No offense to the great, rugged Texans who live in these parts but, Stacey says; "Oh my gosh! Where have you taken us! This is what I imagine to be the birthplace of Satan himself!" And my girls are quoting the scene from RV where the daughter quips to her Dad; "Great! This must be the place where NASA faked the moon landing!" Stacey says that everything looks mean and angry due to the fact a lot of stuff here has spines, thorns, fangs with poison that can kill you. Not to mention very little water you can drink and it feels as hot as Hades in the daytime and can freeze at night. During our stay in this area it got up to near 104 degrees and down to the 50s at night.
While I can certainly see some of Stacey's points and I would definitely not want to live here....100 miles from nowhere...literally...I'd much rather take my chances in these parts than in many downtown crime ridden areas in our cities and towns.
We found that by planning ahead and getting "down in" this terrain revealed more life than what one would expect. To me it highlights the fact that the amount of and diversity of life points to an intelligent designer. I find that it takes much more faith to believe all this just happened by some random twist of fate. To God be the glory! Enjoy the pictures and descriptions of our time in the rugged, awesome beauty of Southwest Texas!
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| View of the road to Nowhere, Texas! |
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| Dad where are you taking us?! |
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| Our faithful prairie schooner at Seminole Canyon State Park |
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| At our campsite at Seminole Canyon |
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| Did I mention that you can see Mexico? I awoke to take this picture of our friendly border patrol parked right behind our campsite. Walked over to say, "howdy" to the agent. He told me that this spot is where they usually park a FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared for night) vision equipped vehicle. Most illegals will cross at night not only for concealment but, also due to the heat. The agent told me that this part of Texas only gets about 1 group a month along a more than 100 mile stretch of border. Stacey was a bit concerned but, I was not due to the massive amount of border patrol presence and in keeping with Texas view of the 2nd Ammendment, I was always "prepared"! |
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| Stacey posses in front of her favorite flowering plant she saw. It is an Ocotillo Cactus. |
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| Seminole Canyon. Me, Heidi and Hailey took a guided hike down into the canyon. It is believed that Archaic people, followed by the Apache and Commanche Indians lived under over hangs that line the canyon walls. This notion is supported by numerous archaeological digs and art work left on the walls. |
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| On our walk we saw this hummingbird nest in a tree along the canyon wall. I should have put my hand up near it to give you an idea of it's scale. It was a little larger than a golf ball. |
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| Hailey on our way down into the canyon. |
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| Heidi and Hailey trek on the canyon floor right behind our guide. |
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| Our guide explains the art work left behind on the walls. Many of which suggest the Shaman religious rite of going into what they believed to be the spirit world. |
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| Cave art suggesting a figure representing a Shaman healer or priest. The artisans that painted these did so using variously colored minerals for paint pigments, animal fats, and urine for binders, shells, or flat rocks for palettes, and fibrous plant leaves for brushes. These walls served as a blank canvas. Scientists do not always agree on why the canyon's past inhabitants produced these pictographs. Some say it was a part of religious ceremonies and that the pictures themselves were not the ends but a ritual in themselves as a part of Shamanistic rituals. Other say it was meant as a record for story telling. |
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| Our guide did not mention this cross on the wall but, naturally, we asked. He said he did not have any idea about when or who would have put this up on the wall. |
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| Some 1880's graffitti. |
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| No I did not smoke peyote! Victorious at the top of the canyon in front of a sculpture of a Shaman healer. It was interesting to hear our guide talk about the cave wall art we saw and that scientists have noticed that many images, patterns, and visions are repeated in other cave art found throughout the world among peoples that never could have met due to space and time. To me that points to the fact that God has written his Word on all people's hearts because after all He is the creator of all whether they have heard the Gospel or not. They all have a sense of Him. This does not remove the need for a saviour in our Lord Jesus Christ, in fact it reinforces our need for Him. |
