“If the river can bend … “*, Big Bend National Park, July
18-20, 2021
The plan had been to see the Alamo at San Antonio, Texas,
but we read an article by someone connected with Nomad, the company that makes
the portable router LCR has been trying to use during this trip. The author named 10 places in the U.S. which
are “must-sees.” Some of them we have
seen and some were way out of our way, but we were only about 200 miles from
Big Bend National Park, so we thought we’d go there instead.
Driving that day, we encountered one of the torrential
storms that give this the name “monsoon season.” It came down steady and hard and our phones
were blowing up with multiple flash flood warnings. We did not see any flash flooding, but the
rain was coming down so hard the pavement was slightly underwater. We had to slow down quite a bit due to low
visibility. Then I saw the dreaded sign,
“5% grade next 6 miles,” and I urged LCR to get off the highway. We waited more than an hour at a truck stop,
setting off again when it appeared the storm had mostly passed.
Near El Paso, Texas, we drove under one of the most
labyrinthine interchanges I’ve ever seen – and I live in Chicago! I saw this as a reminder that in Texas
everything is big, even the freeway interchanges.
Driving east through the mesquite-studded mountains, we came
upon the turnoff for Big Bend National Park.
Then there was considerable more driving through the same desert
landscape, maybe an hour or more, before we reached the park and saw the sign
“Campgrounds Full.” I did not see how
that was possible since there are four campgrounds in the park and we had seen
almost no cars on the road into the park.
I learned it was because all but one of the campgrounds were
closed.
There was a listing with some “nearby” places to camp, with
phone numbers, at the park. Some quirk
of local phone service led to a cellphone company’s customer service
department, so we were unable to get through to the two closest
campgrounds. There was nothing for it
but to drive to the closest one cold.
Less than 10 miles outside the park we found it, and it did
appear to be an RV park with a tiny store, but the sign on the door said it was
closed after 5 pm and there was not a soul in sight. We found a site and hooked up with the
intention of settling up in the morning.
This actually happens a lot on the road.
Since there were no other campers in the entire place, we felt the
chances of getting booted out of our site in the night were slim.
The next morning we met the owner and he informed us that it
was not their busy season, that in fact when campers try to make reservations,
especially for tent camping, he tries to “head ‘em off,” because of the
heat. Apparently he has dealt with many
RV drivers who are not comfortable with a very isolated location and don’t know
how to handle the heat. We assured him
we were fine, we know what we’re doing with regard to the heat (which by this
time was about 100 in the day, comfy compared to Las Vegas) and that we really
did want to stay, disconnect the truck and base camp at this park so we could
drive to Big Bend without the trailer.
He thawed from his initially stiff demeanor, apparently satisfied that
we were not your average squeamish and pampered city-dwellers, and showed us a
map of the park and indicated which places he would recommend visiting. His favorite area is the Chisos Basin. We bought gas from him, using a pump that
appears to date from the 1950s and has to be turned on at the office.
The following day we drove into the park, armed with the map
and lots of cold drinks in water bottles.
We discovered that it was definitely off-season and the wrong time to
visit the park. The big bend of the name
refers to the right angle the river takes at this southern tip of Texas, but
you cannot see the bend from inside the park.
The Rio Grande is marked on the map as “wild and scenic,” but at this
time of the year it resembles a muddy ditch.
There is a small border crossing, in which people are ferried across in
a boat and go by car or burro to the nearest town, but it was closed due to the
pandemic, with no scheduled re-opening as of yet. We drove a section of a four-wheel drive road
termed the “river road,” but you cannot see the river from the road; merely a
glimpse of a line of greenery between hills and mountains from time to time.
One exhibit we did really enjoy was the Fossil Exhibit, also
recommended by our campground host, which was renovated just a few years ago at
great expense. Here replicas (because
the originals kept getting stolen) of dinosaur fossils found in the park are
displayed, along with artistic approximations of what they and the landscape
may have looked like, in an open-air, roofed iron facility. Some of the dinosaurs were species we had
never seen before. There is one
particularly huge flying creature whose skeleton is displayed overhead on the
ceiling. LCR lay on the floor below it
attempting to get a shot of the whole thing but it was just too big to get it
all into a photo, even given that it is displayed on quite a high ceiling. It is said to be the largest flying creature
that ever existed. There is a walkway
outside to an overlook to the area where many of the fossils were found. Some were so large they had to be airlifted
out by helicopter for further study and display. The facility as a whole is very unobtrusive,
low-lying, deliberately designed not to interfere with the landscape, and is
solar-powered (though I’m not sure what power is needed for this open-air
facility unless it is lit at night). It
is not only educational but an example of intelligent architectural design and
execution.
