Wednesday, February 21, 2018

SANTA ELENA CANYON AND MORE

Tuesday, February 13 – We began our day here in Terlingua, TX, by heading back in the west side of Big Bend National Park. We had several stops planned along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. This is a 30 mile stretch of paved road taking us to Castolon/Santa Elena. It is known for some of the grandest views in the park. It didn’t disappoint.

 Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

 Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

 Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

We decided to drive the complete scenic drive making Santa Elena Canyon our first stop. This hike is an easy trail of 1.7 miles hugging the mountain cliff along the Rio Grande River. It is amazing how the river carved this gorge through the mountain. These cliffs must be 300 feet or more high! After crossing Terlingua creek by way of a small board that probably wasn't even needed, we climbed a set of switchbacks and stairs to an overlook area about 100 feet above the river.

Marsha gingerly crosses the roaring Terlingua Creek.
Santa Elena Canyon

Time to climb.
Santa Elena Canyon

Santa Elena Canyon

Santa Elena Canyon

Santa Elena Canyon

Santa Elena Canyon

We then followed the trail back down to the river's edge until we reached the end of the trail about a quarter of a mile back in the canyon. A easy hike but full of amazing scenic views!

Santa Elena Canyon

End of the trail.
Santa Elena Canyon

A little beauty along the way.
Santa Elena Canyon

Looking back towards the Chisos Mountains.
Santa Elena Canyon

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff was our next trail. Another easy hike of 1.1 miles.

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

Pretty easy trail.
Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

The hardest part of this hike is the dry river bed we needed to maneuver down. It is tiresome to walk on the gravel in a riverbed, similar to a soft sandy beach.

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

Lots of debris from the rushing waters.
Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

The trail ends at the bottom of the dramatic Burro Mesa Pour-off. This would be best described as a dry waterfall. It is where the mountain waters spill over the mountain edge to eventually reach the Rio Grande River. We imagine it's been some time since water was pouring over that cliff in this dry desert environment.

Because the mesa is capped by hard lava, the runoff sculpts a sheer
chute instead of a leisurely stream canyon. 100 foot pour-off.

Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff

Our last stop of the day was the Sam Nail Ranch trail. Another short and easy trial less than a mile in length. The trail runs through the brush back past a working windmill to the site of the former ranch. This is a popular birding area due to the combination of water and shade.

Sam Nail Ranch trail

Remains of ranch house.
Sam Nail Ranch trail

Sam Nail Ranch trail

Sam Nail Ranch trail

Sam Nail Ranch trail

View from the Nail’s front window.
Sam Nail Ranch trail

We then headed back to BJ's Campground to relax for the remainder of the day. Another enjoyable day with awesome views and beautiful weather with temperatures in the mid-seventies.

Y’all come back tomorrow to venture with us on the longer Mule Ears Spring hike.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

8 comments:

  1. The canyon hike was one of our favorites. The views are amazing.

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  2. What a wonderful hike excellent pictures and wonderful views, thanks for sharing.

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  3. We really enjoyed the scenery in this part of BB. Santa Elena Canyon was where we had the furious winds ... we managed to avoid the worst of it by starting out really early. Didn't get to the Mule Ears Spring hike ... looking forward to seeing what we missed.

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  4. Wow!! What a beautiful drive and neat hikes. I really enjoy doing several shorter hikes with a drive in between. Fun! That water crossing was wicked! So glad you made it...haha! Finding ranch ruins is always a treat. They certainly had a spectacular view. Must be a gorgeous waterfall when the water is rushing, but tough to get to!!

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  5. Oh, how beautiful!! The colors you captured in the landscape are just fantastic. We loved those hikes, too. So glad you made it safely across the raging Terlingua Creek so that you could explore Santa Elena Canyon, LOL! Your photos make me want to return to Big Bend, even though we were just there in December. You are certainly having some gorgeous weather.

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  6. PS I think the caption "A little beauty along the way" should belong to the photo above it! :-))

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  7. I absolutely loved this part of the park! You two seem to be discovering all of Big Bend's "little" gems. LuAnn

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  8. This is the one we missed, and that we must go back for. We only saw it from the top side. We got spectacular pics, but I also wanted to see it from the river level. Just ran out of time that day. . .boo!

    Beautiful pics. . .

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