My mom has noticed that I've not blogged in a week, so this is to catch up on the very little news here in Big Bend. A whole new crop of volunteers started February 1 so much of the week included getting to know the new people. We had another nice pot luck dinner on Thursday, an impromptu happy hour here in our residence area, exchanges of emails and phone numbers, etc. A friend is visiting and volunteering so Mike and Nancy (returning backcountry volunteers) and I have been getting the new folks oriented, too.
On top of everything else, one day will be sunny and nearly 80 degrees and then a day like today - winds topping 50 mph, no sign of the sun, temps in the 30's, personal hikes cancelled (boo hoo!) and workdays spent finding "indoor" tasks.
I always manage to have fun regardless! So Tuesday morning I spent 10 hours picking up one of our awesome river rangers (Beau) and our equally wonderful rio volunteers (Elaine and John) from the Dryden Crossing. The trip to the crossing is about 160 miles from the RGV residence area, generally east, through the very small town of Sanderson and south through some very desolate desert. Elaine and John are such great planners providing laminated maps that are easy to follow, gracious hosts (buying us breakfast and treating us to lunch together with them at a Mexican restaurant in Sanderson), and wonderful traveling companions - so much chatter and information exchanged during our 3+ hour trip back to the park.
Elaine is SO CUTE! She did not tell us of the entertaining signs we would see as we bumped along the rocky, backcountry road to the crossing:
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| NO WAY!!! |
Since the shuttle last Tuesday, I've gone on patrol a couple of times, had a couple of meetings with our supervisor and other backcountry volunteers to plan projects for this 3 months, etc. Following are some photos from this last week, including the BIG surprise - aoudads that we saw right by the roadside about miles from our residence area. Of course the critters made their escape to high ground by the time we could get a camera ready. It is Tuesday today and we are all hoping for better weather tomorrow so we can enjoy a hike to Apache Canyon.
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| Aoudads making their escape uphill. |
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| Checking to make sure we had not followed them. Ha - fat chance! |
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| The vistas from the Ore Terminal Trail. This brought raw ore from Mexico to processing plants in the Fort Stockton area, I believe. Someone will correct me if I am wrong! |
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| The cable system transported ore cars up, down and over the mountains. |
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