We recently returned to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. Our plans were to rendezvous with 4 friends from Austin - who, at the last minute, were not able to make it.

The park was more green than we had ever seen it before. An unusual amount of rain had fallen earlier this summer in west Texas. And since there were more plants, there was more wildlife as well. The desert was thriving and beautiful.


We were forewarned!

We had 3 bear sightings. no time to get a camera for the first one. Still shaking for the second sighting.

And this bear was busy eating low hanging leaves for the third sighting. 

And there were grasshoppers, since there was grass.

A Cactus Wren in a Mesquite Tree.

Green Gulch - the roadway up into Chisos Basin.

Day Flower

Feather Peabush

Unknown Wildflowers 

A Vinegaroon. It looks something like a Scorpion but with a whip tail instead of the stinger. When defending itself the pincers can inflict quite a wound and then the whip tail is used to spray acid (that smells like vinegar) at the attacker. It was about 6 inches long. Seen at dusk, it looked more like the devil than a bug.

Thunderstorm at sunset, west of the basin over the desert. 

Casa Grande at sunrise.

 The road to Pine Canyon

Along Pine Canyon Trail

Unknown Wildflowers 

Dennis on the Pine Canyon Trail

Mike in Pine Canyon. Surrounded by arid desert, Pine Canyon is like walking into a terrarium. 

Mushroom in Pine Canyon

Ocotillo plants in leaf

Red Tailed Hawks courting in flight

Dead Horse Mountains, seen from Glenn Springs Road

Dennis at our remote desert campsite off of Glenn Springs Road. No one else was within sight.

 Ocotillo against the Sierra del Carmen Mountains at sunrise

Mike in the desert campsite, at sunset

Rain over the desert

Clouds over Nugent Mountain 

Various Hollywood Icons outside of Marfa, TX

We are on the move again. First we visited the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, a hillside in the desert in the Tularosa Basin with over 25,000 examples of Mogollon rock drawings. We have been here before and hope to return often.

Then we visited the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument and the Manzano Mountains 80 miles southeast of Albuquerque. Three missions were founded by Spanish Franciscan missionaries  in the 17^th century to convert the local Pueblo peoples to Catholicism. The missions successfully disrupted the Native Americans traditional way of life which left them unable to survive a severe drought. Both the Spanish and the Pueblo people abandoned the area within 30 years of the missionaries arrival. Ruins of the stone structures still remain.

We camped in the Manzano Mountains State Park, visited the nearby town of Mountainair and hiked near Capilla Peak.

Some of the Petroglyphs at Three Rivers

And a large lizard basking in the morning sunlight.

Visiting the 3 Salinas Pueblo Missions - first Grand Quivira Pueblo ruins

Then a visit to Mountainaire, New Mexico. A very funky village that has not been visited by much of the outside world.

Snake mosaic in the town park

The Shaffer Hotel and Dining Room - handmade by Pop Shaffer in the 1920s after his blacksmith shop/hardware store burned to the ground and he needed a new business. (Just a reminder that swastikas were long viewed as a symbol of peace and goodwill by many Native American Tribes.)

And then on to the Abo Pueblo ruins

Samples of Pueblo artwork and pottery in the Salinas Pueblo Missions Visitor Center Museum

And lastly to the Quarai Pueblo ruins

And on our last day there we drove up into the Manzano Mountains in the Cibola National Forest - Once again, Smokey was there to greet us.

Juniper Berries

Colorful rock was all about

A Red Tailed Hawk in the lowlands forest (probably about 6500 feet)

We encountered a new variety of squirrel in the Manzanos - we believe it must be an Abert's Squirrel

Note the length of its tail

We drove up about 10 miles up a 4 wheel drive dirt road to get to Capilla Peak (approx 9400 feet) where there are a small observatory operated by the University of New Mexico, an observation tower, several communication towers, and a primitive campground. This photo is of a rock outcrop staffed by Hawk Watch International for monitoring hawk migrations moving from north to south along the Rio Grande valley. The Rio Grande is the dark strip of vegetation in the desert below all of us. They had 3 paid observers there and 2 volunteers. We walked about a mile out along the ridge to visit them.

We have found most of the people we meet in New Mexico are much more welcoming than this. But, there are exceptions.