Jumping Into Mexico

Saturday, April 23th – Big Bend National Park, Texas – Day 72 

 The plan was for the whole family to wake up early and take the nature trail from our campsite to a hilltop to see the sunset. Gen didn’t want to wake up and said she would see the sunrise in the back of her eye lids. The kids didn’t want to wake up either, so I started to put my shoes on and that was enough to get Gen back on board. We didn’t really know where we were going but that was a good thing because we wandered our campsite until we ran into a pack of Javelinha (wild pig looking things that are actually more closely related to the Hippopotamus). Charlotte badly wanted to see them but we were running out of time before sunrise; we set off down the nature trail. 

It brought us past the Rio Grande and up into the hills. We quickly walked the uphill portion to the top just in time to see the Sun peak out from behind the Mountain peaks. We stayed long enough for my cell to die and to enjoy the sun rise then set back. Gen had hurt her thigh the day before (most likely carrying John up hill) but she persevered. 

 We returned back to the camper and woke up Aisling and Charlotte to see the Javelinhas but they had gone back into the bush. We returned to the camper for a bit of breakfast and started to pack up. We liked Big Bend so much we booked another night camping but the only spots remaining were on the other side of the park. I had a great chat with our Coloradan neighbour who gave some great advice on Colorado and Utah. He was a bit hippy-ish and said “You are going into some beautiful country in the next couple of weeks”. 

The girls cleaned the dishes, and we were off for the next campsite. We debated going to Mexico again. From Big Bend, you can hire a boat to paddle you across the Rio Grande; with the drought we were told we could just wade across. Then you can hire a horse to ride you the ¾ mile trek into a small town to shop and go for a meal. The kids just wanted to go back to the Hot Springs. We decided against both; there was more to see. 

 We filled up on gas because I always get paranoid in the desert when there is no cell service, and it is crazy hot. Then we started down the scenic drive to Cottonwood Camp. Our first stop was the 0.3 mile easy hike to the Nail Ranch. An old ranch that still had windmills, remnants of an orchard and gardens, and the ruins of a house. With the temperature sitting at 41 degrees Celsius, I can see why they moved. 

 We jumped back into the car and kept driving across the desert. The drive started to bring us up to a few look out points at Sotol Vista where we could see in through the Window in the Chisos mountains that we looked out of the day before. The scenery was breath taking. Mountains spread across the desert with the Rio Grande in the distance. 

We continued on to the Mule Ears view point. There was a mountain that looked like mule ears or the batman cowl, one or the other. We sat in the heat and had some lunch. 

Eventually, we reached the Castalon Visitor Centre where the kids got sworn in as Junior Rangers and we stamped our passport. The Cottonwood campsite was a bit of green in the desert. Some shade was provided by the trees scattered about and the grass had been irrigated. We set up and laid down to try to forget about the heat but couldn’t seem to do so. 

We decided that we would drive to the ‘must-see’ attraction in the area, Santa Elena Canyon. A massive cut out in the rock face that followed along the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. When we arrived, we put on our bathing suits hoping to swim in the Rio Grande. 

After we walked the short trip to the canyon, we saw that the Rio Grande was shallow with a bottom of extremely soft mud. At one point it narrowed into a stream six inches deep and 3 feet across. The kids and Gen waded, and I jumped into Mexico. When trying to swim, Gen and the kids kept moving towards the water only to get stuck in the mud and lose their shoes. Strong willed, no one gave up quickly, but they also didn’t end up swimming. 

We walked along the bank 100 m and turned back; Gen’s leg was bothering her, and the kids had their energy sapped due to the heat. I decided to push on while everyone else went to get a snack and started up the trail which rose 100 m above the river and then proceeded along the rock face further into the canyon. I was all the way to the top when I could hear “John! John!” from Gen and “Young man, I think your mother is calling you”. John shouted, “I want to go with Dad” and kept going up the path. Dutifully I went back down to get him to find out that he didn’t bring his shoes. On the concrete pathways upwards, he was okay but as soon as it turned into a rock path he was being carried again. We walked along a few hundred metres to snap some photos and, aware everyone else was waiting, we started back. When we reached the parking lot we found everyone else in the shade having a snack on the picnic basket.

 We decided to go to the River Access to see if we could have a swim or at least rinse our mud-covered feet off. The water wasn’t great for swimming; Gen, Charlotte and Aisling waded in to have a rinse. While I was waiting in the car a woman came up and asked if we got reception. She put some ‘bad gas’ in her 30-year-old RV and now it wouldn’t start. After trying to phone someone for a while, with no luck, we offered to take her to the nearest store for her to make some phone calls. She phoned a tow truck that was 2.5 hours away and couldn’t get to her until the next morning. We drove her back. 

 Our plan was to watch sunset in the Chisos Mountains at the restaurant we were looking at the night before. It was an hour to drive and would most likely be closed when we got there (their sign said they closed at 8 and it was 7:30 by this time) but we decided to go anyway just for the sunset. Racing across the desert we saw a road runner cross our paths which was exciting. It was much smaller than the cartoon and not chased by a coyote (that we could see). 

We reached the restaurant at 8:25 to find out that they still took tables until 8:30. Ecstatic, we ordered some food; Gen and I had a beautiful steak, the kids had chicken fingers. Gen and I sat out on the balcony and watched the sun set over the mountains. It was a very relaxing way to end a busy day. After dinner, we had to drive the road back through the desert to our campsite. The kids fell asleep, and we carried them into their beds.