I got up at 7 am and only 32*F (0*C) outside! Brrrrrr! The sky is clear and once the sun showed its face, it warmed up fast. After showering, we left our site and drove to CASTOLON on the west side of the Park. As we drove up the highway, we stopped at numerous areas to either read the history or just take pictures, and lots we took! We first went up to CHISOS BASIN, in the Chisos Mountains, at an altitude of 5400 feet where we had lunch at the lodge’s restaurant. This was a very pretty drive and we reached heights of 5800 feet before dropping into the basin. The views were absolutely spectacular. There is an RV Park here but anyone longer than 30 feet would have a hard time to make it due to all the switchbacks and narrow road. Lunch was great, we had Elk Chili and flour tortilla chips and roasted Jalapeno pepper....delicious and the price was right! We drove back down and headed west for a few miles than turned south on “Ross Maxwell scenic drive” for COTTONWOOD RV PARK (CASTOLON) at the Mexican border on the Rio Grande River. We stopped at the HOMER WILSON RANCH which is now abandoned but the ranch is still there, then on to the SOTOL VISTA Overlook and what a view!!!! Words cannot do it justice nor can the pictures although we did try! We had a full view of the valley below and the Santa Elena Canyon, about ten miles away as the crow fly. We also got a geocache here. We continued on to the valley below and the Rio Grande River where the Cottonwood RV Park is situated. We stopped for a scene of the “Mule’s Ears” which is two spires made from erosion. The TUFF CANYON which was along the highway was next. A really neat area with a deep river bed (dry); again see pictures to get the effect! We stopped at the Park Ranger station where a historic site was situated. They used to grow cotton here back in the early 1900’s which was good because of the fertile land near the river and the warm climate. We had a beer here, bought a hat and just took a time out. We continued on to ELENA CANYON, about 5 miles down the road and what a vista. The canyon is 18 miles long, over 1500 feet deep and only 30 feet wide at some spots. On the left was Mexico and the right was the USA. Absolutely breath-taking! (SEE PICS in Picasa link). After a short break and another geocache, we headed back to our site, 103 KM away, but not before taking on fuel at Panther Station @ $4.49 and a stop at the village store to update my blog. (They have internet). What a day! The weather was great, temperature from 65 to 75 depending on the altitude we were at and NO WIND! After dinner, we sat outside and enjoyed ALL the MILLIONS of stars; never seen so many! To bed by 9 PM.
35*F when I got up at 7 AM! After showering and breakfast, we drove back to Boquillas Canyon and walked in, a 1 mile easy hike. A couple of Mexicans were there on horseback and trying to sell their trinquets. As we walked in the Canyon, an old Mexican guy was out on the sand banks singing and trying to sell some wares. He wanted a donation for his singing!!! Cute! We continued on to the end of the trail which took inside the Canyon and took more pictures then returned. On the way back, we did buy something from the singing Mexican, a walking stick. I only had $20 and he said he couldn’t make change so we began walking away and all of a sudden, he found enough in his other pocket. JUST AMAZING!!!! We got back to the truck and drove to OLD ORGE ROAD where a geocache was to be found. We drove in 6 miles to this canyon cause by water running off and found three water pools situated in this Canyon. We climbed down, looked around and drove back. On the way in, we saw 4 young people standing by the road looking at a grave so we stopped and looked too. Val recognized one of the young girls as one she had spoken to this morning while doing her hair in the washrooms; small world. We took some pictures and continued on. After lunch, we hiked to the Hot Springs but after getting to the top of the hill and realizing we had another 2.5 miles to go of ups and downs, we decided, wisely, to go back and take the truck via the back road; much faster and easier plus we would have sweated out all the benefit of the bath. We had a soak in the Hot Springs along with 8 other people which made it a bit crowded. We were back at our place by 4 PM, sat and had a drink then cooked dinner: Steak and salad! After much discussion, we decided to leave tomorrow for Lajitas, outside the Park, near the Texas State Park on the west side. We have seen everything there is to be seen here.
Another beautiful sunny. We didn’t get up until 8 AM and it is 47*F already. We slowly packed and drove out. Quite a few people have already left. We packed and were gone by 11 AM. We drove back to the Park HDQTR then south west to Study Butte (pronounced stoody byoot) where we camped in the same namesake RV campground. We were her by 12:30 PM, loaded the laundry and went into town to the Laundromat then to CHILI CAFE HOUSE for lunch. The waitress was very friendly and informative about things to see here. I fuelled @ $4.49. This town/village is nothing fancy or extravagant but it is quaint and rustic. We have a few places to visit and some geocaches to find. We sat out for HH and Val went exploring the campground (she saw a library of sort). This place is quite funky with all kinds of junk and/or antiques!
We drove a whole 55 miles
(91 KM) in one hour and 20 minutes @ an average 41 MPH
N 29* 18.805’W 103* 31.550’
Alt: 2549 feet
Yes, once again today, I get to call her the “old Lady” for a whole day! She’s 66 and I am only 65! By tomorrow that will all change. :-) Anyway, I went to get some propane ($27) while Val did her toiletries. Once that was done, we went Geocaching and visiting. Our first cache was in the desert about a mile away called “Dinosaur Egg”, a big rock that looked like an egg! We then drove to anther funky store/hotel for another one and again down the road at a store where two old guys were sitting by the computer inside the store. We looked around inside then went out to find the cache. From here, we drove to Tarlingua and the ghost town. What an interesting and rustic place. Three quarters of the village was all broken up (houses used to be stone house to keep the heat out). This is an old abandoned mercury mine and the cemetery recounted all the deaths due to that and other things. Most were in their early 50’s and a lot of young people of the young age of 16 to 26. This place dates back to the late 20’s and early 30’s. There are some people living there now but mainly due to the tourists. We stopped for lunch at a funky little shack where they served excellent food. We then drove to Lajitas, looked around, had a beer than drove back home. From we saw at Lajitas, this is going to be a very nice drive tomorrow. It is sunny and 90*F!
When we got back, we went looking for Val’s sandal which had gone missing overnight. We are not sure if it is one of the many dogs running around free but we looked everywhere to no avail.
For dinner, we went out to this awesome place we found earlier while Geocaching (see, there are benefits to this game), it is called “La KIVA”. To enter, you lift this mega door on rock loaded pulleys than go down the stairs and you enter this dungeon like place. I think Val had a good time, even got her a Tequila drink. We got back by 8:30 PM and had a drink outside. Teh sky is absolutely bright with stars.
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