying to reduce overgrazing by reducing the number of cattle per square mile.
This has been official policy and funded all over the developing world, not just Texas. Obviously, Texas ranchers knew more than Washington, and they overgrazed 'cuz they could'. Official policy has not been successful, and did not eliminate overgrazing, poverty or food shortages, especially in Africa.
I read a decade or so ago of some renegade researchers who asked how does the Serengeti in Kenya sustainably support such enormous herds of a million plus herbivores. The key is migration. The buffalos, elephants, zebras, etc., eat, defecate, and move on. Their hooves dig up the soil and the dung is mixed into the soil where bacteria and insects convert feces into soil nutrients. The grasses grow back, so a year later, when the herds return, there is good grazing.
The researchers then started working with herding communities in Africa that had been "encouraged" to reduce their herds. Many herds had already shrunk due to starvation.
[Aside: Barbara and I saw this first hand in our last visit to Kenya. Barbara had lived with a nomadic Maasai community that 30 years ago had a healthy, sizable herd. Later, the open lands were divided (encouraged by international agencies and wealthy elites) and some was assigned to families. The migrations stopped by barb wire. The family was down to one sickly cow which could barely survive on the 20 acres of very degraded land. Very sad.]
The researchers divided some land into separate areas. The herd was constrained to a specific area, then moved to another area. If my memory is right (a risky proposition these days) the new "migration" technique tripled the productivity of the land.
The land was allowed to be fallow for some time. Then some small herds were allowed in one area, and later moved via a controlled "migration". The land recovered over time, and more animals were allowed to graze and migrate, and eventually three times as much meat and milk were harvestable sustainably.
Some Texas ranchers introduced aoudads, a large sheep from northern Africa. In addition to overgrazing, the aoudads carry a disease that essentially killed off the native bighorn sheep. So go git yer AR-15 and get yer trophy!
Too bad Texans didn't manage their ranches well, and have turned them into deserts. As an overeducated damn Yankee myself, I know my opinions aren't welcome. Fortunately some land is recovering in the parks.
Desertification, turning good land into desert, is common theme with humans. Big Bend used to have a lot of cottonwood trees near the river. Most were harvested when miners in the first half of the 20th century needed the wood to support the mining of cinnabar, the ore of mercury. There are almost no cottonwoods in the park now; they didn't recover.
An aside: mining in the good ol' days usually leaves a lot of toxins around. The Mariscal Mine in Big Bend is an example. (We would have gotten there except for the very poor condition of the Black Gap "Road". Maybe in 2025 when we have a truck.) Mercury is a nasty neurotoxin. I doubt miners in that era were fastidious with their primitive mining and refining operations.
The valley (pictured below) is high up Chagos Mountain, c. 5,000 elevation, and has better rainfall and is cooler than the desert floor. It used to be a thick forest. Nearly a century later, it is still barely vegetated.
Our first hike went up Boquillas Canyon, the low point of the park, about 1900 feet elevation.
[begin rant] National Parks are not for commercialization.
The hike to the canyon was littered with unmanned Mexican stands selling "souvenirs". Perhaps a dozen or two displays of tourist material, like beaded necklaces, hand painted coffee cups, little animals figurines of twisted wire, and a request to leave money in a container.
If I had set up a stand to sell my crap in any National Park, I would be closed down and fined. If illegal smugglers cross the well-defined border, it is acceptable. Tens of thousands of soldiers died defining the border as the Rio Grande. Ignoring their sacrifice is pathetic.
This isn't politics; putting a wall in the National Park is absurd. It would be trivial for NP personnel or volunteers to collect the tourist crap and money every day, and destroy the goods. Chasing these perpetrators who illegally cross the border is a waste of resources. After a few weeks of confiscations, the trade would stop.
National Parks are not for commercialization, regardless of citizenship. [/rant]
Except for the hike to Boquillas, the rest of the park was essentially litter-free without any unauthorized commerce. We picked up the little litter we saw.
The Boquillas Canyon is magnificent. The walls are over a thousand feet high; the bottom of the canyon is maybe 50-75 feet wide. The rush of water during flash floods must be incredible. The rocks are all rounded, almost like the Maine coast.
