NPS

Capitol Reef National Park

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The dome in the middle reminded folks of the US Capitol, but the geologic speciality of the park is the reef, or Waterpocket Fold, one of the longest continually exposed monoclines (like a wrinkle) in the world, almost 100 miles north to south. Cathedral Valley in the north and Muley Twist Canyon in the south are difficult to access without a high clearance 4×4, but the geologic layers can all be seen in the middle cross section near the Fruita orchard. The Hickman Bridge trail above is a good place to see the dome, but the scenic drive along the fold is exceptional. The unpaved side trip into Capitol Gorge is particularly striking, and there’s a hike from the parking lot up to see the eroded round water-pockets for which the fold is named.

This is my favorite park to learn about the geology of the west, from the high country mountains like Great Basin and Rocky at 12,000 feet, to the high plateaus like Cedar Breaks at 10,000 feet and Bryce at 8,000 feet, to standing up country with Natural Bridges at 6,000 feet, Arches at 5,000 feet, Zion at 4,000 feet and the many layered Grand Canyon spanning from 8,000 to 2,000 feet, and all the way down to the low desert of Death Valley more than 250 feet below sea level. At Capitol Reef, the ranger’s geology talk explained how the changing climate and continental shifts over hundreds of millions of years left repeated layers of deposits, lifted them up unevenly and eroded them into the wonderful scenery we see today. The same patterns repeat, not just one ancient inland sea or forest or swamp or grassland or desert, but many repeated environments were slathered over one another and pressed into rock.

Why are there weird discolored greenish mounds along the Green River? Those were from one of the swampy periods (Morrison) when oxygen was low, materials were soft and clay-like and they contain late Jurassic dinosaur fossils. Why are there similar colored layers at much different altitudes? They were from different swampy periods and contain different fossils. What causes the alternating pink and beige layers of hoodoos and other rock formations? The layers are made of the same kind of rock, but in some years the iron oxidized and in others it couldn’t due to water changes. Where did all the sand come from to make all the sandstone layers? Much of the sand eroded from the old Appalachian Mountains, flowed down ancient rivers and blew across to the west.

Even if you’re completely uninterested in Geology, you might be interested in the outlaws who hid in the remote areas nearby, like the Wild Bunch, which included Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. Or maybe tour the old orchard and learn about pioneers. Or take a moment to think of those Uranium miners, many Native Americans, who still suffer radiation poisoning, or think about the wildlife who can’t read the warning signs. This is an uncrowded and under appreciated national park. Highly recommended.

Canyonlands National Park

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Although a neighbor to Arches, this park is very different. While the arches are easily approached by car and on foot, exploring the canyon lands requires long river journeys, multi-day backcountry camping, rock-climbing, mountain biking or challenging 4X4 drives. The three main sections, Islands of the Sky, Needles and the Maze aren’t even linked by 4×4 roads or hiking trails. Arches can be thoroughly explored in a single day or enjoyed in a couple hours. Canyonlands in entirety needs weeks, specialized gear, teamwork and planning.

I’ve planned a half dozen different trips here, but so far I’ve only actually managed one superficial visit to peer down into the foreboding, dark deep maroon canyons far below. I took in the views from the Islands of the Sky, observing the Colorado River somewhere down in the photo above, the Green River from another overlook 13 miles down the road, and the Grand View at the southern point looking over miles of canyons across to Needles and the Maze. The popular view point Mesa Arch was crowded with photographers at dawn despite the freezing temperature.

John Wesley Powell explored this last great unexplored area of the US in 1869, traveling down the Green River from Dinosaur through Desolation Canyon to the confluence with the Colorado River and on through Cataract Canyon to Glen and the Grand Canyon. Powell and his crew mapped and named major features in these four national parks, especially Canyonlands, so I recommend visiting his museum in Green River, Utah, watching the film there or reading accounts of his expeditions. Powell was a one armed veteran of Shiloh and a trained geologist who led a group of grizzled veterans and explorers through this land in a few small wooden boats when common wisdom said “impossible”. This is a great park to celebrate Powell and all our adventurous western explorers, including Beckwourth, Fremont, Ashley, Manly, Gunnison, the Spanish and the Native Americans.

Arches National Park

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Landscape Arch above spans over 100 yards. Photographs fail to render the three dimensional features. Only by hiking up the trail, turning that last corner and wandering around to view from different angles do the arches reveal their true nature. My head was spinning trying to take in the detailed patterns on rock faces, judge the sizes of dramatically shaped features, imagine the geologic timescale and focus on the variety of terrain in every direction at different distances.

