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Big Bend - Texas
Descriptive:
Known as the "Top of the World" to locals, the Rio Grande makes its lazy "elbow" bend here on its nearly 2,000 mile voyage from the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. Big Bend is what is known as high desert, and is about 5400 feet above sea level, with the peaks of the surrounding Chisos mountain range looming an additional 4,000 feet above the basin.
The combination of spectacular mountain and canyon scenery along the Rio Grande is a spectacular example of high desert. Like a lunar landscape, the Chisos mountain range towers above the desert floor, while the Sierra del Carmen mountain range dominates the horizon, in Mexico, and is known for glowing red under the kiss of the afternoon sun.
Over a thousand different species of plant grow in Big Bend, each adapting specially to various climates and altitudes. The mysterious ocotillo, with its slender fingerlike branches, reach heavenward. Resembling yucca, sotol is a desert plant from which a strange liquor is derived; tasty and very strong, its strange properties are neither alchohol nor drug, but somewhere in between. During the rainy season, flowers bloom like mad, and the blue bonnets give a bluish tint to the desert floor. Cottonwoods, willows and mesquite cluster in the river valleys.
Coyote are perhaps the most present, as they can often be heard howling across the desert floor, particularly at night. The javelina, a piglike animal with small, erect ears, almost no tail, and spearlike upper canines are fierce animals, known for their speed and agility.
If you happen to be lucky enough to see a roadrunner, you'll see an unusual sight: named for its habit of dashing along desert roads, the roadrunner runs with head and neck outstretched, its long tail streaming behind, jerking up and down comically.
Take a whitewater rafting trip down the Rio Grande. Numerous companies lead expeditions and there is even an evening raft cruise in which a gourmet chef rides along and prepares the evening fare.
Afterwards, settle in at the nearby ghost town of Terlingua; a couple miles east of the town is the Kiva, a local bar for steak and beer, a fire and cowboy music, after a long day of exploration.
Vegetation:
Piņon pines
Juniper
Oak
Madrone
Ocotillo
Spanish Dagger
Creosote
Sotol
Blue bonnets
Cottonwood
Willow
Mesquite
Wildlife:
Coyote
Javelina
Mountain lions
White-tailed deer
Jack rabbits
Vinegarroons
Scorpions
Snakes
Lizards
Oriole
Warbler
Cactus wren
Quail
Hummingbird
Roadrunner
Key locations:
The sheer limestone cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon rises 1500 feet above the Rio Grande River, which slices through through the thick walls of the great fault scarp, the Mesa de Anguila, with Mexico on one side of the canyon, the United States on the other. At its highest point, 1500 feet high, Terlingua Creek flows into the Rio Grande at the canyon's mouth, and a short footpath leads back into the canyon along a rocky ledge.
Similiar to Santa Elena, the Boquillas Canyon lies approximately thirty-five miles southeast, and is longer and wider than the Santa Elena. The winds whip through this canyon and burrows caves with its fury. Boquillas Canyon is ideal in the afternoon, when the setting sun kisses the Sierra del Carmen mountain range to the north. For a modest fee, an inelegant boatride, then a one mile walk or ride on a mule to the village of Boquillas, is a journey into the timeless past of Mexico.
Two sets of Hot Springs exist here. A locale is marked Hot Springs on the map, and is accessible by "primitive" road. The parking lot is at the end of this road and is marked by an abandoned building. The main hot springs is located a half mile in along the Rio Grande, and sits in middle of the river itself, separated from the waters of the river by a reataining wall. It is ideal only when the water level is down, so that the two water temperatures remain separate, and the water of the river is diverted by a stone wall. A little further down is the second set of hot springs, alongside the Rio Grande, sheltered in a bamboo cove. Here the water is silky, and the black soil of the pool pulls at your feet while the Rio Grande rushes closeby.
Activities:
Horseback riding
Whitewater rafting
Fishing
Trails:
Lost Mine Trail
Old Ore Road
South RIm Trail
Window Trail
