Big Bend 8, the State Park

 When we got up this morning we checked all the weather conditions for West Texas and NM; and decided to stay put until Winter Storm Fern blows over.  That means leaving Monday.  By the forecast we could have made it to Van Horn TX and left Sat. before the bad weather hit.  Assuming  the weather followed the forecast precisely.  Yeah.  Sure.  Snow and freezing rain always happens exactly as predicted.  We stayed here.

It just started raining here at 7 PM, lasting a few minutes.  And some rumbles of thunder! It should go from light rain to heavy rain tomorrow but it’ll all be over Sunday afternoon in West Texas.  The cool weather will keep on for days, but we know how to handle that.

So, after that decision we had another decision to make, what to do today.  I found some trails in Lajitas, a town about 15 miles west.  Nice little town, we have been tourists there before.  Since these were trails at the edge of the village we brought Skye with us.  Drive over and find out that the first trail is posted and the second half is now a golf course.  Back to the map!  Another 8 miles west are more trails.  This time they are real trails in the Big Bend Ranch State Park.  BBRSP is 300,000 acres, when considered together with the Nat. Park they are twice the size of Rhodesia Island.  Spell check can be so funny that I left it in.  Obviously it is Rhode Island.  

We followed the Fresno Divide Trail for a 3.6 mile round trip. We didn’t see the “no pets” sign.  It was a pretty flat trail.  The storm was pushing some moisture our way so the humidity was up and we were sweating actual liquid sweat in the 70º sun.  Later it started to be overcast and was pretty pleasant for the trip back to the truck.

This bike repair station was near the gate to the trails

Complete with tools secured to cables

Interesting split rock, without the aid of ice!

Our turn around point was here where the map said there is a building ruin.

Supposedly across the wash, thus it is in this photo.  Someplace.

So many varieties of Prickly Pear 

This one is a rosy color with very long spines

Ocotillo

A close look at an older Ocotillo

Very close Ocotillo

A young and small Cholla

Managing clouds at camp

But due West it is still somewhat clear

Pooped pup after a hike on a hot day