Huecho Tanks

Huecho Tanks

Sunday 16th April

Three hundred and fifty miles of driving took us from Big Bend National Park to Huecho Tanks State Park.  This park is located about 20 miles east of El Paso.  It was a fast journey and, much to our surprise, we changed time zones again. Thus, we arrived shortly after noon.  

The area around El Paso is pretty arid, some might say desert. What makes Huecho Tanks a special place is that the rounded rock features collect and hold water.  This makes it a sort of oasis in the desert.  Peoples have been drawn to these rock formations for centuries.  In fact there is a lot of rock art from different periods present on the walls.  Only a portion of the area is open-access to visitors, and other areas are accessed with a guide only. This is no doubt to protect the “cave paintings” and other archeological artifacts. 

The campground is on the edge of the restricted area and is quite lovely. The sites are well spaced and each has a structure that provides shade over the picnic table.  Additionally, there are tent pads— leveled areas of gravel.  Our site had two of these, but only one was large enough for Big Agnes!  We did have a bit of a struggle setting up the tent as the wind was quite strong.  Mike was smart enough to figure out how to provide additional guy lines using rope that he had brought along.  After getting our camp mostly set up, we went for a walk.

The docent who had given us our compulsory “introduction to the park” had told us that only one area still had water.  This became our destination, figuring that birds in the desert would be drawn to water.  We sat for quite some time watching the sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers near this “pool”.  The magnetic power of the water was vividly demonstrated the following morning when we saw a male wood duck on this small pond.  These birds are extremely wary and notoriously difficult to see.  There he was in all his splendor!

While walking, I had noticed many piles of tiny pellets as well as some substantially larger droppings.  All was revealed as sunset approached.  The campground was hopping with rabbits.  I speculated to Mike that an infusion of hawks and owls was needed to reduce the population somewhat.  Later, when we walked to the toilet block, a pair of campers directed our attention to the ridge line that was back-lighted by the sunset sky.  There we could see the outline of a pair of curved horns.  It was a big horned sheep that was climbing up the rock slope.  At that point we felt confident  we knew the origin of the large pellets. (Only a person very concerned with their footing would be seeing all these droppings on the path!). However, on our walk the following morning we ran into a bunch of Javalinas (collared peccary) that appeared to be busy eating some ornamental shrub! Thankfully we were moving on, so we could set aside the the challenge of accounting for the poops. There has to be something more compelling to worry about!

Gloria

As well as being an important cultural and archaeological site, Hueco Tanks is also known for its rock climbing. In 1987 we briefly visited the park and I tried to do a little climbing. As I recall I failed to lead a bolted 5.11a (the story of my life!). But we get to meet and chat to the late Wolfgang Gullich , who at that time was arguably the best climber in the world, and also his partner Kurt Albert. Efforts to preserve the pictographs and honor the cultural significance of the site have limited the climbing development. It remains one of the premier bouldering locations in the world, but to my eye many of the lines look to be “high-ball”, succeed or die routes, although we did hear that climbers are starting to use nets along with crash-pads to limit the consequences of a ground fall. The routes that were bolted have been maintained. I initially thought all the bolts had been chopped, but on talking to a local climber they have simply been replaced with new bolts that are colored to blend in with the rock. I have to say I couldn’t see a single bolt and I was looking hard. They have done a great job of making these routes unobtrusive. My understanding is that no new bolts will be placed and therefore no new roped routes are being created.

Mike

The tiny little pond (maybe 25 feet across) that draws in birds from afar.

The flowering plants in the desert have been spectacular. 

Javalina (collared peccary). It looks like he/she only has three legs but I think I just caught it mid-stride before it ran off

This looked like a fun and relatively benign boulder problem - perhaps 12 feet high

This wall, unrelentingly steep, is probably 80 feet tall and iIm certain features some of the harder lead-routes, but I could not see the bolts.

Big Bend (Part 2): The Chisos Mountain Basin and Rio Grande Village

 Big Bend (Part 2): The Chisos Mountain Basin and Rio Grande Village

Friday April 14 - Saturday April 15th, 2023 

In December 1997 we packed our bags and flew out from the UK to El Paso to spend Christmas and New Year camping in the national parks at Guadelupe Mountains and Big Bend. Tasha was 5 at the the time and it was quite an adventure! In Big Bend we camped up in the Chisos Basin, where volcanic activity has created a spectacular caldera. The campground is about 5,500ft and is significantly cooler than the surrounding desert. When we there in December it was decidedly chilly. On one morning the Park Service closed the road into the basin due to ice and when they re-opened it later that morning we followed a ranger down to lower altitudes and headed to Rio Grande Village on the east side of the park, to enjoy some warm air. When we came to return in the late afternoon, the road was again closed.  We were separated from our tent and gear and were forced to drive out of the park to find a motel. We did find somewhere, had an excellent dinner at a restaurant in the former theatre, and the whole thing turned into a fun experience. 

