Big Bend

 2/22- Big Bend National Park, Castelon TX

   We lifted off this morning and headed the 100 miles down to Big Bend National Park. The vistas were spectacular. At one point we drove to a look out and as we crested the hill we both said wow!! at the same time. It felt like you could see forever. There were so many incredible vistas that we eventually said we’d never get to the campsite. We finally settled on a 4 mile hike into the desert. 

    This was a hike to Mule Ears spring. Mule Ears is a large rock formation that kind of looks like two ears sticking up. These have been used for navigation inside the park for years as they are so distinctive. It was a typical desert hike through all the cacti and rocks. The trail sometimes would be just loose sand which was like walking on the beach. The spring at the end was particularly underwhelming. The trail just kind of ended in a jungle of bushes. 

    The campsite was the Cottonwood campground which is literally on the Rio Grande River. At this point it’s not much of a river as we could wade across to Mexico and we wouldn’t get our pants wet. I can throw stones from our campsite into Mexico but I’d have to be careful I didn’t hit any of the cows grazing there. 

     As we were pulling into the campsite a herd of javelinas were strolling by. They paid little attention to us. The ranger warned us about leaving food around as they will come and trash stuff. 

    We have no cell phone reception at the campground so I will try to upload this when we get out and about. We should be here for 2 more days and I will get it out as soon as possible. 

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