Big Bend Day 2

We woke up to a morning temperature of 59 degrees and it was rising fast.

Here are a couple of pictures of the campground.  This is Rio Grande Village RV Campground, it has full hookups and 50 amps. You can see the "backyard" in the second picture.

We started our day with the Rio Grande Nature trail.  It began by crossing a marshy area

and continued on up some stairs.  

We continued our climb up until we reached the top with views of the Rio Grande and the little town of Boquillas.

After our little hike, we continued on to the Boquillas Overlook with great views.

Next, we were on our way to the Hot Springs Trail. By now, the temperature was 85 with the sun beating down.  It was still tolerable.

As we began to walk up the trail, we noticed a palm tree sticking up from the top.  Who new there was another little oasis out here!  This was a post office, store, and motel for people to come to enjoy the natural 105 degrees hot spring.  The picture on the upper right shows what is left of the bath house and you can still enjoy the hot springs.  On the other side of the wall is the Rio Grande River and the grassy area is part of Mexico.

After a walk to the Hot Springs, we went back to the fiver, had lunch, and decided to continue exploring trying to stay in the car.

We drove the 20 miles to Panther Junction, went through the Visitor's Center and took the little path around that identified the native plants there.

The tree blooming below is a Huisache tree.

Next, it was on to the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

We stopped at Castolan which used to be a community whose main source of income was from cotton.

We headed on to the Santa Elena Canyon.  It was getting hot now.  By the time we reached the canyon, it was 99 degrees.

We decided to go a short distance in order to go into the canyon.  It was HOT!!!!!

We were both tired out after that and headed back.  The air conditioner in the car was cold and we had water, but it took awhile to get cooled down.


The last stop we made was this formation called Mule Ears.

Big Bend is a beautiful, rugged place.