The reason there are more arches here than anywhere else in the world is salt. As elsewhere, the land formed in layered deposits, rose up and eroded. The unique part was that there were more layers of salt from shallow inland seas which slowly migrated underground and piled up against a hard fault line, forming an unstable underground salt dome that liquified and caused many long straight vertical cracks in the rock layer above. The exposed fins of sandstone eroded from both sides forming many arches and small windows. (Bridges are entirely different than arches).

In theory, the most famous arches are easily explored. Only a few miles from Moab, the main park road climbs up through the dramatic red canyon and branches off towards Delicate Arch above a salty valley, past Balanced Rock towards the Windows and up above to the Devil’s Garden. Each area has parking, and many of the trails are easy. In March, there were only a few visitors in the morning, and every arch waited patiently for me to admire. But by April the park requires timed reservations due to crowds, and in summer the heat can become dangerous. So in practice, you should time your visit thoughtfully, especially if you want to capture sunrise or sunset views without crowds. This is one of my favorite parks for geologic features.

Big Thicket National Preserve

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Best paddling day yet! I took the Cooks Lake to Scatterman Paddling Trail, and the middle section is like a slalom through the trees. A local canoe guide told me about the old trees above, several of which are over a hundred and fifty years old. The loop is about 5 miles and goes up through some low current dead ends and back downstream via the Naches River, so it’s not a difficult paddle. The only trick is to explore the flat water, try to get a close up of the snapping turtles before they jump back in the water and try to quietly sneak up on the wood ducks before they take flight. Blue skies, green leaves and muddy water. Glorious.

After so much frustration trying to kayak the Rio Grande, this has been a slice of paradise in the Big Thicket, supported by another excellent Texas State Park (Village Creek) and an exceptional local restaurant (Tia Juanita’s Fish Camp). Remind me to winter here for the rest of my life. My main suggestion is to budget more time for this area. There are roughly eight different sections of Big Thicket to explore, miles of paddling trails and nearby state parks including beaches. My final Texas park unit is one of my favorite parks for paddling.

Padre Island National Seashore

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I joined a few kayakers at Bird Island Basin to explore the Laguna Madre on the calm inland side of Padre Island in perfect conditions and enjoyed close up views of well over a dozen bird species fishing in the murky salty water, resting on the muddy beach and hopping around in the low grasses & brush. As usual, I wasn’t able to take good photos while bobbing along in my kayak, so here’s one I took from my car window of a Laughing Gull. With a number of birders in my family, I tried to identify at least a few of the endangered species: Reddish Egret, Least Tern, Brown Pelican, White Tailed Hawk, and at least two of their three endangered Plovers. Including the ocean side and sprawling grassland, there were Ruddy Turnstones, Curlews, Willets, a Tricolored Heron, and various ducks, sparrows, and raptors, and who knew there were so many different types of terns?

After the birds, Padre Island belonged to Native Americans first, and the visitor center and beach nearby are named after the Malaquite. The Spanish claimed it next, and silver treasure was found from one of their shipwrecks. Then the Republic of Texas claimed it, and finally the US won it in the Mexican American War. A Padre who collected funds for Rio Grande missions built a home here, prompting the name as well as the companion name for the lagoon. The Laguna Madre stretches into Tamaulipas Mexico and is the largest hypersaline coastal lagoon in the world, a critical stop on the flyways for many migratory birds in the Americas.

Prior ranching, military use and driving on the beach make the island less than pristine, but the park service has helped recover Ridley and other sea turtle populations here. There are specially adapted birds, fish, crabs, shellfish, reptiles, bugs, and other animals here, some of which live nowhere else. Unfortunately, fossil fuel drilling is still allowed in this area, which threatens all species in many ways, especially by climate change and rising seas.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park

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[Note: Starting today, I’m switching to Monday, Wednesday & Friday posts to keep more up to date.]

The strange elk in the background are actually Nilgai, an Asian Antelope that escaped from a ranching project and now live in the park. In a way, it’s appropriate to start with an invasive species, since this park marks the start of the Mexican American War. In the 1840’s President Polk campaigned on expanding the country westward and as President sent troops to the Rio Grande, even though Mexico viewed it as their territory. Mexico, having only recently won its independence in 1821, was having trouble managing its northernmost territories, and lost control of much of Texas during a revolt by American settlers in the 1830’s. When Mexico’s army crossed the Rio Grande to expel the interlopers, Polk claimed that America was under attack and the war was on.