On this trip we also wanted to camp in the Basin but were unable to secure any bookings. Apparently, unlike the other two sites in the park, the Basin campground reservations only open two weeks in advance and are typically snatched up within minutes. In any event, on Friday, we drove up into the Basin to hike up into the surrounding mountains. We were up in the dark, drove the beautiful early morning light to arrive ready to hike by 8 am. Based on the experience on Mule Ears trail, where we found the 4 miles round trip to be quite tiring, we were a little nervous about undertaking this 10 mile hike with 2,000 ft of climbing However, it’s all about the conditions and the early start, higher elevation and cloudy skies, combined to make it a much cooler and more manageable walk than we envisaged. The light wasn’t great for photography, but the views and the atmosphere were spectacular. In my opinion the Chisos mountains are the jewel of Big Bend national park.  It was awesome to be there. We saw a few new birds, but we have to confess that we failed to see the Colima warbler. These mountains are the only place in the USA where you can see this bird and people make the hike just to see it. We were even on the Colima trail at one point and totally failed. I think we were too focused on completing the hike in good time.

On Saturday we had a slow start because we need to switch campsites. One of the consequences of the recreation.gov booking system and the requirement to have a booking is that people will pick a number of odd days at different sites to make up a longer stay in one campground. When the time came for us to “move into Number 10” we literally picked up our tent and walked it down the road to the recently vacated site. Once everything was sorted we decided to take a drive over to the Rio Grande on the east side of the park. This is no small undertaking: it’s about 55 miles from the west to the east side. We made some stops along the way and on our return, headed back up into the Basin to complete one final hike. We have loved our time in Big Bend. It’s such a wild and wonderful place. With temperatures in the afternoons reaching the low 90’s it certainly felt much hotter this time than our first trip and the world of difference from when we left Massachusetts three weeks ago.

Mike

p.s. Did you know that Big Bend National Park is slightly larger than Rhode Island and that you could fit Rhode Island into Texas 222 times!

Looking out of the Basin through the "window".  When storms bring in the little rain that this area receives, sediments are washed out from the caldera through this opening.

It was relatively green throughout the park and desert plants were blooming wildly due to recent rain. However, the Basin stands out as an oasis within the Chihuahuan desert with plentiful shrubs and trees. We hiked up to the skyline and round the Basin.

In relatively good humor ... on the way down! The secret of a good marriage ... making sure Gloria has the larger pack!

The ghost village of Castalon which is now the site of the local park headquarters and store

Threatening clouds and fine evening light created good photo opportunities.

An evening view back towards Mule Ears

Despite high winds and impressive cloud formations there was no rain

Sunset over the Chihuahuan desert

One last photo before jumping in the car and returning to our campsite

Big Bend National Park (Part 1): Mule Ears and Santa Elena canyon

 Big Bend National Park (Part 1): Mule Ears and Santa Elena canyon

Wednesday April 12, 2023 

We left Enchanted Rock State Park in the dark, knowing that we had a long drive to Big Bend National Park.  The drive took us 440 miles across Texas over eight hours.  After arriving at the park entry, we still had some sixty miles inside the park to reach our campground near the Rio Grande.   It was about 3:30 pm when we got to our site.  The car was registering 92 F.  Much to our dismay, the area all around our site was flooded with water.  (We were having flashbacks to Lake Fausse Point!) There was just about enough dry territory for us to pitch our tent.  After some time, a fellow camper came over to explain that the flooding was an irrigation method and the water would subside eventually. We were stunned by a combination of hours in the car and the heat.  Other than cooking dinner and taking a walk down to the river once the sun had set, we did very little. 

We did chat to a lovely Canadian woman who had some recommendations for walks.

Thursday April 13, 2023

We thought we got an early start on the Mule Ears Spring trail, setting out on the two-mile hike at 9 am.  The trail leads up over a number of ridges and down into various ‘washes’. Overall there’s little elevation gain but no shade.  Stopping to listen for birds did slow us down a bit, however, we were hard pressed to explain how the two mile trip to the spring took nearly two hours! When we arrived we found a small puddle of water and the sound of water trickling down the rock.  While the amount of water currently present was small the lush vegetation demonstrated that at some times significant volumes of water must flow in this area.  