Of course overgrazing has been a human activity for thousand of years, as described in the Bible and most other desert cultures. Overeducated nerds from the gub'mint have been trying to reduce overgrazing by reducing the number of cattle per square mile.
This has been official policy and funded all over the developing world, not just Texas. Obviously, Texas ranchers knew more than Washington, and they overgrazed 'cuz they could'. Official policy has not been successful, and did not eliminate overgrazing, poverty or food shortages, especially in Africa.
I read a decade or so ago of some renegade researchers who asked how does the Serengeti in Kenya sustainably support such enormous herds of a million plus herbivores. The key is migration. The buffalos, elephants, zebras, etc., eat, defecate, and move on. Their hooves dig up the soil and the dung is mixed into the soil where bacteria and insects convert feces into soil nutrients. The grasses grow back, so a year later, when the herds return, there is good grazing.
The researchers then started working with herding communities in Africa that had been "encouraged" to reduce their herds. Many herds had already shrunk due to starvation.
[Aside: Barbara and I saw this first hand in our last visit to Kenya. Barbara had lived with a nomadic Maasai community that 30 years ago had a healthy, sizable herd. Later, the open lands were divided (encouraged by international agencies and wealthy elites) and some was assigned to families. The migrations stopped by barb wire. The family was down to one sickly cow which could barely survive on the 20 acres of very degraded land. Very sad.]
The researchers divided some land into separate areas. The herd was constrained to a specific area, then moved to another area. If my memory is right (a risky proposition these days) the new "migration" technique tripled the productivity of the land.
The land was allowed to be fallow for some time. Then some small herds were allowed in one area, and later moved via a controlled "migration". The land recovered over time, and more animals were allowed to graze and migrate, and eventually three times as much meat and milk were harvestable sustainably.
Some Texas ranchers introduced aoudads, a large sheep from northern Africa. In addition to overgrazing, the aoudads carry a disease that essentially killed off the native bighorn sheep. So go git yer AR-15 and get yer trophy!
Too bad Texans didn't manage their ranches well, and have turned them into deserts. As an overeducated damn Yankee myself, I know my opinions aren't welcome. Fortunately some land is recovering in the parks.
Desertification, turning good land into desert, is common theme with humans. Big Bend used to have a lot of cottonwood trees near the river. Most were harvested when miners in the first half of the 20th century needed the wood to support the mining of cinnabar, the ore of mercury. There are almost no cottonwoods in the park now; they didn't recover.
An aside: mining in the good ol' days usually leaves a lot of toxins around. The Mariscal Mine in Big Bend is an example. (We would have gotten there except for the very poor condition of the Black Gap "Road". Maybe in 2025 when we have a truck.) Mercury is a nasty neurotoxin. I doubt miners in that era were fastidious with their primitive mining and refining operations.
The valley (pictured below) is high up Chagos Mountain, c. 5,000 elevation, and has better rainfall and is cooler than the desert floor. It used to be a thick forest. Nearly a century later, it is still barely vegetated.
Our first hike went up Boquillas Canyon, the low point of the park, about 1900 feet elevation.
[begin rant] National Parks are not for commercialization.
The hike to the canyon was littered with unmanned Mexican stands selling "souvenirs". Perhaps a dozen or two displays of tourist material, like beaded necklaces, hand painted coffee cups, little animals figurines of twisted wire, and a request to leave money in a container.
If I had set up a stand to sell my crap in any National Park, I would be closed down and fined. If illegal smugglers cross the well-defined border, it is acceptable. Tens of thousands of soldiers died defining the border as the Rio Grande. Ignoring their sacrifice is pathetic.
This isn't politics; putting a wall in the National Park is absurd. It would be trivial for NP personnel or volunteers to collect the tourist crap and money every day, and destroy the goods. Chasing these perpetrators who illegally cross the border is a waste of resources. After a few weeks of confiscations, the trade would stop.
National Parks are not for commercialization, regardless of citizenship. [/rant]
Except for the hike to Boquillas, the rest of the park was essentially litter-free without any unauthorized commerce. We picked up the little litter we saw.
The Boquillas Canyon is magnificent. The walls are over a thousand feet high; the bottom of the canyon is maybe 50-75 feet wide. The rush of water during flash floods must be incredible. The rocks are all rounded, almost like the Maine coast.
