Go West old man!: Day 2 Big Bend

This day started dark and early, the Super Blue Blood Moon was here an hour before sunrise giving us quite a show. It was full eclipse before the rising sun faded it out. Several people around the RV park were up watching it. Our neighbors had a scope on a tripod to watch it.

Then out to the local auto shop to schedule an oil change. One of those mundane things you have to do on a road trip of this length. Talk about timing. This is a very small town with a very small auto shop. Their one lift had been occupied for a week so they had plenty of oil changes lined up to do. But I was there and the others were not, so they said "we'll just do yours now".

That gave us a relatively late start to get into the park, especially considering that we got up early. So a minor change of plans as to where we went hiking.

First up was Sam Nail's ranch. The site of an early ranch in the area, although they never really said what year Sam started. Must have been the later 1800s. Two windmills, one still working and providing water to the pecan trees Sam planted.

Up the road we saw a sign for Burro Mesa Pouroff trail and said "let's do that". It was a fascinating almost 4 mile round trip down a wash. That's a dry creekbed that has had some very large water flow at times. Big rock erosion and stretches of nearly flat gravel. Tall sheer rock walls and smooth rocky (dry) waterfalls. We also had a great treat to see a couple of Barbary Sheep. The park lists them as "rare", the descendants of animals introduced to local ranches as exotic game.