By the time we were heading back to the car, the temperature was climbing significantly.  The birds seemed a LOT less interesting.  We returned to our campsite for lunch and some resting in the shade.  In mid–afternoon, we drove to the start of the St. Elena Canyon hike. This canyon feeds into the Rio Grande a few miles west of our campground.  In order to walk up into the Canyon you have to wade a stream that runs into the Rio Grande.  We approached this with some trepidation and much clearing of pockets.  Fortunately we both had shoes that could get wet.  It’s fairly clear that the temperature played a role in making the wading seem more attractive.  The water was pleasantly cool but quite deep, definitely over my waist.  

On the far side of the stream, a paved trail leads steeply uphill into the canyon.  The walk takes you back into this deeply cut canyon with towering walls on each side. It’s very atmospheric and breezy.  Several massive rocks have fallen from the walls, dwarfing the hikers.  Eventually the path ends at even more gigantic rocks.  Further progress would involve more wading. We elected to turn back!  The second wading was a tad more difficult as one of Mike’s flip-flops had become detached from the sole.  We were glad that our clothing bags were in the car allowing us to change out of the wet gear. 

After returning to the campsite, we prepared some dinner, and later we actually sat up reading until after dark.  I think it’s the first time we’ve both been up after dark since Trap Pond in Delaware! The one piece of equipment that we brought with us, but have yet to use, is our kerosene lantern. By the time it gets dark we are both exhausted and happy to retire to our cozy tent.

Gloria

The view across the flooded area around our campsite. By morning it was completely dry and over the course of the following days we saw other areas flooded to help irrigate the shade trees.

Mule Ears seen in the evening light. The photos taken during our midday hike look rather washed out!

Looking back across the Rio Grande as we enter the mouth of the Santa Elena Canyon. With so many dams and so much water extracted for irrigation upstream of this point, the river that flows down the Santa Elena Canyon actually provides the majority of the water that flows downstream along the Rio Grande

The Santa Elena Canyon walls are probably 1000 feet high. The extremes of light make it difficult for photography.

A panorama from near the Cottonwoods campsite at the west end of the park, looking back towards the Chisos mountains

Enchanted Rock State park

Monday 11th April 2023

Enchanted Rock State park

We needed somewhere to break the 700 mile journey between Brazos Bend and Big Bend and Enchanted Rock State Park was recommended in the National Geographic guide to State Parks. It is one of the few places that we planned to stay for only one night, but we would have been happy to stay for longer. The park is located about 50 miles west of Austin, Tx and turned out to be really lovely. We arrived in the early afternoon and I had vowed that I would spend some time relaxing and taking things easy, but as ever, as soon as I saw the local surroundings I was hot-to-trot and keen to climb the Enchanted Rock. Gloria opted to hang out in our beautiful campsite and I set off to hike up the ~500 foot high monolith. In some ways it reminded me of Ayers Rock in central Australia, albeit a little less dramatic. Gloria and I were fortunate to be able to climb Ayers Rock in January 1990, before it was closed to honor and respect the local aboriginal culture. Both are former volcanic domes that have survived, where the surrounding countryside has eroded, and they both have tremendous views across the flat landscape for miles around. The hike up Enchanted Rock was hot and a little tiring, but technically very easy. There were many other parties, both young and old, making their way to the top. It was really worth the effort.

Later in the afternoon we took a more gentle stroll around the park, saw some new birds and ate a fine meal of Ramen noodles with pulled pork and the last of our homemade roasted tomatoes! The following morning we were up at 6am in the dark, took advantage off the showers and were on our way before the sun came up.

Mike

A party returning from the summit. I take all photos in RAW format so they can be color, B&W or anything in between! I liked this one better in B&W.

A view of the bald granite

Enchanted Rock

Lower down in the park, looking out towards a subsidiary peak

“God Bless Taxes”

Blog Sun 9th - Mon 10th April 2023

“God Bless Taxes”

We were driving along the highway when Gloria remarked: I just saw a flag that said “God Bless taxes”. That seems like a strange sentiment for  a place like Texas. Oh, yeah, Texas …”. We both thought was hilarious how the transposition of two letters from mis-reading the flag lead to such a wild thought. The night before we were sitting at the campground table when we were again laughing our heads off like a couple of primary school children. During our birding exploits we have been making good use of a fantastic birding App called Merlin that is provided free by the Cornell Ornithology Lab. It’s really helpful in many ways, including identifying birds from their song. It will also play birdsongs … but this has a tendency to happen when the phone is in your pocket. This reminded me of an old rhyme from when I was a young kid that goes: “Aunty Mary had a canary up the leg of her draws. When she farted, out it darted, like racing horse”. Needless to say, despite being in our sixties, we found ourselves in stitches thinking about this. A friend of ours at Brown University once commented: “You guys are weird”. He probably wasn’t wrong! 

We spent the afternoon of Easter Sunday and the following Monday at Brazos Bend State Park about 50 miles southwest of Houston, Texas. This is an absolutely amazing place. There are three types of ecosystem: coastal prairie, riparian hardwoods and wetlands. The park has some of the best wetland birding we have experienced anywhere, surpassing even the Everglades in terms of the number and concentration of wading birds. We used our bikes to travel around the various trails through different habitats, occasionally parking them and walking, sometimes just pushing them along as we looked for birds. We have often equated birding to being like an Easter Egg hunt and this seemed most appropriate for this weekend.

As well as lots of wild areas to explore with a great system of trails, we were also impressed that the park has some of the most beautiful picnic areas for day-use. On Sunday there were hordes of people who came out to celebrate the holiday and it was such a lovely atmosphere. One complete stranger asked us if we would like to join his party for some watermelon! 

Lake Faust Pointe was interesting but a little bit of a struggle with all the flooding and bugs. Brazos Bend was pure relaxation with a beautiful park and warm, dry and partly sunny weather.

Mike

p.s. This is the first blog post that we have written and posted at 70 miles an hour! Gloria is driving and we are on route to Big Bend NP and don't expect to have cell service the next several days

The following bird photos were mostly shot with a very big telephoto lens (500 mm, F4) and in some cases in conjunction with a 1.7 multiplier. With such great equipment you would think it would be easy to get good shots, but it really isn't. I have a ton of respect for professional nature photographers.

The view from an observation tower near 40 acre pond - Brazos Bend SP

White Faced Ibis

Common Gallinule (Moorhen)

Snowy Egret

American Bittern (this is only the second time we have ever seen this secretive bird ... and we have seen four over the past two days)

Cattle Egret in flight

Yellow crowned night heron

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

A flower ... duhh! (no idea what sort)

Lake Fausse Point State Park

 Lake Fausse Point State Park

April 8, 2023

The drive from Grand Bay, AL to Lake Fausse Point State Park was relatively short by recent standards (240 miles) and would have been fine except for three things. Firstly, we ran into a massive rainstorm just west of New Orleans that resulted in stressful driving and delays due to accidents. Secondly, after leaving the motorway we followed the GoogleMap directions for 12 miles through the saturated countryside before coming to an unexpected impasse due to a bridge over a bayou being closed. We got some alternative directions from a helpful local man, but this involved retracing our route back to the motorway and then heading west for a further 7 miles. Finally, when we exited I-10 we found the road we wanted to take was blocked by flooding. Initially we were routed away by a policeman and pulled into a gas station to figure out what to do. Here we met a lady who said she had just driven through the flood in a regular car with no problems. Throwing caution to the wind we headed back and proceeded to drive through the deep and fast flowing water under the highway. We got through okay, but I suspect it was touch and go and we were lucky (stupid) to have tried. Anyway, we made it and the rain continued to hold off as we arrived at Lake Faust Pointe State Park .

This busy campsite was right next to a portion of the lake (we think).  Once again we were the only people in a tent! All the other people were in campers varying from modest to gigantic.  Also many of them seemed to know loads of the other “campers”.  It made me wonder if we had stumbled into the middle of some family reunion! 

After setting up the tent and having some lunch, we decided to go for a walk on the “island”.  Our first foray was thwarted by running into a family who seemed to be melting down over the prevalence of mosquitos.  As we had not brought any bug repellent with us for the walk, we returned to our camp-site and armed ourselves with both repellent and head nets.  Thank goodness for the latter or we would never have finished the walk.  Our intention was to do the longest loop, however, after a short time of battling the bugs, we opted for the medium length walk.  A few paces further on, we were forced to don our bug nets.  Subsequently, we were able to concentrate on avoiding the puddles and listening for birds.  The vegetation was nearly as thick as the insects, spotting birds was fairly difficult.  

After dinner, Mike walked back to the bayou overlook on the same trail.  I elected to read my book at the campsite.  Once we were both settled into the tent, it started to rain quite heavily.  After several hours, the rain finally tapered off.  A cup that we had left on the picnic table had about 2 inches of water!  

