Apache Canyon, Rooney's & More

Good morning! It is Monday, February 17 and a federal holiday in case anyone is wondering. Walt and I were on patrol the last few days and it was the last days of my friend from Wisconsin (Mel) visit. Temperatures yesterday got up to 93 and today now promises to be in the 80's here at RGV. Keep in mind that the temperatures vary about 20 degrees - lower in the mountains, higher here at river level. The forecast a couple of days ago was for a 45 degree drop from the 90's yesterday to the 40's today, but it appears that has been amended.

Just so I remember here are some photos that Ruth sent me last night!

Tanner (foreground)  and Kitty (black & white) on the stairs inside. I see Tanner is in a playful, "chase" mode!

Tanner watching the feral outdoor kitties. Ruth says he plays with them through the window. The ferals have clipped ears so they have probably been neutered and re-released by one of the other kitty lovers in the neighborhood.

Perpetual snow in the back yard in 2014.

The view from the front porch. . .

Meanwhile, back at Big Bend . . we took a hike back to Apache Canyon. Perfect hiking conditions! I think it was in the 60's that day and, as you can see, sunny. About 8 miles round trip. Steve and the Bonos did a through hike while Tina, Mel and I hiked back out the way we went in and drove the cars around to pick up the rest of the gang.

L to R: Tina, Steve, Pam, Bobbie, Bob, Mel

Mel, Me

Tina (her hat barely visible) and Mel heading back to our vehicles with the Chisos Mountains as the back drop to this hike.

On Friday Walt and I patrolled along East River Road and hiked Rooney's Place. We saw some of the off-road tracks that Nancy and Mike had observed and put fixing them on our "to do" list for the next day. The day turned out to be pretty exciting and a learning experience. Late in the day we shuttled the Diablos firefighters from PJ back to San Vicente. On the way to San Vicente on the main road we saw LEs arresting a man. Before we had even finished the shuttle to San Vicente we were being called to help shuttle vehicles related to the law enforcement action.

We found out later that the man had been arrested for drunk driving and had to be transported to Alpine. Then we found out that he would have to spend the entire 3-day weekend in jail because of the federal holiday. Oh, well! We helped shuttle vehicles, inventory the contents of bad guy's truck, photograph evidence, etc. So much work for our LEs to keep the park safe for the rest of us!

This series of photos (up to the toilet seat photo) is from our hike to Rooney's place. I am assuming it is an old homestead, but if I cannot google more information I'll go to a Visitor Center bookstore to learn more.

We hiked along a ridge to find Rooney's place but there is an old  road that goes there, too.

See that little square top & center? That's the first glimpse of Rooney's place.

Amazing layers of earth that were pushed up eons ago to form these hills.

Flowers blooming amongst the desert winter dryness.

Walt finds the "missing" toilet seat at Solis #1!! Yea, Walt!

In these next few photos are some cacti, building and ravens hanging out at the Mariscal Mines. This was where cinnabar was mined and distilled into liquid mercury from about 1900 to 1943. After WWI and WWII the price for mercury and demand for mercury dropped and the Mariscal and Terlingua mines went belly-up. Information on the mines indicates that all the Mexican workers and their families died of mercury poisoning related diseases. Visitors are warned not to touch the bricks and artifacts of this area because they are still contaminated with mercury.

Yesterday was our last day on patrol before days off and we patrolled Pine Canyon. I only took one beauty shot and 2 photos of violations below.

There were 3 of these visitor-built cairn on the Pine Canyon trail. Not good. Walt imagines that a family with kids were hiking up here and the parents were tired of entertaining the kids so they let them build these cairn right in the middle of the trail. They also cut vegetation (another big "no no") and stuck them in the middle of the cairn.

New initials carved into this Texas Madrone tree.

Well, that is about it for today! I'm doing some routine maintenance today, watching "The Bachelor" with friends Linda and Liz tonight, then off to El Paso tomorrow and probably an RGV group dinner Wednesday after work. It was great talking to Mom, Ruth, Jaye, and Heather yesterday afternoon!