YOLO from Big Bend National Park thru Camp Verde, Texas, Jan 2022

 We bypassed Big Bend National Park on our previous cross-country travels from East to West, but wanted to make the effort to see it this time.  So glad we did.

The museum where they hold the dinosaur bones that they found right here.  Such a desolate looking place.

A cool metal cutout of a giant crocodile dinosaur they found here.

The park is in the remnants of a giant volcano caldera; the mountains you see are what remains of the rim.

Some Mexican cowboys rounding up cattle near the edges of the park to herd back across the Rio Grande to Mexico.

We drove on to our campsite for the night, but the cattle were driven right past us again on their way across the river back into Mexico.

The view of the Rio Grande River from our campsite, with the cattle crossing the shallow water below us.  We wondered about illegals crossing here where it is so easy, but there is nowhere to go, really.  This desert and rock park is so huge.

Just like in old Western movies, these cattle were driven across the water where it was very shallow. On the other side of the river, we saw mustangs, donkeys and goats also being herded along.  The goats came down to water and then headed back.  The herd dogs barked at us, but didn't cross to bother us.

Cowboys herding the cattle back across the river.

Looking out the back of the van down over the river where the cattle crossed.  We really had a great camp site overlooking the Rio Grande.

The river was very shallow, so I waded in and washed my hair.  You could easily walk across the river from US to Mexico and/or back.  The water didn't get more than knee deep here.

Jason enjoying the solitude at our site.

A selfie near the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park.

Impressions of shells in the rocks in Big Bend.  These fossils remind us how much the terrain has changed over the years.

Mexican trinkets for sale along the river on the US side near Boquillas Canyon.  These are unmanned sales sites so we just looked at the items and left them be.

Touristy souvenirs for sale on the honor system.  Most things were $10 and you were supposed to leave the money in whatever container was on that site.  I suppose the owners come across when they can't be detected to collect their money.

The sellers leave crude notes like this piece of cardboard telling interested customers to leave the money.

Scorpions made from wires and beads seem to be a popular item to sell.  Walking sticks, mugs and other weatherproof items were just left out for purchase on the rocks and sand, trusting buyers to leave cash as directed.  We found out later that it is illegal to sell OR buy these items as they don't clear Customs properly.  We didn't buy anything anyway.

The light through the spines of the cactus gave it a lovely lavender glow.

There once was an aerial ore cart system that carried huge buckets of rock long distances across this land.  It's defunct now and the road to see the ruins requires 4WD vehicles to get to it.  Or you could hike the dozen miles to see it; we didn't.

I'm glad these spiders and scorpions aren't the real things.  Dragonflies were another common object for sale.

The big bend at Boquillas, where we found all the souvenirs for sale.

Along the rocks near the river, we found several of these holes.  They are supposedly old grain pounding holes used by locals to grind grain into flour.

Jason walking ahead in Boquillas Canyon.  That black dot above the bushes is a cave in the cliff face across the river.

This Mexican crossed the river on his horse to try to sell me empanadas or tamales for breakfast.  Six for $10.

I politely declined and he rode away to look for other tourists.  Other entrepreneurs called across the river asking if we wanted to hear Mexican music.  No, I really was enjoying the silence and scenery as there were few folks here.

The popular (and expensive) Rio Grande Village RV park on the east side of the National Park was full and flooded when we drove through to check it out.  Glad we weren't staying here.  The little store near here was out of gasoline, so we just bought a coffee and headed back to the Visitor Center to get a new campsite.  Most sites require reservations, but they keep some for first-come, first-serve visitors.  Good thing, as it is a very long drive to the nearest town outside the park, and it didn't have much in the way of lodging availability.

Hot Springs at Big Bend?  We didn't know, but they've been a draw for over 100 years.

We found the hot spring and joined the few folks in it for a hot soak.

On this side of the rock wall, the water was a wonderful, warm 105 degrees.  Just on the other side, the Rio Grande River was much cooler.  Some folks went back and forth, climbing over the wall and back from warm to cool, but we just luxuriated in the fresh hot water coming out of the ground near that rocky corner of the spring.  Now if they only had changing rooms.....

Our second campsite in the park was at Rattlesnake Mountain #1.  This is a flat desert landscape, and the road to get here was a miles-long washboard that sent up a cloud of dust behind the vehicle.  You can't sneak up on this location.

I liked the rustic signpost, but you have to watch the road carefully so you don't miss the turnoff.  This little sign was the only indication of where to go.

To my surprise, this pretty purple cactus is a separate species--purple prickly pear--from the regular green prickly pear cacti we see all around.  I'd thought it might just be the fall colors of the green variety, but no.

Some interesting rocks and shards of chert that I found on the ground around the campsite.  I could imagine a local sitting here chipping bits off a chunk of chert to form arrow or spear heads.  Chert has become one of my favorite rocks lately.

Gimme a 'C'  for centipede!  Actually, its a bleached out dead desert millipede.

Green and purple cacti together.

Jason on a rim of the badlands area near our campsite.

Karen selfie on the rim of a badlands crater we hiked.

You can still see the legs on this dead millipede.  We never saw a live one.

Jason doing the dishes in the van.

Another desert hike in a wash area in Big Bend Nat'l. Park.  It was cold in the mornings in the desert when we left camp on our hikes.

Out near the edge of the park, we found these chunks of iron.  It may be the metal in its native state; it looked like rock but sounded like metal when tapped.  Weird.

A blurry mistake for a photo but I thought it looked quite 'artsy'.

A pretty desert sunset in Big Bend,  We spent 4 nights camping in the park and they all had wonderful sunsets.

A spindly ocotillo cactus silhouetted against the pink clouds at sunset.

This apricot colored cloud had so many different textures at one time.

The layers of rock are so evident in this cliff along the road.

Interesting how the layers change suddenly from white to red.

We left Big Bend and stopped at the overlook for this bridge over the Pecos River.  We passed many Border Patrol vehicles and camera setups along the roads.

This is the 3rd bridge built across the Pecos River here.  The first was about 60' above the water, but Hurricane Alice in 1954 dropped 28" of rain on the area and the bridge was washed away in 80-92' walls of water.  A new, higher bridge was built, but was washed away the following year.

This one is 273' above the river, hopefully high enough to avoid future floods.  We spent the night here with this awesome view as our backdrop.  We had drinks with another couple that pulled in here for the night as well in their huge RV.

We spotted herons and pelicans on and around a stick/log jam in the water below.

Jason watched the pelicans float downriver, poking their heads underwater, then flying back upriver and starting the fishing float again.

Rock art in the canyons and caves nearby are on private land or land that is leased to concessionaires to provide tours to see the pictographs.

Amazing pictographs that tell a story, though I don't remember all of it.  People smarter than me have figured out some of the figures and their context, but I'd have to rely on an expert (or Google) to tell the full story.

Unusual characters in the art, and restricting their viewing to paying tourists seems to keep them from being vandalized.

This figure represents some big cat, I think, but for some reason it reminds me of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.

We moved on up in Texas to meet an old cruising friend, Bobby, for lunch at Camp Verde.  The camp was the home for the experimental use of camels during the 1850s and 60' in the Civil War, so camels are the theme here, as this metal sculpture indicates. 

One of a pair of cool carved wooden soldiers standing outside the entry to the restaurant here.

Jason and Bobby swapping stories.  We heard about the gyrocopter Bobby built and is learning to fly.  Scary but sounds like fun.

Jason and his taco salad for lunch.

Bobby and I had awesome sandwiches.  They make great iced tea here, too.

The side of the Camp Verde General Store and Post Office building.  They had a great gift shop here, as well.

This 'sculpture' was in a nearby hayfield.  Such creativity.

Looking at the colorful stained glass window from the inside of the General Store.  This place used to be a real store and post office when the soldiers were here with the camels.

Some of the old post office boxes still line one wall of the shop.

These cards each had a funny saying on them.  I was standing there in the store, laughing out loud reading them.  I know you can't read them, but it's a nice splash of color to end the post.

The creek that ran just below the restaurant.  It's part of a park now and we spent the night here enjoying the surrounding scenery.