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| Hailey enjoys this place with me. In fact, she accompanied me to a night Park Ranger program about the local Mountain Lion. We learned all kinds of facts about them and how to coexist in their backyard. We learned that since 1944 there have been 5 recorded attacks on humans in Big Bend with no fatalities. The last attack was on a six year old boy this February. So it seemed to be a real threat but, statistically it is not. Interesting Big Bend Moutain lion facts: From a stand still they can jump vertically 20 feet! When hunting, usually at dawn and dusk, they can lunge horizontally nearly 40 feet! Females range from 80 to 100lbs and males range from 100 to 150lbs and can measure from snout to tail over 8 feet! That's one big kitty! Healthy lions do not attack humans, it is usually the sick or very young male lions in search of their own territory that will attack. When threatened by a mountain lion, always maintain eye contact, make yourself appear as large as possible, snarl, yell, throw rocks and sticks at the lion. Do not turn your back an run, as this will trigger it's hunting instinct to attack. If attacked, attempt to fight off the lion. Most lions will retreat if they feel like they will be injured. |
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| Here we are at the entrance of Big Bend. Did I say it was BIG! The park covers 800,000+ square miles. The Big Bend name refers to the great Southwest Texas U-turn the Rio Grande makes here-defining the park and international US-Mexico boundary for 118 miles. In the park, the river's water mostly comes from Mexico's Rio Conchos. |
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| The following pictures are of the Chisos Mountain range in Big Bend National Park. The peaks are upwards of over 8,000 feet above sea level. Pretty impressive, eh? |
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| We camped down in the Southeast corner of Big Bend at a place called the the Rio Grande Village right near the Rio Grande river. We drove from that entrance sign you saw for over 55 miles to get there...at 45 miles per hour...uggh...it seemed like it took forever. Hailey took this picture near where we camped. |
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| Not too far from our campsite, we hiked down this trail to an old hot springs right down on the Rio Grande river that was a spa that was popular in the 1920's. |
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| Along the trail we come across an old abandoned store that was last used in the late 1940s. |
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| Near the abandoned store was an abandoned horse stables. |
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| Palm groves as we approached the Rio Grande. |
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| Me in front of the palms to give you an idea of the size. |
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| The girls of Team Breitmann on the trail down to the hot springs on the Rio Grande. |
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| Heidi searches for evidence of middens. |
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| The girls wander down to the Rio Grande edge. |
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| Well...here I am on the Rio Grande river. It looked like I imagined from Western movies I had seen. Pretty cool to actually be here. |
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| Hailey in her Rio Grande "photo op". This section of the Rio Grande is not representative of the entire river, as some sections to the West is completely dry and you can walk right across. This section actually has some rapids not too far from here. |
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| Heidi and Hailey test the waters at the remains of the hot springs spa. The temperature at the mouth of the spring was upwards of 105 degrees and clear...not so much clear can be said of the Rio Grande...swimming is not advised for health reasons and it can have unexpected drop offs and unpredictable currents. |
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| Did I mention that we were on the border with Mexico?! I took this photo of three Mexican nationals on horseback that were on the "wrong" side of the river. I guess "wrong" side is a matter of perspective! This photo was taken at Boquilla's Canyon Over Look. In the background you can barely make out the tiny Mexican village of Boquillas Del Carmen. These guys had a small woven mat laid out and were attempting to sell stuff here. One of these guys had a hand held radio that he was getting "look out" information about border patrol or ranger vehicles approaching. If they got a warning, they would roll up the carpet, shove it onto the saddles and ride off down the hill and across the Rio Grande before the border patrol could arrive in vehicles. Pretty smart on their part. The only way to counter that tactic is if our folks patrol on horse back as well. Tried to tell the rangers at the ranger station but, they were out to lunch...literally. Funny! |
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| Haily at Sotol Vista, where we participated in a twilight park ranger program. Absolutely beautiful and so quite. |
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| Heidi and Stacey on Sotol Vista. As we watched the sunset from this vista we learned about the three types of twilight: Civil, Nautical and Astronomical. |
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| Although it looks barren, this place teems with life. Some of the life we saw on our drive back to the camp was: mule deer, jack rabbits, kangaroo rats, and bats. At our campsite we saw coyotes, and javelina. If you don't know what a javelina is it is a type of wild pig. We saw a pack of 4-5 wandering near our campsite. If I was a mountain lion, I think that would be a great snack! Well, we leave this impressively beautiful, harsh place and head north out of Texas...thought we'd never reach the edge of Texas...for the Great State of New Mexico and hopefully see the famed Carlsbad Caverns! |
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