Texas - The Big Bend – Early Spring

Day 4 - March 6^th, 2004

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I decided to “do” the East side of the Park, so set off after breakfast and made several stops along the road south of Panther Junction. There were some interesting cacti at each of them, including Echinomastus warnockii in full flower, and some every large Ferocactus hamatacanthus plants. I stopped at the Tornillo Creek bridge where I had looked for plants in 1997, and found it rather heavily eroded on the banks, so much so that I could find none of the plants I had seen previously. So a quick climb up the bank to the SW side of the bridge and up on the limestone were many plants across a large area.

I had decided that I would try to get to Ernst Tinaja at some stage, and made the turn onto the Old Ore Road after leaving Tornillo Creek. The road was good – not quite sure what to expect – until I passed a couple of saloon cars parked on the top of a ridge. I was pretty certain that the trail heard was further on so went on down the hill, bottoming a few times in the process. No damage was done, but I could well understand why the saloon cars hadn’t attempted the steep drop. So onto the trailhead, and the short hike into Ernst Tinaja was great. Interesting rocks and of course the pools of water themselves, quite full at this stage in the year.

Going back was just as much fun as going down the steep drop, and a short and sharp climb got me to the top and the normal road in good state. So it was on to Rio Grande Village, to the store to buy a few things to eat and drink for lunch, and take the time to wander around the area. Some lovely trees there, and good views of the Sierra del Carmen, albeit still a little misty.

I decided to redo my steps from 1997 and hike into Boquillas Canyon, which was a good short hike, with some spectacular views of the river. In some places it looked really clean, perhaps belying the bad reputation it has for water quality. Some young people were swimming, or at least cooling off in it, but it wasn’t very deep. In places the brown river I remembered was almost emerald green, and I’m glad my photos show the colour as it really was. Nice to see at least, but from what I’ve read the pollution is still there.

Finally on this day, I made a revisit to Hot Springs, past the springs themselves, now well restored and full of people enjoying them. I wandered a way further on, and saw a sign for an upwards path, which I hadn’t seen previously. It led up the sides of the valley to a quite well restored path which circled back to the entrance to the Hot Springs parking area. Some good views and of course, almost deserted.

Finished the evening at La Kiva for some beers and a meal – nice relaxed atmosphere, and good cold beer.

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