Boquillas Canyon

There are 3 great canyons carved by the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park: Santa Elena on the west, Mariscal in the south central, and Boquillas in the east. Today, we visited Boquillas Canyon.

Boquillas Canyon is in the extreme east end of the park. Just across the river is the sun-washed Mexican village of Boquillas. The little village is located on a dusty, treeless bluff several hundred feet above the Rio Grande.

Boquillas, Mexico

Craftsmen from Boquillas cross the river daily with their wares, placing them at strategic locations on the American side of the border so that tourists will find -- and hopefully -- buy them. This practice is discouraged by American authorities, but it is almost impossible to stop.

Mexican trinkets placed on a rock on a bluff on the American side of the river.

The river is slow and lazy in this part of the park. It gently sweeps along a sandy delta, lined by low growing shrubs and trees. It then turns and begins carving a narrow canyon in the Sierra del Carmen mountains.

Angled slit where the river enters the canyon. Parking area for trail is at left at base of hill. Trail leads from there over a small bluff and into the canyon.

There is a parking area with primitive restroom at the end of the road. A .7 mile trail leads up and over a small bluff and down into the mouth of the canyon.

Donna on the trail leading up from the parking lot. Top of bluff is in background behind Donna's right shoulder. River is in center turning for flow into the canyon.

As the trail descends the bluff, it leads into a rock-strewn delta with patches of grass. We encountered several Mexican merchants here. One was on our side of the river, while two others were on the Mexican side. One was offering to sing for a price. As we were descending the trail, I heard him singing, and his strong voice was echoing off the canyon walls.

River in lower right as it heads into the canyon

Vertical walls of Boquillas Canyon

Signs along the road warned of recent thefts from parked vehicles. However, we felt that with the large number of visitors, things were safe. I was a bit hesitant approaching the area where the Mexican merchants were on the river, but other tourists were in the area, so we felt safe. However, I would not venture into these canyons if the parking lot was empty.

Hot Springs

We covered the eastern side of Big Bend National Park today. Among the many places we visited was Hot Springs.

I've long been interested in this place. Years ago, I came across a small book in my local library called Big Bend: A Homesteader's Story by J. O. Langford. Mr. Langford suffered numerous health problems from a childhood bout with malaria. While visiting in West Texas, he heard of some springs on Tornillo Creek in the Big Bend country that reputedly had curative powers. In 1909, he filed the paperwork to homestead the land and moved his wife and infant daughter to the property. He spent the next several years developing the springs, and his book covers the life he made for himself in this isolated corner of the country.

Today, a few of the structures from that time remain. There are 2 ways to access the area. You can do a 6 mile round-trip hike from Rio Grande Village, or drive down a short but interesting road to the ruins. We decided to drive. The first section of the road is is good shape, though much of it has the washboard surface many natural surface roads do. About a mile or so into the drive, though, the road splits into 2 one-way sections on either side of a ravine. Each section of the road is very narrow, and large vehicles can not negotiate this section of road.

Very narrow alternate sections of roadway

The first structure visible upon arriving is a small house built of native stone on a rise west of the parking lot. A small foot bridge leads east to a series of trails splitting in front of the old store and post office.

Hot Springs store and post office

We followed the trail past the store in search of the actual hot springs that Langford claimed restored his health. Along the way, we passed the motel rooms built to accommodate those who came seeking health from the storied hot springs.

Motel rooms at Hot Springs

Just past the rooms are cliffs that rise above the river trail. Old Indian pictographs can be found on the bare rocks of these cliffs.

Numerous pictographs are visible, as well as some bird nests at top left

We finally came to the hot springs themselves. In Langford's day, he built bath houses to provide himself and his guests a bit of privacy. Flooding eventually destroyed these structures, but the foundations are still clearly visible. When we came to the springs, we discovered a young family enjoying the warm waters, even though we where there on December 27. Steam was clearly visible coming off the 105 degree temperature water of the springs.

Notice foundation from bathhouses still evident in spring. Rio Grande is running beside spring. At top center of picture is a tent with a small campfire. This camp is in Mexico.

Having read Langford's book really brought this trek to life for me. If you enjoy reading, I highly recommend reading the book. I'm sure you can find it on interlibrary loan. Amazon also carries a copy. The book provides a real slice of life on the vanishing American frontier at a time when most travel in the area was still done on horseback. I really enjoyed seeing how Langford immersed himself in the culture of the area and interacted with the natives.

We visited other places today, but I'll cover these individually so that I can cover each area a bit more fully than I could were I to put everything in one long entry.

