Howdee all,
March 23
Another hot day in Texas..funny how that happens. We arrived to very cool, almost cold weather in the 50s. It warmed up to the 60-70s and the last few days it has been 80-90s while hiking…we bring lots of xtra water on our hikes.
Today Jeff and I decided to hike the,
Ernst Tinaja trail
1.4 mile hike
Difficulty.. easy
A four and a half mile long drive up Old Ore Road to get to the trail head.
Be prepared for a bumpy drive.
We stopped along the way when we saw this beauty.
The flowers were almost as large as the cactus itself.I got lost in its Yellow glow…A real beauty in the desert. More beautiful, narrow white dirt road…be prepared to pull over for oncoming cars. While traveling to the trail head I spied this poor little critter…How do you suppose he met his demise? I suspect a Loggerhead Shrike decided to roast him before dinner. Shrikes sometimes spear their prey onto objects and come back to eat them later.
The cactus are budding..some of these buds are new leaflets..others are flower buds.
This is the start of the Ernst Tinaja trail
The trail follows the wash, over water shaped rocks..
Into the Tinaja or Tanks
and canyon of highly-convoluted rock layers.These tanks hold water ..year round
Be careful near the tinaja's edge. Over the years deer, javelina, and even mountain lions have been found drowned in this tinaja.After wandering further upstream
to check out this strange formation.This is a nice trail for families i think children would love to scramble around on the rocks..
More desert blooms We traveled further into the canyon..
Up a few dry waterfalls Until we reached this area…Jeff poses before climbing up. This was the end of the line for me…too difficult to climb up.So back down the trail…things always look different in another direction You notice things you hadn't before..Like this huge boulder below.
flowers growing out of rock crevice
Cactus spines being lit up by the sun A nice hike both waysI notice this little home? in the overhanging rock. What type of bug made this?
Spring flowers, glowing in the sunlight
And then back down to the very strange rock
with colors of gray, orange, yellow Greens, blues and orange Pinks and orangeA very nice place to linger…
This hike was very easy, except for the last part when we had to do some scrambling. We were told you can follow the canyon out to make this a longer hike, but you needed another car waiting at an access point.
From here we went on another small hike..
To be continued ..
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Richard and Muther..I changed the photos so that the source picture would be larger. I don't know why it changed to a smaller size in the first place..let me know if you like the size or if I need to make them larger.
Richard, if there are certain pictures in previous posts you would like larger to use, let me know.
Very cool hike sicksta! Loved the cacti and the rocks and the tanks.
ReplyDeleteSo much park, so many trails. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures! I have not been there, but my son's have both been.
ReplyDeletethat green and yellow glow almost looks like fluid, amazing
ReplyDeletegreat shots dawn
WOW, Dawn. I can't believe I never went there. The geology is incredible!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great pictures! LOVE the yellow cactus flowers!!!!!!! Waiting for the next installment. :) Great job!
ReplyDeleteDid you see the claw marks at the edge of the pool?
ReplyDeletebeachgrl
ReplyDeleteThanks Sicksta..
Jim.
We really enjoyed your backyard..wish you were there too..hope all is well ..maybe will catch you next time around.
Weekend Cowgirl
Oh you must go..but maybe not now ..wait for cooler weather..
forestal
Thanks Dan! Yeah..the glow is kinda neat isnt it?
dguzman
I cant believe you havent been either..Have you left Texas altogether to go up north again?
well next time in Texas go to Big Bend..
Beverly
Thanks..glad you liked..and thanks for coming to visit.
Albert
Claw marks? no i didnt..have you seen them?
I've been to Big Bend annually for the last 45 years and Earnst Tinaja is one of my favorite places. On Christmas Day 1979, one of our friends fell at the spot you gave up at and broke her back in three places. It was a major ordeal to carry her on a backboard a mile out of that canyon and then 130 miles to the Alpine hospital. She had no nerve damage but hasn't been back to the Park since. Perhaps it was that "I had a spine tingling experience in Big Bend" T shirt her husband had made for her. My grandchildren are the fourth generation of the family to make the annual trip. We just got back a week ago and my eight year old grandson backpacked South Rim with me for the fourth time in three years.
ReplyDelete