We headed out on the Lost Palm Oasis. It was a bright beautiful cool day. There was wash…read, deep loose sand that gets in your boots. There was hard packed dirt with loose sand…read, slippy slopes to test our balance. There were boulders…read, deep knee bends. It was beautiful though. We saw hummingbirds and another new lizard. An iguana we think. We actually watched a faceoff between him and a Chuckwalla. Very slow motion stare-down sort of thing. Funny!
It was a pretty good wildflower walk as well.
The oasis stretched a long way up the valley and the view was magnificent out across the neighboring mountains. Well worth the walk. We both tossed and turned more than a little with some muscle aches that evening…that gave us a little pause; but still, worth the walk.

Beautiful sunny day and a chance to get out on the trails a little more before we head out. We saw mule deer, road runners and javelina on our trek. Some new birds to identify too. Great views across the mountains. We stopped at the camp store and had ice cream….
Kent tested his driving skills again today. We drove the Old maverick Road. It is a dirt back road into a more remote part of the park. It is marked “high clearance vehicles”. That’s a Miata, right? Well, we made it, oil pan and muffler intact. It took 2 hours to drive 13 miles and most of the view was of low scrub desert, kind of like strip mine country. Anyway, we had the experience. Great way to end our stay here.

We can’t get reservations to hike Grand Canyon this Spring. They are completely booked through the end of April. So, we have added it to the end of our out-west journeys and will try to reserve something in July for October. The weather should be good then too.

We joined Ranger Rob on a walk and talk about predators in Big Bend. We got a personalized tour as just the two of us showed up. We walked to a Javalina den and a mountain lion den. Investigated all the scat we encountered as we went….mostly fox. Can’t say I would personally have been as hands on as Ranger Rob (picked it up and tore it apart looking at what they’d been eating….yucky) was but it was all pretty cool.

The rest of the day was spent on hikes with fantastic vistas. We were in the Chisos Baisn so we were surrounded by mountains on all sides. We could see for miles well into Mexico and into Texas. The second hike had an elevation change of 1100 ft in about 2 ¼ miles each way. We walked what seemed like a hundred switchbacks. Obviously the up way was the tough part. Felt the thinner air too as we ended just below 8000 ft again. Great views. Lots of birds. Fun hike. We were tired at the end but worth it. We had hoped to spend a little time in the natural hot springs along the Rio Grande but they were a little seedy for us. Really just the ruins of an old bath house foundations that people clean the flood mud out of and relax in. We were not quite that sore and tired! To each his own I guess.

McKittric Canyon at Guadalupe National Park. The ranger in the visitor’s center said this was the best hike in the park. It was beautiful. It is another example of the amazing variety of plant life as we walked from the open desert into the narrow canyon with a permanent creek (seems weird to me. I never thought of creeks NOT being permanent til we got to this arid, loose rocky soiled area). Anyway, lots of cactus and yucca transitioning to trees and lush shade. The end was at a grotto where the stream and ground water have eroded an undercut with funky looking stalactite things. The creek is crystal clear and some how or another had fish from somewhere. Lots of weird geology stuff going on too since the Guadalupe are formed from upheaval of a Permian reef…..I vaguely recall studying the shallow inland seas that covered the continent long ago. Now I see the real life affects of that. It’s all pretty cool.
There was a cabin that was made entirely of stone, even the roof. If not for the hikers at the front porch all the time, it could be a great place to spend a few weeks.

An amazing diversity of plants. In a 4 mile hike we went from desert to oak and pine forest. The fall colors are just peaking here with lots of oranges and reds mixed in the pine and all of it contrast against the stark mountain stone. Kent got some great pics. The walk was on lots of loose rock so not the easiest we have ever done but well worth the effort. When water is so scarce, it is amazing to see how plants sprout anywhere water even slows down. It is very windy and the humidity here is 9% so they have us at high fire alert. Tomorrow is to be even windier. We plan to go to Carlsbad Caverns though so it shouldn’t affect our day.