Big Bend

Big Bend National Park is amazing.  If you ever have the chance to visit, I really recommend it.  It is a huge piece of land on the west Texas/Mexico boarder, the boarder there is formed by the Rio Grande.  It has 40 miles of the incredible Chisos mountains in the middle of some incredible desert, and then sort of an oasis area around the river.  Tons of neat animals and plants- a lot of the organisms that live there are only found in Big Bend in the US and the area just across the river in Mexico.   So one cool thing is that they are doing a really good job of educating hikers there about helping keep wild animals wild.  Also, you can hike anywhere you want in the park- on trail or off- it is awesome.  Needless to say, with less human impact and tons of land to explore, you can feel like you are really getting out into some wildness.

So, after a totally awesome time with buddies in Austin and San Antonio, it was really great to be getting back out into nature.  Matt and I started with a night out in the Chisos Mountains.  I was really happy because the hiking just feels like "out west" - none of this up and down squirreliness of the Appalachians- when you go up, you know you are going up for good, and that you are going to see some incredible views.  We were definitely not disappointed:

(Eating breakfast, oatmeal, which we ate for 3 weeks straight after leaving Chapel Thrill.)
It is really really hot in Big Bend (it is the desert after all) so we tried to take our afternoons off.  After finishing up our little mountain overnighter, we ate a big lunch of Indian food- they make these ready made things we can heat up on our stove, which totally hits the spot if you have some miles under your belt.  Then we did this cool hike to "The Window," seen below in the next two photos.  This spot is where all the water from the northern side of the mountains drains out.  It's so cool to see how water has carved this little gap into the rock.


There are lots of cactus here.
This crazy plant is the agave- what Homa uses as sweetener in the vegan cake at Sage (the restaurant Matt and I used to work at).  Anyway, it is also known as century plant, because it grows only its leaves for maybe 15 years, then send up that huge flower stalk.  Eventually the stalk will dry out, and be so heavy that it will uproot the plant, so in creating new life, it has to die.  Interesting.

Alright, the next few photos are from the Marufo Vega trail, which took us through the desert canyons to the Rio Grande.  One of the most incredible hikes we have ever done- it's so neat to be able to see such great distances.  We could only do overnight hikes in Big Bend because you end up having to carry all your water- let me tell you that 8 liters of water (4 liters/1 gallon per person per day) is really heavy.  Side note-- at least we had water and maps.  There are people who try to cross the boarder here and almost die of thirst.  I can't imagine it- they get led to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and are told the next town is only a few miles away...Ha, the next real town is over 100 miles away through the desert....my heart goes out to people who attempt to find a life in America this way.

Anyway, this hike was too cool.  We got really early starts both days to beat the heat, but also lucked out with weather- we had cloud cover and even a breeze over the two days.  It made a huge difference, as the land can get up to 100 degrees, which no one is happy about hiking in.  We have a habit of starting late when backpacking- it can be so hard to get out of your snuggly sleeping bag!  But it was really rewarding to start hiking at sunrise- our bodies felt better, we didn't have to feel as rushed about our day, and, most importantly, the morning is when all the animals are out. 

This is our first view of the Rio Grande- a patch of green in all this brown.  Although really the desert is full of so many colors....

Hiking at high elevation, your fingers get all fat and blood-filled.  Matt is doing a special dance to get the blood moving again.  
The Rio Grande at dawn.
I mentioned the animals....this was a huge highlight of the trip, because we saw a ton!  And animals that we didn't actually see- mountain lions, foxes, bears, coyote- I did see evidence of- tons of poop!  It really makes my day when the animals decide to show themselves to us, and they definitely did on this trip.  Don't have pictures of everybody, but the highlights are drawn below.  Roadrunners are totally cool birds, it was really neat to see them hunting in the desert.  When we were hiking along the Rio Grande, we encountered all the burros shouting at us from the Mexico side.  We are pretty sure they wanted Matt to come hang out.  One night we were treated to an all night concert - the burros and coyotes took turns singing to us.  It's pretty neat to be in your little mesh tent seeing the whole land lit up by the moon, and hearing coyotes singing to each other less then a mile from where you are.

The coolest animal we saw....the morning we were hiking out of the long canyon on the Marufo Vega trail, we heard this clattering sound echoing off the canyon walls.  We look around, and see these goat/deer/antelope things climbing up the vertical sides of the canyon.  They had curved horns and were definitely the best climbers ever.  We saw two sets on either sides of the canyon- one was a baby!  It was such a neat moment to be sharing the morning with the animals of this place, it pretty much made my morning.  Later on, after talking with some people who work at the park, we found out that the creatures we saw were desert big horn sheep!  Turns out the bighorns are endangered and extremely rare, even in their natural environment- the park doesn't even tell visitors that they live there.  The people we talked with thought that it was the first big horn sighting of the year- they had us fill out a report about it.  Kinda makes you feel special, you know?
Self-explanatory.
A javelina-- distantly related to pigs, very funny little guys snuffling around the park.
A Colima White Tailed Deer- they only live in the Chisos Mountains in the US .  This guy and his younger friend were very friendly- he even laid down in his nap spot while I was taking photos.

Ok, have I said enough about Big Bend?  I just wanted to include a few more photos from other parts of our trip.  I'm loving being a gypsy-- it's really awesome to be doing exactly what I want to be doing, and getting to share it with my partner in crime.  It's a great mix of hanging out with friends and family and seeing the outdoors...a big thank you to all those who have given us a bed to sleep in so far....
This is us with Matt's cousin, Renee, at her sweet pad.  Highlights included watching Top Chef and seeing a dead armadillo.
This is a lunch in Austin- we do a lot of tomato and cheese sandwiches- they always taste good...unless you want to have them Wasa board.  When we bought this stuff we both thought it was a good idea, but it was not.  The fresh-made tortillas of Texas and New Mexico are a much better alternative.
I really miss my family.  It was so awesome getting to spend time with them and Aunt Mary and see Jackie run.  I just think this is a really great picture of him and my mom.  You just want the people you care about to know you love them- I guess that includes anyone who might be reading this blog.
Passion flowers are so beautiful, don't you think?  If you are in Chapel Thrill I think it's the season for them....