Note the bird and moon
Another great hike was up Lost Mine Trail up to 6850 feet. Gorgeous views, of course. Legend is that Spanish enslavers forced Chisos Indians to work the mine for incredible wealth (gold, silver, etc.). They blindfolded the enslaved so the location was kept secret. The enslaved revolted, killed all the Spanish, and buried the entrance. Despite lots of geological work all around Big Bend, no evidence of gold or silver ores has ever been found.
Almost to the Peak!
Criehavians may recognize the greenish "snake" below. (It was more dramatic than this photo)
The Windows Trail has an amazing chimney split lining up with another slit. There should be a die-for shot of a perfect sunset, but not when we were there.
Note the very polished floor. When it rains the water flows fast through this narrow slot and creates a several hundred foot waterfall.
Nearly adjacent to Big Bend National Park (865,000 acres, about the size of the King Ranch and larger than Rhode Island) is the Big Bend Ranch State Park (311,000 acres), which is almost unknown outside of Texas. The state park get less than 50,000 visitors a year, compared to 400,000 in the national park.
An exquisite dry canyon, Closed Canyon is a flash-flood tributary to the Rio Grande in the state park. Very narrow, walls hundreds of feet high, a lot of sand to walk on, with occasional highly polished boulders. Beautiful 1.5 mile hike, one of the nicest I've been on.
We did not get much time to explore the state park. A more rugged vehicle would be an advantage.
Some of the pre-park history has been preserved. This "oasis" is powered by this 100+ year old windmill. Different trees grow here, including a palm. There used to be a homestead and school here.
Still pumping water
We did a lot of "four wheeling" on semi-improved gravel/dirt roads, and got to a fair amount of less traveled parts of the park.
We saw half a dozen horses running free. A ranger told us they were from Mexico. The owners bring them over to graze. Umm, weren't we just talking about overgrazing and illegal incursions?
There are large deposits of white volcanic ash and igneous rock layer. The solid white ash resembles sand dunes, but are pretty hard rock.
A recurring theme in West Texas is water, of course. News media hype droughts, megadroughts, and the lack of rain. The truth is this area is, and has been, really arid for thousand of years. Drought implies a only temporary lack of rainfall, not permanent aridity. One reason the rock art of the People-Without-a-Name has survived is there is no water or humidity.
My boots on the river bank, almost to Mexico
The Rio Grande is a tiny "river" nowadays. All the water has been taken. The Rio Grande starts in New Mexico, is dammed, and doesn't leave. The dams completely stop the water and pump it to farms. There usually is no water flow from El Paso to Presidio. At Presidio, the Rio Conchos flows from Mexico into the (empty) Rio Grande channel, which is the water seen above.
Twenty two dams, many of then now nearly dry, stop the flow to divert primarily to agriculture, and to a minor degree to municipalities. The Rio Grande often does not flow into the Gulf of Mexico anymore. All the water in the river is oversubscribed. The "drought" is actually a flood a lawsuits and irresponsible and/or corrupt politicians. This land is desert; sometimes it rains a little. Hoping, praying and suing does not make more rain.
We saw the nearly dry lakes at Falcon and Amistad. Amistad is 48 feet below "full". Falcon is only at 23% of capacity.
We really loved Big Bend, and plan to return in 2025, when we expect to have our new Tesla pickup. There were several rough roads we wanted to go, but exceeded our car's capability. Longer driving range towing our trailer would also be really nice.
Anyone want to join us in a convoy?
We leave the coyotes for now. At one campground, we were cooking over charcoal and had a fire in a ring. Two different campers came up to tell us that they saw coyotes nearby, smelling the cooking. "Keep your dog safe!" We did, had a great meal, and did not see any coyotes that night.
Obligatory sunset. More later.
Next report will be on Marfa and the art scene.
Happy Trails,
Krem and Barbara
Happy Trails,
Krem and Barbara
Great narrative, WOW,
ReplyDeletewill join you next time!
Love this one and appreciate the pictures. Depending on when you go in 2025, we may be able to join you. I really want to see Big Bend and its corresponding State park.
ReplyDeleteSafe travels! XOXO
BW