West Texas

Seminole Canyon State Park

As we drove west from Austin, we started to see cactus and sagebrush as the primary plant. We easily went 50 miles at a stretch without seeing a town or even a crossroad. We passed many ranches, but the cattle are spread far and wide since the vegetation for grazing is sparse. At the state park we had a lovely RV site looking over a vast, unobstructed view of this landscape.

The park is located along a canyon that goes all the way down to the Rio Grande. We took hikes along the canyon and one day biked all the way to the Rio Grande. It didn’t have nearly as much water as expected given its name; the water is about 1/6 what it used to be due to human and farm needs, climate change, and invasive plants along the river that use a lot more water.

We also went on a ranger led tour into the canyon and saw some wonderful rock paintings about 7000 years old. Jerusha’s dizziness is much reduced so it has made these activities much easier.

Big Bend National Park

We were blown away by this amazing park and have already started making plans on when we can visit again. Even though nothing was in bloom in January, the plants of the chihuahuan desert and the rock formations were beautiful. We had three days to explore the huge park. We drove around most of the park, stopping at every pull-out with informational placards.

We took several hikes, one of our favorites was walking into the Rio Grande Canyon where the cliff walls were 100 feet high on both sides. To get to the part where we could climb, we had to ford the freezing river. It was only 8 inches deep where we crossed, and Ken carried Jerusha so she wouldn’t get a cold-induced migraine. What a guy!!

The next day we drove to the other side of the park and crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico. There were no cliffs here and the river is narrow and shallow. A Mexican rowed us over and we rode donkeys to the tiny town where we ate lunch, saw our first roadrunner and bought some chachkies. This is the only Mexican town in 100 miles because it is also a preserved part of the desert. We had to have passports to come back over, but sadly they were not stamped.

In the afternoon we took two more hikes. We had very little success seeing animals (and even birds) on the hikes but we did see some coyotes and wild horses crossing the road. One hike was to a hot spring bubbling up right in the river. Ken had to check it out, even though he had not brought a change of clothes. The trail took us past a stunning example of sedimentary rock.

Our third day we went on a native plant tour with a ranger and learned that there is a species of prickly pear cactus that turns purple when it’s cold. It is like an antifreeze! The cacti varied in shape, color and spine size!

We spent the day in the basin where we were surrounded by gorgeous mountains on all sides. We took a moderately strenuous hike up one of the mountains and every turn gave us another breathtaking view. It was colder on the mountain, but still pretty comfortable. We were lucky to have 60-70 degree days because the day after we left, it snowed there! We miss it already!