We drove on and off through the night of Wednesday, 4/18/07, taking turns at the wheel.  When we were both too tired to drive, we would sleep for a couple of hours.  Big Bend National Park is about 12 hours from Brownsville and 10.5 from Houston, so even though we had covered a lot of ground on Wednesday and moved significantly west, we had farther to go at the end of the day than the beginning.  But by 8pm, we passed Kingsville heading north on 77, and I figured that we could get to Big Bend by noon--in time to get our bearings and find a place to camp.

I've found that truck stops are typically better places to stop than rest areas. The bathrooms are usually cleaner, there is a store, and there are more people awake and moving around, and fewer odd actors. There are typically a lot of truckers and other drivers taking a break from the road, so there isn't a problem with parking and taking a nap. On a long stretch of Hwy 10 in the middle of Texas, I stopped at a "picnic area." These are rest stops without a bathroom. Lots of trucks were pulled over. I just wanted to stretch my legs and got out of the car. We were about 100 feet in front of the next vehicle, but a guy came ambling toward me, not making eye contact. I'm not sure what he wanted--though I can guess. I got in the car and started driving again. I could see in my mirror that he turned around and was heading back to where he came from.

Ocotillos were in leaf and bloom.  It appeared that there had been recent rains from the many plants in flower at Big Bend.

With a few additional sleeping breaks, but no more odd encounters, or near encounters, we arrived at the entrance to Big Bend at 11:30. On the drive in from Marathon, we encountered a javelina, or collared peccary.  I was surprised to see it in the road so late in the morning.  It was walking across the road and I don't think it saw us until we were about thirty feet away and nearly stopped.  It then broke into a gallop and was gone.  It was pretty awkward, with legs moving quickly back and forth, but the chubby body not moving forward all that fast.

We were happy to find a camp site in the Chisos Basin near the trailhead for the next morning's hike.  We had a real lunch, taking a break from the corn nuts, cheese and crackers that had been our staple.  We found the trailhead, made a brief stop at the visitor center to get the lay of the land, then, in the time remaining, explored a bit of the park.Vermilion Flycatcher pair at Rio Grande Village.

We drove to Rio Grande Village.  It was comfortable in the Chisos Basin at over 5,000 feet elevation, but it was in the upper 90s down along the river.  There was a Common Black-Hawk nest roped off near the RV camp, but we didn't see either one from the pair.American rubyspot and powdered dancer along the riverA very cooperative Greater Roadrunner.Mexico is on the left, or south side of the river.
This sign didn't inspire too much confidence.

We got back to the campground in time for the evening ranger talk.  I was amazed to see that it was about Edward Abbey, his work, and a focus on his writing about Big Bend.  This is pretty subversive for a ranger talk.  I read Desert Solitaire when I was 17, and it made a big impact on me.  Over the next few years I read every Abbey book I could find.  The talk was very good, and the ranger pulled few punches.

On the walk back to camp we could hear Common Poorwills.  It was nice to have a full night's sleep.

We started hiking in the dark at 0640, with poorwills calling, but didn't need a flashlight after about a quarter of a mile.  We took the trail up past Laguna Meadows to the Colima Trail, through the Boot Springs canyon, and down the Pinnacles Trail. When the first rays of light were hitting the rocky peak, it reminded me of early mornings on Clark Mtn.

We actually had our first look at a Colima Warbler well below Laguna Meadows, but decided to continue the loop hike.  I'm glad we did, but it is fairly strenuous. We had 24(!) Colima Warblers over the 10 mile hike. They were singing loudly, though they were surprisingly hard to see and photograph. It took us four singing birds before we actually saw one, but we ended up seeing 5 or 6.  There were two birds chasing each other around that flew three feet from my head. This white-tailed deer, of the tiny Carmen race, was standing up on its back legs to get leaves out of a tree like a gerenuk.
The upsidedown boot that gave Boot Springs its name

A little haggard from the long hike, we had another, this time celebratory, lunch at the lodge.  We then drove to Santa Elena Canyon.  The stop at Sam Nail Ranch was nearly fruitless, since there was no water.  We did hear a calling Summer Tanager. 

The previous day had been overcast, but Friday was sunny and clear in the morning.  There were some afternoon clouds, and once the sun got below them, the lighting in combination with the wonderful scenery was another of many highlights to the trip.  As the last rays of sun lit the Chisos, we started the long push for home.On the way to Santa Elena Canyon, a western coachwhip, the pinkish Big Bend race, was crossing the road in front of us.  We pulled up along side it and it lifted its head and stared us down like in this picture.

Adios Chisos!

Looking at the map reaffirmed that we’d be going tantalizingly close to southeastern Arizona--it seemed a shame not to stop.  John Trochet speaks highly of southwestern New Mexico as an alternative to Arizona, and I considered a morning stop there.  However, the areas of New Mexico I was interested in visiting, particularly the Peloncillos, were a little far off the main route for a quick stop.  We’ll have to save that for another day.  But the Chiricahua Mts. were not too far out of the way if we took Hwy 80 to Rodeo.  From there, we stopped for 1.5 hours at Cave Creek, made a quick stop at the Southwestern Research Station, then made our way over the range, by the Chiricahua National Monument (must wait for another day), and back to the Hwy 10.  We were home before noon on Sunday morning. 

Scaled Quail near Rodeo, NM

It was quite windy, but we heard an Elegant Trogon and saw a Painted Redstart, Black-throated Gray Warblers, and a couple of very cooperative Hammond's Flycatchers at Cave Creek Canyon.  Unlike Big Bend, the area was extremely dry, with many of the oak leaves turning brown with drought stress.
Mexican Jay at Cave Creek.  These birds were catching caterpillars and rubbing them in the dirt before eating--perhaps to remove defensive hairs.
Mexican fox squirrel--only found in the U.S. in the Chiricahua Mts.
Magnificent Hummingbird at the Southwestern Research Station.

Last notes:  we saw three kit foxes on the trip.  Since I wanted to avoid the Los Angeles traffic on the way out, we detoured by taking Hwy 58 from Bakersfield, Hwy 40 from Barstow, and Hwy 95 from Needles to Blythe.  On the way out, just north of Blythe, we saw a dead snake in the road.  I slowed down, and there was a fox looking at us just off the shoulder of the road.  I never returned my attention to the snake to see what it was.  Another fox ran across I-10, poor thing, somewhere well to the west of Phoenix, and a third was along Hwy 95 on our way home.

There were many great sightings that I didn't have the space to mention.  One thing that stands out is all of the Orchard Orioles we saw in East Texas.  In particular, a bottle brush in front of Boy Scout Woods at High Island was full of Orchard Orioles and Tennessee Warblers.