It’s still only mid-February here in the Big Bend, but you would never know it by the weather. So far, this is the second consecutive mild winter in a row, and I was fearing a lack of wildflowers again this year, after a total bust last spring. However, my wife and I took a backroads trip through Big Bend National Park on Valentine’s Day, and the profusion of early wildflowers was astonishing. Here is a sample of our day out:
We’re also looking forward to a spectacular blooming of the cactus as we get later into spring, but for now the “hills are alive” with the perfume that is the signature of wildflowers in the Big Bend.
A young buck in full velvet in preparation for the fall rut:
A couple of smaller visitors:
The desert 2000′ below the rim has turned green, nourished by the monsoon rains:
Even mushrooms grow in the dry, cool protection of shady plants:
Campsite on the South Rim is cozy, with all the desert running away to Mexico:
Add Jupiter and Saturn, the bring on the Milky Way and Mars as its escort:
Next morning, it’s time to head home, but one last visit from a setting of flowers, and an escort by another whitetail doe down the trail.
Rain is the lifeblood of the desert, and proves that there’s something to see year-round if you slow down and look. As I have often quoted from Edward Abbey in Desert Solitaire, “…crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe.”
First night out, we were treated to clear skies and beauiful starsa:
Next morning after breakfast, we headed north into the heart of the Needles:
Along the way, an unexpected surprise…a panel of pictographs under an overhang:
Many hand prints, and a few older “shaman” figures that are familiar to this region:
From here, a really technical obstacle confronts us, but we make it through with little difficulty:
We reach the trailhead for the “Joint Trail,” a somewhat misleading name, that winds its way through a labyrinth of joints between huge rock slabs, to a fantastic overlook:
Next morning, we wake to gray and overcast. The light rain begins as we are heading through the washes and down the “silver stairs” enroute back up and over Elephant Hill and back down:
Along this road, totally unmaintained through primitive backcountry for over 100 miles with no facilities, no gasoline, and no cellular service, we are treated to spectacular scenery:
A stop at Musselman Arch, where we take a walk on the wild side:
Campsite the first night on the White Rim, and a walk for a view of “Washerwoman Arch”:
Fresh snow caps the La Sal Mountains, visible in the distance:
A beautiful clear night with a crystalline moon:
The “White Rim” describes the hard layer of white sandstone which caps the softer underlying layers of red sandstone. In places the White Rim Road ventures perilously close to the edge which falls off to the plateau a thousand feet below:
The occasional mountain biker cruising this flat part of the White Rim Road:
We reach an area of Canyonlands know as “Monument Valley,” with the Needles seen in the background:
An unnamed arch we dub “Keyhole Arch”:
At White Crack trail, we do some capstone hopping out to a high point for a 360 degree panoramic overlook at the spectacular land below:
After a climb up “Murphy’s Hogback” we set up camp 2 on a high point for the night:
Pancakes hit the spot on a cool morning:
With rain in the distance, we break camp and get out on the road. Along the way we stop for several magnificent vistas where the Green River bends its way through the canyons below:
The peninsula formed by this bend in the Green River has been inhabited for thousands of years by native peoples who hunted and farmed this rich bottom land. The remains of a cliff dwelling still stands on the side of the “Turk’s Head” formation at its center:
Canoeists make their way through spots where the river widens and slows:
The last big climb up and over a granite intrusion that prevents following the river, we drop down the back side to our final of three campsites for the evening, located at river level just above the river bank:
Mountain bikers start the descent down:
Camp along the Green River:
The next morning we slog our way through mud, water, and more mud as the road snakes its way through “Potato Bottoms” to meet up with the gravel road that climbs back up to the Island in the Sky, and ultimately back to Moab:
It’s no wonder why we’re continually drawn back to the canyonlands country of south central Utah. If you go, be sure you are properly equipped for desert survival and self-rescue. That said, the scenery and solitude makes it well worth the effort.
Bonneville Lake:
