We woke up early this morning because we have a long way to drive. At 5 am, the sky was still dark. We saw the sunrise while we were on the road. A little later we saw a very large rainbow.
We stopped at another entrance to Big Bend on our way to St Elena Canyon. As we neared the canyon, we met a cow with attitude. The look said ” Go ahead, try to pass me.”
We did get around the cow without too much difficulty. Here is a panoramic view of the canyon. This was our first view of the canyon. The canyon wall to the right is the United States. The canyon wall on the left and on the other side of the river is Mexico.
We had to cross a very muddy stream to get access to the canyon. Once we were across, we knocked a couple of pounds of mud off each boot before proceeding to the canyon opening. When we got to the canyon opening, the trail became rocky and more challenging to follow.
Our walk to the back of the canyon was on a narrow trail between steep canyon walls. The last picture in this group is the view from the end of the trail.
Our walk out of the canyon provided a whole new look to the canyon. At one place we noticed that a huge part of the canyon wall had fallen to the ground. Parts of the walk were very steep. We took one last look at St Elena Canyon as we left.
This is some of the flora and fauna we saw in the canyon.
On our drive to Sotol Vista Overlook, we drove around some flooding from recent rain. At Sotol Overlook, we had a 360 degree view of the surrounding valley. We also saw some unusual plants.
The drive from Sotol Overlook to Balanced Rock Trail was along a narrow dirt road. The beginning of the trail did not look much different from the dirt road.
The hike to Balanced Rock was hot, dry, and over difficult terrain. At some places, there was no trail, just signs that pointed to the next sign. We were on our own to find the way.
Our last stop in Big Bend was Window View. At the end of the full hike, you reach a 450 foot drop to the bottom of the valley. The view from where we stopped is beautiful. We hiked to the bottom of the trail many years ago. It is a great, but challenging hike. Even though we stayed near the top, we saw a deer and a large variety of desert plants.
After Window View and two days in Big Bend National Park, we drove to Fort Davis, Texas for the night.