Wednesday, February 14 – We continue to have wonderful weather here in Terlingua, Texas, and Big Bend National Park. We also can't get over the beauty of Big Bend NP, and the number of different environments in the various parts of the park. We experienced this changing environment and geography up close today on the Mule Ears Spring Trail.
The Mule Ears Spring Trail is a desert hike to a small spring with spectacular geology and magnificent mountain and desert views. It is rated moderate in difficulty in the trail guide. There is very little overall elevation gain, 254 feet, but we were continually traveling up and down short grades the entire length of the hike. We traveled 4.4 miles with 12,811 steps according to our “Map Your Hike” app.
See the mule ears.
Like most of the hikes in Big Bend the trail surface is quite rocky. This hike was unusual in that the trail surface changed numerous times during the hike. It started out with a rocky surface of rocks ranging from small to about 6” in size. It then switched to small sandy gravel, and later we had to maneuver over rocks the size of basketballs and then through an area of volcanic slate type rocks. And this surface changed back and forth throughout the hike. There were the ever-present trail stairs and numerous switchbacks.
What really surprised us was the change in geology. As we moved back in the mountains and closer to the spring, the plants appeared to increase in size and variety, numerous types of cactus, shrubbery, grasses, and small trees. And everything looked so fresh, green, and healthy. We were told that the spring continues its flow underground, and near the surface over a large area in this part of the park. It was so beautiful.
Ocotillos are beginning to bloom.
The spring appears just past a stone structure used in the past as a stone corral. It is among some very large boulders and was trickling out of cracks in the stone wall of a mountain. It is surrounded by ferns, cactus and many beautiful plants, as discussed above. This is truly an oasis in this dry desert and mountain environment. We were very quiet and the sound of the water flowing over the rocks was mesmerizing.
Difficult to see, but this is where the water trickles down.
We paused here for a light brunch and enjoyed some cool water from our water bottles. It was getting pretty hot under the blazing sun, even though the temperature was only in the high 60's. Tomorrow we'll each carry a second bottle of water.
Mule ears.
Snack time.
We then headed back toward the trail head. We were reminded why we like to hit the trail early as we passed numerous hikers just heading out. We joke that it must be getting closer to noon because the youngins are appearing on the trail. We really enjoyed this hike. Because of the changing geography and beautiful surroundings, we feel this hike was one of our most enjoyable hikes in the park.
We have one more big hike planned for tomorrow so come on back and enjoy the day with us!
We are now back in Houston at the Elks Lodge. Because we didn’t have WIFI for ten days, we are way behind in our posts. We are going to continue to post our adventures as we experienced them. We will eventually get caught up.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
