Finishing Up 02/09/20

Posted on February 20, 2020 by blainepeck

Big Bend National Park, Big Bend, Texas

The righteous man leads a blameless life’ blessed are his children after him.  ~ Proverbs 20:7

Today was our last day in the Park.  We (especially me) are weary and worn, so we had a little later start to our day. 

Beautiful way to begin our day!

It was time to finish up what we could.

It was a day to go in search of the Lost Mine.

We didn’t find it.  But another couple we saw on the trail said, if you do, there’s an elevator.  We were thinking that’d be pretty great!  But alas.  No easy way for us.  But that’s okay because this was probably the most scenic trail we’ve been on here (and that’s saying a lot!), simply because it was total views the entire 4.3 miles and 1,100’ elevation change!

It’s also the busiest trail we’ve been on.  We saw and spoke with, quite a few people along our journey today.

Enjoy the views!  Praise God!  We surely did!

Driving back to the lodge area – about 45 minutes.
Doesn’t say anything about an elevator, but it does warn us about critters!
Off we go!
Honest and truly, 90% of this trail had similar views!
We did this a lot . . . stop and gawk . . .
I’m married to a little boy.
It’s what helps keep me young at heart! : )
By the way, he didn’t climb any higher – – just in case you were wondering.
What can you say about a view like that!
That’s the road that goes to the lodge.
We mistakenly thought this was the end of the trail . . . until we saw some other people over there.
The end of the line.
What a place!
The colors of this mountain were beautiful!
This is a close-up of those colorful rocks.
So this was my spot. Behind that rock. So I’d feel secure.
For some reason, this place made me nervous even though there was plenty of room. The entire time we were up here I felt uncomfortable to varying degrees. Those kids in the picture were in their 20s and really made me nervous as they leaned way too far out for my comfort!
I spent a lot of time looking this way so I couldn’t see those kids, or Blaine, or others who were up here walking around. Told them I was looking for bears and mountain lions. : )
Later, when we were back on the regular trail, we talked about what might have been causing my problem. The only thing different between this and other similar hikes was the fact that both sides dropped off. Always before, there was something on one side or the other.
Even though here, there was still lots and lots of room on either side. Strange!
There were two little birds scurrying around up here.
This is the only one that stayed still long enough for a picture. : )
We’re on our way back now.
And then Blaine decided he needed more adventure.
I stayed put. : )
He took this picture of me, waiting.
I liked it better when he was sitting down!
Back on trail, where we remained all the way down the mountain. : )
That’s where our trail is headed.
See the people?
Hey! Look at that! Wildlife!
The Roadrunner lived up to his name and walked the path in front of us for a bit.
Then he stopped and actually posed for pictures!
We’re back! But there’s still time in the day, so we drove to the Lodge to see about the Window Trail.
We discovered that there are two trails here.
One is about 3 miles and probably goes all the way to the gap,
the other is a ‘handicapped’/easy paved trail that takes you to a viewpoint.
We didn’t have the time or energy to do three more miles, so it was the 1/2 mile easy one for us.
Next time!
I’ve seen these birds around the Park this week,
oftentimes perching on top of those ‘yucca’ stalks.
How do they do that?
This is a ‘regular’ picture.
Blaine took a short panoramic picture.
Helps give a bit better idea of what we’ve been looking at in this Park!
This is the Window! Pretty spectacular!
Here’s that unnamed cactus again.
This one had at least two bird nests in it. : )
You can’t tell from the picture, but the nest is really tiny!
We stopped in the Visitor Center to look around before the drive home.
This display greets you as soon as you walk in the door. : )
They’ve been monitoring the mountain lions for years.
These are two kittens one of the lionesses gave birth to in 1984.
That would make them the same age as our oldest son. : )
Isn’t it funny that God created them to be born with spots??

One last group of pictures from our praise-worthy, adjective-filled week at Big Bend National Park. We (I) took quite a few pictures of that same Chisos Mountain this week. Here are some of them grouped together so you can see how they changed every day. Just remember, the pictures don’t do it justice. And if I’da known I was going to compare them, I would’ve had Blaine stop in the same place every time. : )

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