Mexico laid siege to a small fort on the north bank of the Rio Grande, and US troops were rushed in from up the coast to reinforce it. The two forces met in the middle here in a dry part of the delta. The US had better artillery, and the Mexicans had more men. The US troops were under command of Zachary Taylor, who later turned his war fame into a successful run for President, and many veterans of this battle would go on to serve in the Civil War. Lt. US Grant, who opposed war with Mexico personally, engaged in his first battle here. Between heavier guns firing more deadly shells, light guns quickly turned to face flanking attacks, and well trained US troops who engaged in hand to hand combat between here and the fort, the Mexican Army was forced to retreat. Around 100 Mexican troops and 10 US troops died in battle here.

Today the field is marked with flags and cannon to show the positions of the two sides and ‘interpretive exhibits’—small signs—to explain what happened in different places where the troops faced off. Closer to Brownsville, there’s a much smaller battlefield, the Resaca de la Palma, where the Mexican Army bravely made a stand to protect their retreat. There is a viewing platform of the resaca, meaning ‘often dry river delta channel’ (and not ‘hangover’, as the word means today). The siege of the fort was lifted, but the fort’s leader Major Brown and one other US soldier were killed in action. The fort and eventual city, Brownsville, were later named for the young officer.

Although the site only covers the first week of the war that took place in what’s now the US, the war raged on for two more years with US troops taking cities deep into Mexico, until Mexico agreed to cede Texas and sell its rights west all the way to the Pacific. Mexico lost 1/2 its territory and the US doubled in size. As interesting and consequential as the history is, the site is a well-marked field with a path for each army, so it requires some imagination and curiosity to appreciate. The small visitor center is educational, bilingual, has an informative film, and has enthusiastic and knowledgeable rangers and volunteers. But by all means go out on the battlefield, if only to see the wildlife. I saw over a dozen Nilgai, several hawks hunting in the tall grasses, a crested caracara, and more. This is a well-known area for birders.

Amistad National Recreation Area

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In 1969, just below the confluence of the Rio Grande, Devils and Pecos Rivers, a dam was built, creating Lake Amistad (friendship en Español). The lake caused the mouths of the Pecos River and Seminole Creek (above) to silt up, and now that the water level has fallen (like Lake Mead and Lake Powell) they’re cut off from the Rio Grande (see far right). Most of the boat ramps, like the small dock at the cave above, are no longer accessible. The lake is far below minimum expectations, because the US diverts virtually all the Rio Grande water before it even reaches Big Bend. From there most of the river comes from Mexico’s Río Conchos. The park is run in partnership with many agencies, and the two towns that share the border are friendly and have joint cultural festivals annually. Mexico maintains a small fishery, US residents enjoy bass fishing, and the border is marked with buoys. I took one of the old highway ‘spurs’ straight down to the water, but it was too hot to kayak in winter.

Panther Cave, across the canyon above, is on the far western park boundary. While the park film absurdly claims that “no Native Americans have any ties to the area”, the canyon is Seminole Canyon, and the cave is an important site for prehistoric cave art. The Amistad visitor center has information and large reproductions of the cave art, and the excellent Seminole Canyon State Park has morning ranger-led tours to another similar cave and a few miles of hiking trails to see the view above. Before man dammed and drained the rivers and destroyed the riparian ecosystems, Native Americans must have traveled up the Rio Grande to Albuquerque, where some of the oldest petroglyph art was created at the same time as the art here. Sitting on the cliff above observing the wildlife, I imagined prehistoric people hunting, traveling by canoe, drawing on the cave walls and protecting their families from panthers, until thunder warned me to seek shelter.

Big Bend National Park

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Santa Elena Canyon, like many of the sights here, is majestic with 1500’ cliffs, with Canyon Wren staccato song echoing back and forth, and elusive beavers hiding along the banks. The Rio Grande enters the park through here, departing through Boquillas Canyon. They don’t make it easy to get a river pass, apparently preferring guides. I wasn’t allowed to kayak without two PFD’s?!? But the views from the trail are spectacular.

The middle of the park is dominated by the chiseled Chisos Mountains which have impressive wildlife including bears, mountain lions and rare birds, challenging hikes and a good restaurant. And the views stretch for miles in all directions across desert, scrub, dry creeks, gullies, plateaus and rocky outcroppings of all shapes to more distant hills, mountains, mesas and empty space. Sunset is best from up here, and the lodge has a bar and large patio with a great view of the basin. There are some ranger activities each week, but mostly you’re on your own out here, with terrain, heat, wildlife and distances that make hiking potentially dangerous. So take care.

