Thursday, January 19, 2006
Rocks
Today was our first full day to explore the park. It’s not a great place for Zaph as he’s not allowed on any of the trails (National Park thing). It’s a very large, very beautiful park and we’re planning on staying for five nights so we’ll just have to walk Zaph around the campground a lot. On our tour today was the Boquillas Canyon and Old Ore Road (a 4x4 dirt road). The trail to the Boquillas Canyon led you to the Rio Grande River with a great view of Mexico. The village of Boquillas, Mexico is just across the river and 9/11 has totally changed their lives. Before 9/11 tourists were allowed to cross the river, visit the town, perhaps have lunch and a beer or soda, buy souvenirs and return to the park without any problems. Now you can only cross at border crossings and the nearest one is 100 miles away — no more tourists for Boquillas. A few enterprising Mexicans try to sell items from across the river but can be fined and even imprisoned if they are caught.
The drive on the Old Ore Road was bumpy but interesting. It’s hard to believe that this desert area was once ranches supporting horses and cattle. Unfortunately lack of rain after overgrazing caused the grassland to turn to desert. One of the interesting places on the road is the Ernst Tinaja. You walk up a canyon to the huge tinaja (bowls) that were carved into the massive limestone creek bed by water. The cliffs above it consist of tuff (volcanic ash), yellow, gray and reddish-brown limestone and shales about 450 feet thick. Further along the road we met up with a car going the opposite direction, Ed indicated that there was some pretty rough road ahead but the driver of the car continued anyway — hope he made it as his car didn’t have a lot of clearance.
Back at the trailer, Zaph alerted us to the fact that 2 coyotes crossed the road by the trailer. Lots of wildlife in this park.
First time we say a Road Runner in a tree.
Boquillas Canyon . That's Mexico on the other side of the Rio Grande.
A Mexican with walking sticks he was trying to see. A couple of burros in the brush chowing down.
A grave along side the Old Ore Road.
Ernst Tinaja
Looking down into the tinaja.
A view across the desert.
The drive on the Old Ore Road was bumpy but interesting. It’s hard to believe that this desert area was once ranches supporting horses and cattle. Unfortunately lack of rain after overgrazing caused the grassland to turn to desert. One of the interesting places on the road is the Ernst Tinaja. You walk up a canyon to the huge tinaja (bowls) that were carved into the massive limestone creek bed by water. The cliffs above it consist of tuff (volcanic ash), yellow, gray and reddish-brown limestone and shales about 450 feet thick. Further along the road we met up with a car going the opposite direction, Ed indicated that there was some pretty rough road ahead but the driver of the car continued anyway — hope he made it as his car didn’t have a lot of clearance.
Back at the trailer, Zaph alerted us to the fact that 2 coyotes crossed the road by the trailer. Lots of wildlife in this park.
First time we say a Road Runner in a tree.
Boquillas Canyon . That's Mexico on the other side of the Rio Grande.
A Mexican with walking sticks he was trying to see. A couple of burros in the brush chowing down.
A grave along side the Old Ore Road.
Ernst Tinaja
Looking down into the tinaja.
A view across the desert.
If you wish you can sign our guest book
We have added a web page with a map of our current location and route to date