The following day we drove to the Chisos Basin. This is a mountainous area that was
sufficiently high enough to escape the Ice Age changes that occurred in the
park below. It is cooler and gets more
rainfall than the desert area below.
There are still a lot of cactus, but other plants as well, more greenery
and some animals that have evolved separately due to their geographic
isolation. We took a hiking trail to a
window area where you can see through a chink in the mountains and stopped to
eat in a shaded picnic area. It was a
welcome break at comfortable temperatures with soothing green(er)
surroundings.
We had to get a few things, so we went outside the park to a
grocery that had been recommended to us by NPS personnel. In this tiny town there is nothing much
except the store. It is called Cottonwood and it is like a big box in an area
the size of a convenience store. It has
a lot more variety than, say, your average small-town grocery store - everything
from sweat socks to fresh produce to fair trade coffee, with complete selections
of dairy, hardware, liquor and pet supplies.
As the only store for at least 30 miles in any direction, it has fairly high
prices, but we felt it was worth it to pay more. It was charming.
Returning to the park, we drove to the Santa Elena
Canyon. We skipped the two-mile hiking
trail as it was still close to 100 degrees, but even so, we got a good view of
the river flowing through the canyon and the high canyon walls on either side
in the evening light.
In national parks, guests are supposed to report wildlife
sightings, such as bears and mountain lions, but driving away from the canyon
we saw an animal we were not sure we should report – a white bull, ambling
along the road next to our car, ignoring us completely. He had an ear tag so clearly he was lost, not
wild. We reported this to the National
Park Service the next day and were told they would make a note of it, that
these animals wander over the border from Mexico and it is a problem,
presumably because of the expense of deportation …
There was an area of many ocotillo cactus plants. These string-like plants can grow very tall –
see photo. The photo does not convey how
many of these there were, forests of them really, along the side of the
road. LCR got a photo close up and
discovered the spines are as long as the leaves. I am glad I did not get close to any of
them. In general one cannot keep up with
the dizzying variety of cactus in Big Bend.
One species of cactus, which we did not get a photo of for some reason,
has green leaves and long, deep magenta spines.
There were many wildflowers as it had rained recently – purple, white,
and yellow. Some were gone in a few days,
showing how brief is the bloom of the desert.
The last thing in the park that we wanted to see was called
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. In the two
hours we drove this mountainous road we saw enough beauty to redeem the
underwhelming Rio Grande we saw the previous day. Mountains and craggy small valleys; red
granite striped with gray-white volcanic ash - we kept stopping the car to gaze
and photograph and then saying we were not going to stop any more – until it
was nearly sunset and definitely time to leave.
One of the last things we saw was an overlook that took in almost the
entire park, for miles and miles. A sign
indicated which mountains we were looking at.
There was not one vehicle, one person, one building for as far as we
could see in any direction, and the silence was almost total – all we could
hear was the wind through the mountain passes below. I wish everyone could stand in the presence
of so much nature and so little humanity just once, even for a few
minutes. It makes you realize how tiny
you are and how young. These mountains
and valleys have been here for millions of years. We and our concerns are insignificant by
comparison.
There are plants in this area that reminded me so much of
large flightless birds that I kept hearing “Dance of the Hours,” from the movie
Fantasia, and expecting them to break into a ballet dance. I hope the photos convey what I saw. There are whole fields dotted with these
plants, which are called soapweed yucca.
Shampoo and soap are made from the roots. I remember a yucca shampoo being advertised
during my teen years.
Driving back from the park to the campsite, as it was getting dark, we saw not one light from a town or even a security light from a farm. You would really have to love solitude to live out here. I mentioned this to the woman at the office next morning, and she said they have gotten many visitors who turn around and head right on out, unable to stand the isolation and in particular the lack of cell service. In fact the issue comes up enough that they have worked this phrase into their internet password: itsnotoxygen.
On toward Dallas, trying not to mess with Texas!
Update on gas prices: Around $3.50 in Oregon; up a dollar along the California coast. We heard the horror stories of gas over $5 a gallon but only saw it once, north of LA, for premium gas at a BP which is always higher anyway. In New Mexico it was back down around $3.50 and driving through Texas it occasionally drops below $3. Not cheap, but not as bad as we thought it was going to be.
*Song by Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
Home at last from the wild seas,
All those twists and turns we’ve made together,
All the boats you rocked with your harmonies.
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