On the Road: Big Spring, Texas, to Terlingua, Texas

We traveled from Big Spring to the Terlingua/Study Butte area today, our home for the next week or so. These roads are familiar to me. I traveled them quite a bit when I worked for Region 18 Education Service Center in Midland from 1997 to 2002. There have been lots of changes since the last time I was here, though. Still, it's good to be back to a place so familiar to me.

285 miles from Big Spring to Terlingua

The first part of the trip was rather normal as we cruised down Interstate 20 from Big Spring to Monahans. This is oil field country, and oil industry businesses line the interstate almost the entire way, especially from just east of Midland to several miles west of Odessa. In fact, Monahans is the home of the Million Barrel Museum, which is actually a colossal whole used to store oil during the 1920s oil boom.

At Monahans we left the interstate on Highway 18 for a few miles to the southern edge of town where we turned off on the little used FM 1776. This is a rather lonely stretch of highway. From here to Alpine, a distance of just over 100 miles, there are no towns of note, just the little farming community of Coyanosa with fewer than 150 residents. A few miles after turning onto this highway, we crossed the fabled Pecos River, which is little more than an irrigation ditch at this point. Like the Rio Grande, which it empties into near Langtry, the Pecos is drained by farmers in New Mexico.

As we approached Interstate 10, the mountains came into view. At Interstate 10, FM 1776 becomes US 67, a section of road we traveled on in August 2011 during our trip to the Davis Mountains. We visited lots of places in the area at that time, and I invite you to flip back in the blog to that time to visit those places with us. For now, we continued down the highway to Alpine, where we made our last stop for gas before jumping off into the "Last Frontier", as locals refer to this part of Texas.

At Alpine, we turned due south onto Texas 118 for the final 80 miles. This was the most scenic section of the trip. There are so many landmarks of note we passed along the way: Cathedral Peak, Elephant Mountain, Santiago Peak, Christmas Mountains, and Nine-Point Mesa, to name a few. These may not be household names to most people, but the folks of the Big Bend know these landmarks.

The first 20 miles or so south of Alpine is composed of mild ups and downs as the highway climbs onto a high plateau. Near Elephant Mountain, the highway becomes level and stretch for most of the remainder of the trip.

You won't see houses along this drive. You'll see very few ranches, very few roads. This is empty country in the sense of settlement -- and I like that. When you do come across a community, like Study Butte (pronounced "Stew-dee"), you appreciate it, even though there is only a scattering of businesses here. But for the next 8 nights, Study Butte is our home. We'll be surrounded by this desert terrain and these quiet mountains.

It should be fun.

Back to Big Spring

We're back in Big Spring now so that we can spend Christmas with Courtney and her family.We arrived yesterday. Last night, after supper, we all drove around and looked at Christmas lights in Big Spring. The city sponsors a Christmas lighting known as Comanche Trail Festival of Lights.  It really is an impressive display, located in the scenic city park on the south side of the city.

We will remain in Big Spring until the day after Christmas, when we will leave for a journey to the Big Bend country. I'm excited about that. When we lived in Midland and I worked for Region 18 Education Service Center, I would travel to the Big Bend country frequently to serve the schools in that area, including Terlingua CSD just outside the park entrance in nearby Terlingua/Study Butte, and San Vicente ISD, a small K-8 school actually located within Big Bend National Park at Panther Junction.

I always enjoyed my visits to this unique corner of Texas. There is truly no other place like it in Texas. It will be interesting to see how it has changed over the past 12 or so years since I was last there. Most of our activities will be focused within the national park itself. We will enjoy a few short hikes, visit the Basin, and visit J. O. Langsford's old Hot Springs home.

Outside the park, we will visit Terlingua and nearby Lajitas. We may even follow the River Road all the way to Fort Leaton and neighboring Presidio. I'll take lots of pictures and post them when I have connectivity.

From Big Bend, we will then journey east for a while, visiting some places that have been on my "to visit" list for a while.

I'll see you down the road.

Good Eats: Hidalgo's, San Angelo, Texas

I've been on the hunt for some good Tex-Mex enchiladas for quite a while now. During our trip through the Southwest, I sampled enchiladas in New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada. Personally, I just don't care for the red sauce that part of the country uses on enchiladas. I realize this is a personal preference, as that red sauce seems to be very popular out there. I keep looking for the style of enchilada I had as a child. From time to time, I stumble across such an enchilada. I did so recently on a visit to Hidalgo's in San Angelo.

There are, I believe, 3 Hidalgo's in San Angelo. We tried the location at 3108 Sherwood Way since it is the nearest to our current location. Donna had eaten here years ago when we lived in Ozona, but I do not believe I've ever been in the place.

Not many customers were in the place, probably no more than 20 other diners. We asked for a booth in the back. Our drink orders were taken, and we were promptly served our drinks, chips, and salsa. We took a while to look over the menu before ordering. Donna opted for chalupas, which is a favorite of hers, and I decided on the Combination Dinner, which consists of 2 enchiladas and 2 tacos.