Determined to get an early start, we went back to the “island” to do the short walk.  The flooding was remarkable.  Several times we had to detour well off the path to avoid water deeper than our boots.  This experience made us think that the long walk wasn’t a good bet.  We decided to go out in the car and explore the area.  With a little bit of difficulty (no cell phone reception so no Google maps) we drove a loop through the countryside around the park. It’s hard to avoid the sense that southern Louisiana is more water than land.  The lake for which the park is named is quite large.  As we drove, we found swamps, levees, streams, flooded fields.  Certainly the recent heavy rains would have made a contribution to this impression, but, water seems to be everywhere.  

Later in the afternoon, Mike decided to walk the “big loop”. I elected to take a walk down the park road to some cabins.  When Mike got back he was more or less completely soaked from the shins down.  His boots may never dry out.

Today we drove to Texas.  Our route took us through Houston (if we had been able to take the toll road we would have looped around the outside.  Houston is a really big city. I was too chicken to drive that section (or any section today!).  The park  is called Brazos Bend state park.  We’ll tell you more about this wonderful location later.

Gloria

This shot shows the "footpath" from the shower / toilet block to the children's playground...at least 6 inches under water! We had to ask to switch our assigned campsite because the tent pad was only a couple of inches above water.

A typical view in this area of the flooded wetlands. Massive levees (maybe 30 feet high) separate large bodies of water from each other.

There are alligators and poisonous snakes everywhere!

Swamp Lilly

The swamps are actually beautiful ... if it weren't for the bugs!

Coastal Alabama

 Blog Thur 6th - Fri 7th April 2023

Coastal Alabama

We have spent the past two nights at an AirBNB in Grand Bay in the southwest corner of Alabama. It’s not that we wanted a break from camping, but rather that we needed to break up the journey as we head west and had read that the nearby town of Bayou La Batre was worth visiting and . There don’t appear to be many attractive campgrounds in this area so we decided to book a cottage through AirBNB. It has been a good opportunity to re-organize our gear and plan the next stages of our trip, and we have enjoyed visiting the area.

Yesterday we had a splendid day driving out the Dauphin Island, which is approached by a long causeway and spectacular bridge. It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day and we enjoyed looking for birds and paddling in the ocean. We returned via Bayou La Batre, which appears to have a large and active fishing fleet (shrimpers). I think this may be the place where the scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed, when is off working on a shrimp boat. We tried to buy some shrimp, but the minimum size was 5 lb pack and we really don’t have the means to store what we wouldn’t eat that night, so we had to pass. We got back to the cottage in the late afternoon and spent the rest of the evening trying to rationalize our gear storage and plan the next stages of our journey.

One of the biggest differences on this trip relative to 1987 is how busy the National and State Park campgrounds are. When we made our previous tour we didn’t book anything in advance and had no problems securing a campsite when we arrived at any park. In planning this vacation we made a rough itinerary but hoped to stay flexible and take things as they came. I have a tendency to over plan  and wanted to be more spontaneous. In retrospect, this was a mistake and we should have decided on our key locations and booked them months in advance, as soon as the on-line booking systems would allow us. It is now spring, whereas it was autumn last time, but my suspicion is that the parks are simply a lot busier than they were 35 years ago. Over the past ten days it has become evident that can’t just turn up and expect there to be space. In many cases we are already too late to book some of our target destinations. For example, we were unable to book a site in the Chicos campsite up in the mountains of Big Bend National Park, but were able to book in at the Cottonwoods campground down by the Rio Grande on the west side of the park. For Arches National Park there doesn’t appear to be an open campsite within fifty miles on the dates that we plan to visit, which is still a month away, so we have booked a “site” to camp in someone’s backyard in Moab through AirBNB! Even towards the end of our trip, two months in advance, we can’t get a site in Theodore National Park so we are going to stay in the State Park nearby.  As you may have gathered, I spent much of the evening time at our AirBNB trying to match up our desired schedule with availability, figuring out options, and essentially locking down campsite and the occasional AirBNB for the remainder of our trip. I think we are mostly in good shape but it’s been quite a production. So much for spontaneity!

Mike

Boardwalk at the Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area. 

The Gulf of Mexico beach at Dauphin Island. There was also an equally lovely, but calm bayside beach 

Al the houses on Dauphin Island were built on stilts. Considering the land is barely above sea level and this area is vulnerable to hurricanes, it's not surprising.

One of the less attractive features of our AIrBNB cottage was that it was 100 feet from this railroad track, and trains would come rumbling through with great regularity!