Friday, Nov 4 Big Bend

Friday, November 4

Got up early and drove down to Santa Elena Canyon for sunrise.  Had to drive through some water and mud on the road due to last night's storms.  The sunrise never really materialized due to cloud cover.

 So we ate some breakfast and went back to the campsite briefly, then headed north again.

Stopped at the Mule Ears Trail at 9 AM.  It is 73 degrees and pretty comfortable with cloud cover.
This trail goes through hilly, rather rocky desert terrain.  You can see the mule ears in the distance.

 This pencil-thin cactus was full of red fruits - haven't seen this before!

We spotted this big jack rabbit in some brush near the trail and saw several lizards and beetles skittering away.

We go by a rock corral and end at the small Mule Ears Spring, surrounded by rocks, trees, reeds and these lovely flowers.

We arrive back at the Trek about 11:30 and the temperature has dropped a little.  There are still low clouds in the mountains as we pass by further north.

 We continue down towards Rio Grande Village at the east end of the park, with a couple of stops to check out some tarantulas crossing the road! They are about 4-5"wide.

That's Beth way back there tracking a tarantula

Rio Grande Village Campground is sparsely populated so we find a nice campsite (#18) which is roomy and mostly surrounded by trees and bushes.

 The nearby store/gas station/post office/showers/laundramat beckons and we get some cold drinks to go with our sandwiches, eating outside at their picnic tables where we can get some wi-fi.    Gas is $2.71 out here but thankfully we don't need any.

From the campground we follow the River Trail to the Rio Grande River.  The river is much wider and faster than we've ever seen.

After the hike, we go back to the store for nice hot showers - $2.00 for 5 minutes feels like a great bargain to us!

We relax at the campsite for a while and this roadrunner passes by in a hurry. Roadrunners can fly, but often outrun any dangers, beep beep!

Nearby I see another new bush - this an evergreen with pretty red seeds popping out of golden "husks"(?).

We head up the nature trail to an overlook for sunset.  A dozen or so people have gathered as the sun illuminates the cloud-capped, pink Santa Elena Mountains.

Back at the campsite we try a few star photos, but it is too cloudy again.  I do see a beautiful, long, streaking, shooting star which is cool.  I have a great video of it in my mind!

Cheese and crackers and then a hearty chicken rice soup from home.  We edit today's photos and do some reading before calling it a night.