The salsa was tasty and had a good bite. Chips were solid and did not crumble as they do at many places. I like a thicker chip, but some folks don't. Donna ordered a guacamole salsa which was quite spicey. I thoroughly enjoyed my cheese enchilada covered with chile sauce. The beef tacos were fine, but next time I'll probably go completely with enchiladas. Donna also enjoyed her beef chalupas, but said next time she would probably order bean chalupas.

The restaurant is old, and this may turn off fussy diners. Yeah, the place could use an upgrade with new carpet, but the place as is has a sort of rustic charm. My main complaint would be the level of service. Everyone we dealt with was friendly and helpful. When our food was delivered, though, I asked for a refill of salsa and chips. The waiter forgot my request. By the time I finally got his attention, we had eaten half our meal. My tea was never refilled. The waiter was friendly and pleasant, just not very attentive.

When we reached the cash register to pay our bill, we had to wait several minutes as well. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of staff working the place, just a lack of efficiency in customer service. Some training would probably improve this.

The main thing, though, is that the food was good, so we are already looking forward to returning to this location as well as trying other locations of Hidalgo's.

Christmas Lights in Angelo

Each year, Donna and I look forward to viewing Christmas lights. We were happy to be in San Angelo at this time of year so that we could view the lights around town, but specifically along the Concho River near downtown.

There is a website -- the Concho Christmas Celebration -- devoted to Christmas activities around the area. Be sure to check out the Gallery page for the Tour of Lights photos.

The tour of lights begins on River Drive at West 1st Street just west of the downtown area. It continues along River Drive, which parallels the Concho River downstream, to South Irving Street. The tour then turns north on South Irving for a block, then east along Concho Street for 2 blocks through the historic downtown section, then turns south on South Oakes to finish in the Farmers' Market pavilion across from historic Ft. Concho.

There are numerous lights along the river, but the focus is on lighted images taken from the "12 Days of Christmas" song. The lighted reflections shimmering off the river are lovely. A donation of $5 per car is requested to help continue funding the project.

Below are a few pictures we took last night, but much better pictures reside at the site linked above.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a new year filled with peace and joy.

Note the reflection in the river

The Concho River

San Angelo is unique among other West Texas its size. It's not flat, it has some trees that grow naturally, and it has rivers and creeks.

San Angelo owes its settlement to the rivers that converge here. Fort Concho is located a stone's throw from the North Concho. The fort brought settlers to the area. Today, San Angelo is a thriving community approaching 100,000 folks, with excellent hospitals, a progressive university, Goodfellow AFB, and excellent shopping.

There are actually 3 rivers coursing their way through the city. The North Concho begins to the northwest, near Big Spring. As it approaches the city, it forms O. C. Fisher Lake. The Middle Concho, which has the lowest water flow of the 3 Conchos, begins due west. Along with Spring Creek and Dove Creek, it forms the north pool of Twin Buttes Reservoir. The South Concho begins south of San Angelo, south of the small community of Christoval. As it nears Angelo, it creates the south pool of Twin Buttes Reservoir.

On the southwest side of San Angelo, the Middle Concho and the South Concho merge to form Lake Nasworthy. The two rivers then become one. Known now as the South Concho, they continue their flow past the old community of Ben Ficklin into the southern part of Angelo. The North Concho and South Concho then merge to form the Concho River on the east side of the city, where the river then continues its flow eastward before joining the Colorado River to form Lake O. H. Ivie.

Fort Concho and downtown San Angelo are located along the banks of the North Concho River. The city has developed the area over the years. Now, this is not the San Antonio Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, and I'm glad of that. There is still a natural setting to this river. It is more like a park. In fact, a small golf course is located along the north bank. The downtown area is on the north bank as well, and the river separates the area from the old fort. A children's play ground is near the golf course.

Along the south short are the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, the Visitors' Center, and numerous beautiful homes. During Christmas, decorations and lights are placed along the south bank, visible from River Drive which weaves along the tree-lined river.

Donna and I recently strolled along the river on a sunny day, and I snapped the pictures below. Work is still progressing on an upgrade to the landscaping, so walkways sometimes may look rough. Also, you may see seasonal decorations in some of the pictures.

Pedestrian bridge crossing the Concho below northbound Highway 87.

The beautiful Visitors' Center located along the south bank of the Concho River is a great place to begin your tour of San Angelo.

One of the beautiful homes on the south bank of the Concho River.

Another beautiful residence on the south bank of the river. Note the Christmas decorations located for viewing from River Drive on the opposite bank.

Residential landscaping along the south bank. Again, note the seasonal decorations.