Zuni's Birds & Muskhog Springs

I finally figured out the the birdies around here are ground feeders. No more feeders suspended from pretty shepherd's crooks! We are very lucky to be able to feed the birds here in our residence area because some parks have a blanket policy that prohibits feeding any wildlife outdoors anywhere in the park. Here are a couple of photos out the front door as Zuni sees it:

One of the many varieties of (as Ross calls them) "coo birds". In this case a white-winged dove.

Zuni loves them all - big and little!

Tuckered out after a morning of chasing birds from window to window.

Yesterday (Feb. 19) Walt and I were patrolling the north side of the park and stopped in to visit one of the other volunteers, Mark, at Persimmon Gap Visitor Center. He was looking for something to do so we all hiked to Muskhog Springs - which we scientifically measured the flow at 1 gallon every 8 minutes.

We felt lucky that there was water there at all since we've not had rain in over 2 months! It was pretty hot but a nice breeze kicked up from time to time in the canyon and provided some relief.

The bedrock is scoured to "slick rock" throughout most of the canyon.

The steps formed in the slick rock. Here Mark and Walt are examining the buggy creatures in a small tinaja.

Holes like this in the bedrock appear to have been made by erosive action. Note the comet-like flow of water and the rusty orange residue left by some embedded iron.

Walt relaxing at lunch time.

Mark at lunch time, too.

Me scientifically measuring the spring's flow using a 6 oz. yogurt cup. Walt came up with the idea to find a solitary pool in the spring, remove a known amount of water, then mark the time when the spring re-filled the pool and it spilled over again. I thought this was very clever!

We are now into the dry part of the winter but there are still a few flowers.

Of course the title of this photo is "Walk softly but carry a big stick"! In this case a very long sotol flower stalk.

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!

Schizophrenic Weather

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:

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.

Aoudads making their escape uphill.

Checking to make sure we had not followed them. Ha - fat chance!

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!

The cable system transported ore cars up, down and over the mountains.

A Really Nice Couple of Days

Not much new to report these days. Work rolls on and I try to find something new and beautiful each day. Right now the beautiful bi-colored mustard is in bloom and when the wind is not blowing too hard the east side of the park smells so beautiful - kind of like lilac. Yesterday the temperature never topped 50 degrees but it was a glorious sunny day with a strong breeze blowing - perfect for working outside and cruising down Old Ore Road.

A couple of weeks ago I had dinner with Alyssa and some emergency response people one of whom is also the owner of Far Flung, one of the outfitters in Terlingua. He said they always take their jeep adventure clients on Old Ore from north to south so that they will always have the Chisos mountains in their sight as they drive. So yesterday I made it a point to drive that way and WOW it was nice! The road was just as bumpy, but the weather and scenery perfect.

A little sun glare, but still a beautiful sight looking down from the Pinnacles Trail across the desert. Note slightly to the right the upside down "boot" rock from which Boot Canyon takes its name.

A hawk watching me while I was hiking.

The next day on patrol looking up from a Pine Canyon campsite at the Chisos mountains.

Yesterday's surprise! I was building a barrier along Dagger Flats road to prevent 4WD vehicles from off-roading and turned over a dead yucca trunk along the road, surprising this approximately 3.5" long Texas Banded Gecko. I believe he is a young one because he does not have any of the mottling that the species descriptions say they get as they age. Just like the experts say, he probably does not come out during the daytime, but emerges at night to hunt insects. They like to live under yuccas, rocks, etc. roadside. I especially admired his coloration and translucent legs.

That is all for today!