From Santa Elena Canyon, we followed the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Castolon Visitor Center, stopping at the Dorgan-Sublett Trailhead to view the ruins of the Sublett house.

James and Melissa Belle Sublett arrived in the Castolon area in 1913. In 1918, Sublett purchased four sections of land at this location, and called his operation Grand Canyon Farms. Mr. Sublett was one of the first settlers in the Big Bend area to actively farm the Rio Grande floodplain on a large scale. 

Next was a view of Cerro Castellan.

This is a stone butte rising 1,000 feet straight up from the desert floor, peaking at 3293 feet. Near Cerro Castellan was an interesting mountain formation.

After Cerro Castellan, we hiked a short trail to view Tuff Canyon. Here, Blue Creek, fed by rains in the distant Chisos Mountains, has carved a spectacular canyon through layers of volcanic tuff and basalt.

It was on one of the viewing platforms that I almost met my demise. Stepping high to a concrete platform, I tripped and fell, making a three-point landing: both knees and my CAMERA/LENS. While I as bloodied and skinned up, the camera received the brunt of the fall, receiving several deep scratches. Fortunately, it still worked after turning it off and removing and replacing the battery. The bad news is that it now has little resale value! The lens was no worse for wear. Nevertheless, the canyon was photographed and several Cacti were in full bloom. Who knew this spiny plants could offer such pretty flowers. 

Another iconic image appeared in the distance as we continued the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

The “Mules Ears” are two distinctive eroded rhyolite dikes known as Mule Ears Peaks. In the valley floor, deposits of white volcanic tuff erode from the slopes and hard lavas cap the mountains. 

Our last stop of the day was the Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff.

The Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff Trail was a relatively flat, easy hike to a pouroff that is dry most of the year. A good portion of the trail follows a gravel wash lined by Mexican persimmon, Mexican buckeye, and desert hackberry trees. The wash is bounded by volcanic hills with layers of yellow and orange ash-flow tuffs. Large congomerate boulders litter the valley bottom. Along the way were cacti blooms and lizards.

The trail ends at the pouroff—a 100-foot tall vertical channel carved into rock that funnels water from the mesa above.

Preceding retirement almost 20 years ago, Kay and I spent several hours over the course of a few weeks developing a “life list” of items we wanted to do in the years to come. (Our dear friend Ed Richmond coined the term “life list” long before the movie Bucket List came out.) Among the things on that original list—we’re now on our fourth revision—was a trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas. Today, Wednesday, March 27, 2024, we checked that item off our list. This entry and the next few that follow capture the essence of our visit. 

Leaving the RV park about 9 AM, we drove Texas Highway 118 south to the Big Bend National Park (NP) entrance station, showed our “old age” card, and immediately turned onto the rough graveled Old Maverick Road. The Old Maverick Road runs between Maverick Junction (park entrance) and Santa Elena Canyon. It is a 14-mile improved dirt road that passes along the Terlingua Creek badlands on the west side of the park. While usually passable for most vehicles, this road was rough and washboarded; the fourteen miles takes around an hour and a half to drive. Few opportunities to photograph presented themselves, though we did photograph a bird or two, a few cactus blooms, and some badlands panoramas.

As the drive continued a narrow opening in the sheer mountain cliff appeared, and became more prominent as we neared the mountain.

The drive ended at the Rio Grande River, the border between Mexico and the United States, at the entrance of Santa Elena Canyon.

Santa Elena Canyon is an iconic natural feature in Big Bend National Park.

While the best way to see the canyon is by raft or canoe, we opted to hike the short but steep 0.8 mile nature trail. The nature trail crosses Terlingua Creek, climbs several flights of ramps, stairs and switchbacks before descending into the very narrow canyon along the Rio Grande River.

This trail overlooked the Rio Grande River in many places.

At this point the canyon walls loom over 1,500 feet above the nature trail adjacent to the river.

Along the trail, wildflowers were abundant.

And, the cacti blooms were astonishingly beautiful; what a paradox.

Even a Checkered White butterfly made its presence known.

Let’s not forget about the well camouflaged Greater Roadrunner—beep, beep!