Gale here. We spent all day May 25 going to and through the Big Bend National Park. South from Marfa we followed Texas 67 to Presidio, then along 170 to Study Butte and into the park. We saw the western third of the park (it’s Texas big) and waded, ok stepped lightly, into the Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon. Highlight for me was the geology. Many lava flows like the Northwest but over several exposed layers of sedimentary rock. What intrigued me most was the clarity of the volcanic dikes making their way through the sedimentary rock to the surface. We stopped at the Soltol Vista overlook and had it been a clearer day I think we could have seen Mexico City. Santa Elena Canyon is carved by the Rio Grande. The red walls reminded us of the Grand Canyon. For most of time we followed the river as it meanders and braids itself through a flat valley floor. It was humbling to see how productive it had been in its youth. We drove out of the park to Alpine through a serious thunderstorm, thankful to be off of the park roads vulnerable to flash flooding.
Isn't geology just amazing! Glad you enjoyed it so much without any flash flooding. Incidentally I KNOW Texas big. When I was a youngun heading out to to Arizona from Ohio during a college winter break I first encountered Texas big. It took us 33 hours to travel through 7 states to reach our destination at Chiricahua National Monument from Granville, OH, 11 of those hours were just crossing Texas alone. THAT is big!
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