Oh, I could walk 10,000 miles...or maybe 5 (Day 4)

We started our day with an unexpected trip to Mexico.  We canoed with Big Bend River Tours (link) right through some of the spots we overlooked on Day 4.  It took us a little bit to get the hang of it but I'd say we did pretty good.  Even managed to get the boat over some rapids without tumping over.  We were going upstream with a slight head wind.   

About half way into the trip, we stopped on the Mexican side of the Rio for a snack.  Glad we managed to avoid the $5,000 fine for entering Mexico at a non-check point.

  

We really enjoyed talking and laughing with our guide, Doug, and his assistant Christine and our co-boaters, Shelby and her Dad Kurt.  They were from Magnolia, Texas and she had just graduated from Penn State and Kurt was retired HPD.

After our boat ride we ate lunch at the High Sierra, the other place Doug worked.  Then is was time for Big Bend National Park.
My goal was to see St.Elena Canyon but Mule’s Ear Peaks and Castelon were surprising, especially Castelon which came into view just around the bend and stood majestically ahead of us.

To me, Castelon looks like it has a face of a fox or maybe a Javelina (on the left).

You can see St. Elena Canyon from a lot of places around Terlingua but it’s grandeur becomes more obvious the closer you get.

We didn’t plan to do the entire hike when we got out of the truck but the closer you got the more your curiosity peaks to know what’s beyond the next rock.

At first the path is a lot of steps and slopes that go up about 30 feet then it’s back down a bit to a sandy trail with bamboo that sound almost like wind chimes.

The trail ends at a beach like location about a mile or so in.

I would say this would NOT make great swimming but there were people in the water and some even brought their floats.  It’s a muddy sand and you can sink really deep in it.

It felt super hot but luckily we got to do some of the trail in the shade.

I’m not sure I could’ve I talked Kenny into the next hike if we'd known it was a six mile bumpy gravel up and down road and then another 2.2 mile hike.  But I wanted to see the Balanced Rocks and we agreed it would be our last park adventure for the day as it was starting to get late.  This area was different in that it contained lots of boulders that appear to be stacked on top of each other.
 The Hoodoos. Most of the walk was sand trails that we shared with rainbow colored lizards.  Then it was a trail for a mountain goat (which we still hadn't seen) that went mostly straight up.

 

 

I learned two new things about Kenny today.
One is that he doesn’t like standing under balanced rocks. 

Don’t worry I got this!

In the beginning I would say Kenny was not very happy with me but the adventure proved worth the challenges it proposed. 

 

We had earned dinner and headed to the Starlight Theater for music and a delicious meal, where I learned the second thing I didn’t know about Kenny.  He does not like quail.

So I ordered it and it was delicious.  I figured they had enough of them around, they would have to be fresh.  He had the steak.
The older couple providing the music were really good and ended their set with a song about having sex in your 60’s.  It was cute!

We finished our evening in town at the High Sierra with a little more live music, Paul Straul, who had a very good rock blues voice and guitar.

It was a drive back to Terlingua Ranch Road only this time to Mark Chile’s place. (link) They rent an RV and trailer there and are on an even bumpier road than the lodge but are surrounded by 225 acres of open space.
Two foxes were waiting for us when we arrived.  I wasn't quick enough with the camera.