A trip here needs 3 days just to visit all four corners, and there’s only one electric campground (Rio Grande Village RV) which was booked solid. Still, I was determined to avoid burning carbon, so no guided tours. I charged outside the park at the classy Gage Hotel and in Terlingua, at a Juicebox behind a brick wall in a construction site that rents Jeeps. I spotted three other Teslas and a Volt in the park, but you need to be thoughtful about charging (and not forget your hotel key and have to drive back to return it). I needn’t have worried. Since the park speed limit is 45, my range was better than expected, especially after turning off the climate control and opening my windows.

People are seriously damaging nature, as seen in both the devastating 2019 Castalon Wildfire, which destroyed the historic visitor center and store, and the drastically reduced water volume of the Rio Grande. Large gas vehicles with bad mpg should be named “Chevy Smoker” or “Ford Smog” and their drivers need bumper stickers like “I ❤️ Wildfires” & “I ❤️ Hurricanes”, because that’s what they’re exacerbating. Folks who live in western communities with golf courses, water features and ornamental plants, should name their neighborhoods “Wildlife’s End” or “Extinction Junction”, because they’re diverting rivers from our public parks, destroying ecosystems. Too many folks live in denial of the Climate Crisis, while driving a ‘Denali’ and living in ‘Ocotillo’. If you’re still using wasting gas and water in the west, then you shouldn’t pretend you like nature. You obviously don’t care enough.

Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River

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The Rio Pequeño (not grande with this low water) enters the Boquillas Canyon here and continues down to Amistad. Hiking into the canyon along the border, there are few signs of the modern world, and I suddenly felt like I was in a classic western movie when I heard horses approaching. Three horse riders offered handcrafted souvenirs and chicken tamales as they passed, and when one was crossing back to Boquillas Mexico on horseback, his horse had to bend down to knee level to drink from the middle of the river. Hardly worth crossing by rowboat at the port of entry, when folks were wading across the river. (Yeah, yeah rules, but no harm no foul with kids just playing in the water).

The Climate Crisis is playing havoc with my plans. Not sure when I’ll get the kayak wet this trip. A few days ago, I was trudging through the snow in Zion, and here in winter the temperature hit over 100 degrees on the trail. Best to visit in February, and always bring plenty of water. Last year I just carried a water bottle, but now I use a 3L hydration pack with another 5 gallon container in my car. The heat is no joke; a hiker died here just a few days ago, one more of many.

Due to low water and logistics, I’m only exploring the river from the dusty trails and grand overlooks within Big Bend. The US and Mexico protect 200 miles of land alongside the river, including the canyon above, another at Santa Elena and a big reserve on the south bank opposite Big Bend. In particular, there’s a nature trail at Rio Grande Village, where I spotted a half dozen bird species in minutes, including a Great Blue Heron and my first sighting of a Black Phoebe flycatcher. It’s unfortunate that so many communities take most of the river water without considering the downstream impact on birds and other species. I know people pay extra for golf courses, ornamental plants and water features, but national nature reserves suffer directly as a result. Americans need to invest in solar desalination facilities and leave rivers alone.

Blackwell School National Historic Site

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From 1889 to 1965, the school was segregated, separate but equal by ‘social pressure’ (i.e. racism) in Texas: Hispanic only. Our diversity is a great strength and should be celebrated, not used to divide us. When the Civil Rights movement integrated Marfa’s schools, Blackwell closed. Later some of the proud alumni organized to preserve their school building and grounds, and President Biden has now designated it an official park site, joining other schools in the system, such as Abiel Smith, Penn, Brown, and Little Rock, and joining César Chávez in covering modern Latino history.

[Updated] On 17 July 2024, Blackwell became the 430th park unit, after completing acquisition of property from Marfa’s school district. When I visited, Blackwell was only open noon to 4pm on weekends—not the same time zone as El Paso—, and restoration plans were being decided. Inside are personal photos that bring back the old days, describing Principal Blackwell, teachers, students, athletes and community events. Hopefully, future exhibits will help bring those stories to life with a park film.

In 1955, Hollywood came to Marfa to film James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in Giant. Before that the biggest thing to happen in Marfa was their baseball team, the Indians, competing for the championship in ‘29 and ‘48. Nowadays, Marfa is known for eclectic art exhibits and UFO’s. Just outside of town is a Prada display by the roadside, and if you go the other way, people watch the mysterious lights on the horizon that just have to be aliens. (Really, there’s no other explanation possible!).

I passed nearby Marfa when visiting Fort Davis, and it’s fascinating to me that the original stone school here was built while the fort was still in operation. I recommend staying at one of the quirky campgrounds like El Cósmico which has Tesla engineer designed Jupe shelters and getting local wine and pizza at Para Llevar (to go en Español). And just wander around this weird town that defies becoming a ghost.