Spring has Sprung with Springs and Flowers

When we first began this hike around a loop called "Smith Springs Trail",  I had no idea we would see any wildflowers.

The amazing fact is that we saw 25 different species.

Really, you ask?  Yes, I counted them up when reviewing my photos. Never saw this variety in the sierra foothill where we used to live and hike.

Shooting the Flowers

The loop is about 2.5 miles long heading out from Frijole ranch to see 2 different springs.  These springs were important to the Mescalaro Apache who lived in the area and, later, the settlers and cavalry who participated in their genocide.

The first spring, Manzanita is an open pool created by a small dam.

Manzanita Spring

Large enough to put a canoe on for show and grazing, it was then channeled to the farmhouse and nearby truck gardens whose vegetables ended up on people's tables in El Paso.

We walked north then up this wash towards the mountains, eventually arriving at Smith Springs, about 400 ft higher than the first spring.

Smith Spring

Pretty amazing difference in setting, huh?

Smith Spring surrounded by maple and oak

Surrounded by maple, oak, juniper and other trees, this spring was simply "gorgeous" as Sraddha would say.

Speaking of Sraddha, it's amazing she almost ate this Rockburger.....

The famous "Rockburger"

 The whole Guadalupe Mountain range was a former undersea reef about 250 million years ago.  Much of the rocks show off all kinds of fossils and shapes.  Amazing shapes.

Little "Banzai" plant growing out of a big boulder.  This was about 6 inches wide (iphone photo)

We circled around and back down to the ranch site where our car was parked and headed home for some dinner of leftovers.  Sorry no philosophy today.  Pooped.

Watching the sun set on the mountains at Pine Springs Campground

Wild Flowers

We sure hit the jackpot on wildflowers as shown here in the photos.  All of these photos were not shot with a Macro lens but they have been cropped, some considerably, due to their tiny size.  I won't bore you with photos of all of the flowers because I don't know their names.  Those with captions, we were able to figure out, sorta.

Capital Reef National Park

Driving in from the southeast we get a feel for the 100 mile long "waterpocket fold" that lifted up the land 5,000-7,000 feet about 65 million years ago.  The sun was hazy and cloudy so no good pics that day.  We camped in Fruita campground near visitors center fortunate to have arrived before noon and nabbed the last campsite in park.  whew.  Enjoyed the area and sat outside to eat our dinner that evening as the wind whipped up building up some fun weather.  next day found us with some sprinkles and drizzle which began to bring out the color. 

Me photographing Eaton's Penstemon (photo by Sraddha iphone)

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Torrey, UT,  typing as fast as I can because Sraddha headed out before dawn to drive the west side of the park and ended up 30 miles away at Anazazi Ruins state park in boulder, Utah where I am headed when I finish this blog post.  

Alive and well in south central UTAH (not LA,,hehe). Just departing Capital Reef National Park en route to Bryce Canyon NP. what a gem is Capital Reef and very secluded. The weather has turned cool and rainy with snow in high country. for a photographer, this has been a blessing as the colors of everything no longer washed out in the hot sun. here are some samples. This rainbow showed up in our back window and we immediately stopped to shoot the pic.

Rainbow looking south

Grand Castle

Golden Throne

No need for caption.  View says it all

Wildflowers just beginning to bloom in Capital Reef NP. Apparently there are some rare species in area. Not sure we saw any but we were fortunate to get a few photos. 2 different penstemons.

Eaton's Penstemon

Utah Penstemon

Notes and photos of Big Bend

Chisos Mountains greeted us

Vast desert plains with high mountains in the distance greet us as we enter the park .  While not the majesty of a Mt Rainier, the Chisos mountains stand tall amidst the rolling barren hills.  We are used to forests in the far west so this is more like Nevada deserts yet much different.







The first full day in Big Bend National Park, it was really cold and windy so we drove from one end of the park to the other. About 65 miles one way.

Chisos Mountains at Sunrise

Sunset near Rio Grande Village

A nearby nature trail near the Rio Grande river offered some interesting birding and a beautiful sunset.

Big Bend is a fascinating place.  Designated a national park in 1944 not just to preserve a wilderness, rather to blend cultural, historical and wilderness areas together.

Old Steam Engine in Castolon

As we travel around the park, we see remnants of old towns, long abandoned indigenous encampments, settlements, agriculture amidst wild and desolate areas.

Purple Prickly Pear Cactus

Over 20 species of cactus grow in the park.  No Sonoran desert yet Ocatillo and Prickly Pear abound.  Apparently the area receives an average of over 15 inches of annual rainfall, mostly in summer months, however a 19 month drought was finally broken last week with over one inch of rain over several days.  We can see the dried up muddy tracks where vehicles roamed through the dirt roads.

Big Bend Lupine

This rain enabled many wildflowers to sprout up.  We saw these near Panther Junction, the main park headquarters,  about 20 miles drive from our camp at Rio Grande village.  I laid down on the highway to take this photo while Sraddha stood guard.  Not many people visit the park due to its remote location, therefore not much traffic.  I was grateful.

Been off line for a while

In Port Aransas at county beach campground. I not been blogging regularly due to lack of internet in Big Bend, then driving to gulf coast, then finding our Mifi doesn't get reliable signal where we are camping. Sigh. I am now writing this with my iPhone so will keep it short.

We drove 500 miles to Lake Corpus Christi state park. First 300 miles SE through desert along the Texican border then east through ranch and then farm country to interstate then south to Gulf.

As we passed through pearsall, Texas, I noticed a sign that said this town produces 55,000,000 lbs per year of peanuts! Wow. That's a lot of shells. And I love peanuts and peanut butter.
We mailed some letters at the Pearsall post office and headed east out of town on a farm road. Speed limit 70 mph. On a farm road? Ok. The wild flowers in full bloom in the fields. We stopped to take this picture and the astral fragrance of the flowers hit us. Unlike anything I have experienced. Maybe this is one of the top Texas attractions.

As you may recall, we were dry camping in Big Bend so relying on our water tanks and batteries. It worked well and we found that with careful use of water and lights we lasted 7 days with only a 2 hour generator session to replenish house batteries. Of course it was moderate temps and we didn't have to run the heater or the AC.

But we did run short of water the last day of the drive so getting to the stare park allowed us to hook up and replenish water tanks and take a very long luxurious shower.

We had less than 100 miles to drive yesterday to our campsite in Port A as Locals call Port Aransas. More on that later. We arrived early at IB Magee county park. We had our choice of about 6 campsites so we drove around and decided on a spot. Good thing as it was Friday and the other campsites filled up by mid afternoon with weekend fishermen.

We headed off to tour the area. Sraddha had stayed in Port A 3 years ago do she showed me all her birding haunts. Last night was restful and quiet as the fishermen all went to bed early.

Today we are off to Farmers market for fresh veggies, etc and to shop for a few other things. I will be posting more regularly about current activities and will catch up on past.

Might be from iPhone. Yikes.