Bear at Big Bend

Prairie dogs in the desert from Marathon to the park, trying to race the car! Into the park with warnings about what to do if you meet a mountain lion. Stand still, shout and throw stones at it, you must not run away! The same advice is given if you meet a bear! Our first walk along a trail with lovely views  from the mountain to the desert below has a much smaller but still scarey encounter – with a tarantula! These spiders are BIG. The size of an adult hand they do not bite unless provoked. The next day we go to the Mexican border, The Rio Grande. The river does not look very grand as  it has not rained for a while, it is narrow and muddy. The river has cut a deep 1500 foot canyon through the rocks over hundreds of thousands of years and all you can see of Mexico is a tall cliff rising up the other side of the river. A coyote, more like a dog than a wolf runs in front of  us after having a drink from the river. The next day we head through the desert towards the river in the other direction. There are so many different types of cactus in this desert and they support all sorts of life. The Javellinas,  pig looking but really a different type of animal, eat the fruit of the prickly pear. This is a cactus with really big spines so those Javellinas must have  tough mouths! We saw tracks but no animals. Settlers tried to cultivate the desert and they bored through the ground to get water to the surface. The wind  pumps still exist although the settlers have gone. Trees in the desert, grow by these wet areas. We saw pecan, fig, cottonwood and acacia. By the river again there are Mexicans who paddle across the river into America to sell goods to the tourists. They hide in case the border patrol catch them but leave little pots to put money in if you buy something.  One Mexican was standing by his canoe on the river bank singing, hoping tourists would like his songs and give him some money. There are hot springs, fresh hot water bubbling up from the earth right by the river. The spring water is very clear and the river very muddy, it was nice to sit in the clear water next to the muddy river. The mountains were made by volcanoes breaking through the earth’s crust a long time ago. There was a lot of ash thrown into the sky at this time and this settled on the ground with large boulders hurled into the sky at the same time. Rain and rivers have made canyons into the ash and the boulders look like decoration in the canyon walls. The whole landscape of Big Bend is very special with deserts, mountains and an important river. The wildlife is just as amazing, surviving in what looks like a wilderness. This is a very special place.