Big Bend National Park, Big Bend, Texas
A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but find nothing. ~ Proverbs 20:4
Our Heavenly Father has provided us with so much diversity! Within our world, within our country, within each State, within just one small section of the State of Texas, and even within today’s small section of this gorgeous National Park.
This was a day for exploring on Jeep trails, with a few side stops along the way.
Follow the blue arrows first, then the green, if you want to see where we went today.
Altogether, we only drove just over 40 very secluded miles today, but it took us about 5 hours. It may take you that long to look at all the pictures. 😊
But they just never get old to us, and they look different every time we see them. : )
If you can find them, you must be really good at “Where’s Waldo”.
We stopped and watched them for a few minutes, and I took the picture, but neither of us can find them. : )
He’s a good sport!
before they turned off and went a different direction.
Whoo! Hoo!!
The other day, we picked up two information brochures for this trip, but forgot to bring them. ☹
There was supposed to be this remnant of a town called Glenn Springs. We drove through Glenn Spring, which was named by H.E. Glenn- who settled here with his remuda of horses- that’s a herd of horses that have been saddle-broken, from which ranch hands choose their mounts for the day – in the 1860s. The native Comanche Indians at the time killed him because he dammed up their spring. At any rate, we didn’t see anything, but probably if we’d had a map with us we could’ve found it. See below if you want more history of this unfortunate town.
Fun for the Jeep, but surprising to see in this arid land.
We never saw any signs directing us to the town ruins. : (
Near Glenn Spring, we turned onto Black Gap Road. Now things got really interesting! There were warning signs, and immediately the bouncing and skipping along the road began. Such fun! But not very conducive to picture-taking.
And so, we drove on. At some point along the way, we switched drivers, until we reached a technically very difficult seemingly end of the road. Then Blaine took over again. I’m certainly not going to be the one who breaks something and has to hoof it back to civilization to get help. I’m not even sure where help would come from. And it’s so secluded, I think it would take a while for anyone else to come by. Altogether today, we saw 3 occupied campsites, one car and two bikes.
I guess he didn’t see anything picture-worthy while I was driving, so there’s only one. Enjoy! 😊
One of the main places we were looking for was Mariscal Mine. It used to be a community that mined quicksilver back in the day. We ate lunch before we went exploring. Very interesting place! I’ve included a couple of pictures with information from the mine brochure as well, if you’re interested.
However, it does seem like this is what the flower looks like.
Kinda odd, because it’s rather hard and looks like a teeny bunch of bananas.
And no, we didn’t touch anything, so no chance of mercury poisoning. : )
That sure looks like a long ways away!
Unusual construction compared to today’s methods.
They have all the mines boarded up to keep people safe.
Funny, because there wasn’t any once you got off the mountain top.
So what’s the difference between ‘quicksilver’ and ‘mercury’? When I looked it up, it seemed to me like the words were (or had been at one time) interchangeable.
Quicksilver:
The metal mercury.
(colloquial) An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering.
Mercury:
A metal.
# A silvery-colored, toxic, metallic chemical element, liquid at room temperature, with atomic number 80 and symbol Hg.
No idea why it’s here.
We ended our drive near Hot Springs, drove a bit up the road and hopped on the Old Ore Road.
We really didn’t feel like driving all the way to the end, but had been told to go at least as far as Ernst Tinaja (what ever that is). At Ernst, there’s this short trail. The trail takes you into this slot canyon! Tons of fun and spectacular beauty here too!
Wow! What a great place!!
Pretty cool, especially if you can make out the face created by holes and shadows! : )
After dinner, we climbed to the top of the rock near the campground to take in the sunset.
Another blessed day in Big Bend!
FYI – since writing this, I’ve come to discover what Ernst Tinaja is. A tinaja is a term originating in the American Southwest for surface pockets formed in bedrock that occur below waterfalls, are carved out by spring flow or seepage, or are caused by sand and gravel scouring in intermittent streams. Tinajas are an important source of surface water storage in arid environments.
The Ernst Tinaja is a breathtaking feature. It’s the largest of three waterholes that formed in the massive limestone floor. It is said that geologic faulting formed a spring that keeps the tinajas filled.
So now you know. But don’t ask me later, because I most likely won’t remember, unless I go back and look here. 😊