The
following day (1-14), I rode about three miles before I entered Big
Bend National Park. I
then rode 25 miles to the main Visitor Center and another 10 miles to my
campground in the beautiful Chisos (Chee-sos) Mountains.
The ride to the campground was one to remember – five miles up
from the main road to Panther Pass, then two miles down into a basin high
in the mountains. The last
three miles of the “up” part were in the 10 to 12 percent range – no
fun at all. But the
campground setting in the basin is wonderfully scenic, and there is just a
short walk to a lodge (with restaurant) and a store, so it was worth the
effort. I got there and set
up in time to hike the Window Trail that leads to an overlook of the
western part of the Park, for the most part far below.
The
scenery here matches the typical image of Texas – big, bold and rugged.
It’s part
desert, part mountain and part river valley.
The river, the Rio Grande, is what gives the Park (and the region)
its name. A quick look at a
map will show that the Rio Grande takes a “big bend” in West Texas
before again heading south to the Gulf of Mexico.
The river is the border between Texas and Mexico for more than a
1000 miles, including 118 miles in Big Bend NP.
The Rio Grande has carved three
deep canyons (1500-foot walls)
within the Park – the Santa
Elena, Mariscal and Boquillas. The
river is an oasis for migrating birds and many other animals, beaver for
example, that would not normally be found in a desert climate. The river has also served to attract people.
Its floodplain has been used as farmland for Mexicans for many
generations and for Anglo-Americans since 1920 when Mexican-American
boundary unrest ended.
The
desert here is the Chihuahuan, which extends south far into Mexico and
north into New Mexico beyond White
Sands National Monument. According
to the Park brochure, North America has four deserts – Great
Basin, Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahaun.
I’ve now been through all four – good thing I like a dry
climate. Also, good thing I
didn’t start through them until October.
This desert is very young, probably not more than 8000 years old,
and somewhat lush as deserts go. There
is a great variety of plant-life here, yucca, ocotillo, creosote bushes,
desert wild flowers, and scads of cacti, especially pricklypear.
There is also a variety of wildlife – jackrabbits, snakes, packs
of wild Chihuahuas, kangaroo rats, lizards and the like.
I have seen several roadrunners.
I don’t know if they live in other deserts or not, but I have
only seen them in the Chihuahuan.
The
mountains, particularly the beautifully rugged Chisos
Range, are what make the Park special for me.
The Chisos rise to 7800 feet, more than a mile above the level of
the Rio Grande River. This
provides a different kind of oasis for both plants and animals.
The average rainfall in the Chisos basis is twice that at the
river, and with cooler temperatures, a number of tree species grow at the
extreme southern limit of their U.S. range.
Included among these are Arizona pine, Douglas fir, Arizona cypress
and Quaking aspen. There are
also junipers, oaks and pinyon pines in these mountains.
On the animal side of things, there are Black bear, Mountain lion
(they call them panthers), White-tailed deer and Golden eagles living in
the Chisos, not species you would ordinarily associate with the desert.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
