2018 11 13 - 11 19 Guadalupe Mountains National Park,Prehistoric Trackways National Monument and Dripping Springs Natural Area

Highway 10, from Big Bend to Van Horn, Texas - 13 November 2018

Art in Texas comes in a lot of forms. Little along the way to hold your attention unless you are seriously into desert soil and plants. There are very few cattle herds and practically no towns. When suddenly up pops this storefront for Prada of Paris. There is ongoing debate in Texas to decide if this should really be considered art. Well, why not. I've seen a lot of more questionable "art". 

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, north of Van Horn Texas - November 2018 

From our basecamp in Van Horn, it's a good hour drive to the Visitor's Center in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. There are over ten trails, from easy wheel-chair accessible to strenuous, 6-8 hour hikes. We hiked the Frijoles Ranch Trail loop to the Smith Spring and the Manzanita Spring. Located just behind the ranch houses is a museum highlighting the human history of the area. The museum was closed as it was off season.

A female Western Bluebird sat very nicely for her portrait. 

Male Western Bluebirds were so plentiful it was easy to get good pictures. 

A rather short ornamental grass glimmers in afternoon sun. It looked almost like frost or snow in the 60+ degrees and sunshine. Magical.  

After a mile and a quarter winding through a yucca-tree and cactus-covered hillside, the trail enters a lush riparian zone where Smith Spring, appears to be percolating from below layers of limestone. Tumbling down a mossy embankment the cool spring waters pool. The water is so clear the bottom is easily visible.   

Bob wisely decided not to risk sipping the untested and unfiltered water. The local inhabitants, birds, deer and elk, utilize these waters so contamination is possible. 

Looking over the north side of this loop path which follows along the stream's rocky course through the shady oasis of ponderosa pine and maple trees. The stream drops about 400 feet in its search for lower levels. After walking the hillside on the north side, we came to a rugged set of steps rising out of the wash into a small grove of stunted gray oaks. 

As we continued towards the Manzanita Spring near the ranch, I could hear rustling behind a large scrub bush. 

As we stood still, patiently waiting, I could see movement of what at first appeared to be naked branches. I finally realized it was, in fact, antlers. Finally, this majestic buck emerged, trotted across the grasses and shorter shrubs before turning to investigate the clicking noise made by Bob's camera shutter.

We returned to the ranch to find this pair of Acorn Woodpeckers preparing for winter by "burying" acorns in holes drilled into tree trunks and limbs. 

Las Cruces, New Mexico - 17 November 2018

Without any way to interpret this sign we began what we thought was a hike towards the fossil dinosaur footprints discovered in this area. This was the wrong trail to take. We should have known by the bullet holes in he sign, or maybe the dozen or so trucks with flat bed trailers, some boondocking (camping without water, electric or sewer). After walking for at least a half hour, we decided there was nothing in this area and returned to our parked truck. 

In small lettering under the Ridgeline Trailhead announcement is the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument. We have found that Visitor's Centers are very helpful in keeping folks on proper paths and avoiding wasting time on trails (apparently) designed for off road vehicles. 

Is this the trackway on the left? No? Bob better watch where he's walking(Cactus under foot). That could be said for both of us as this was very rocky, sometimes steep and footing was treacherous with rocks rolling underfoot.  

The view of Las Cruces is great as the sun sets behind the ridge of the mountains. Beyond the sparse homes about to go into shadow is a large pecan farm. Pecans are the number one commercial food crop in New Mexico and is second in national production with 67 million pounds sent to market. The dry climate helps the trees avoid fungus and disease which can plague more humid areas of production. This allows local growers to avoid using fungicides and insecticides used elsewhere. 

Working on a new look, Beard Trim - 18 November 2018

Bob was starting to look a little too out of control, so I trimmed that scraggly beard seen above. 

Dripping Springs Natural Area, Las Cruces, New Mexico - 18 November 2018 

Trail to Dripping Springs Natural Area, Bureau of Land Management. Out west there is a hidden history of Eastern folk "pioneering" the middle of our country, especially after the Civil War. A resort was developed north of Las Cruces by the Dripping Springs when a native New Yorker, Colonel Eugene Van Patten who came at the invitation of his uncle, John Butterfield, who ran the Butterfield Stage Line. At the end of a mile or so trail is the ruins of a "Mountain Camp" of 16 rooms, dining room and concert hall. Water was hand carried from the spring to the rooms by local Piro Indians. The camp was later converted into a sanatorium for those who had contracted tuberculosis.

Dripping Springs is in the background. The dark spot is where the water hits the flat rock below the "dripping" spring. Behind the bushes a catch basin was built to store the water with a spigot for filling containers. A path to the right ends at the hillside buildings used as the sanatorium. To the left is the original Resort buildings. 

The sanatorium side of the springs, built after 1917, consisted of several cottages spread out on the hillside behind and to the left of this larger structure which housed the kitchen and dining room. There was also a generator for electricity and a water pump to fill the water tank above the cottages. Gravity supplied the cottages with water from this tank.   

The original camp buildings fell into ruin and were cannibalized for use in building the new buildings for the sanatorium on the other side of the springs.

The extending ends of joists remain in the inside wall shows this building was actually two stories. 

A great place to take a break after climbing up to see the ruins. 

After a second consecutive day of walking uphill and down on large, loose gravel and deep, loose pea gravel my knees, ankles and arches were screaming for some rest. Tomorrow we have errands to run in preparation of our drive to Tucson, Arizona.