A walk in the desert

We got an email from our volunteer coordinator that she was arranging a guided hike through what is considered an extreme section of the park.  The day fell on what is our normally scheduled day for being in the field.  We accepted the invitation, put on our uniforms and joined eight other volunteers for a walk in the desert.

Our objective for the day was to start at the Marufo Vega trail head, which is a wide spot in the road where it crosses a dry wash, walk up the wash until it branches off to the Ore Terminal trail following an abandoned aerial bucket conveyor (think ski lift for ore) and then onto the Strawhouse trail where we would enter a narrow dry wash bordered by sandstone cliffs and its bottom lined with boulders we would have to scale.

Cyndee and I both took cameras but after getting home we realized that we had hardly taken a picture.  Our trail guide was an energetic fellow, he kept things moving at a pretty good clip and didn't allow any room for the time it takes to fiddle with a camera and set up a shot.  Then there was a good part of the time that holding a camera and walking at the same time was not an option.  There were a number of places along the trail that the camera had to go in the backpack and that feet and hands had to be used simultaneously.

But in the few shots we did get, the one below caught our taskmaster/guide.  He is the one up against the sandstone outcropping, in uniform.  He is about ten years my senior but he moved around like he was twenty years my junior.  One minute he would be in front of you on the trail and the next he would be standing on the edge of a cliff 200 feet above us, and with no visible sign for how he got there.  Then in  flash he would be back in front of the group just in time to help us find the next segment of a very poorly marked and hard to follow trail.

That's Cyndee in the red backpack.  At this point the heat is just about to put her over into her cranky phase.

About halfway through our hike we entered a narrow and shallow canyon.  Once we got in a little ways there was some good shade and we took a water break.

What we did not know was that we were going to be taking a water break directly beneath some ancient rock paintings.  It was explained that dating these paintings was very difficult but that based on the style of the painting it is believed that they are a good 3,000 years old.

The bottom-most drawings seem to represent two people holding hands with rays of sunshine or falling rain above.  No one has a clue what the diamond shape represents.

One of the cactus I had heard about in training but had yet to see was a rainbow cactus.  There were several of them along our hiking trail and I managed to grab a quick shot of one as we went by at a pretty good clip.

We made it back to the trailhead a little after noon, piled into the van, cranked up the A/C and drove the couple miles it took to get to Rio Grande Village.  Everybody bailed out and headed for the picnic tables under the ramada adjacent to the grocery store/gas station.  After eating a sandwich and guzzling about a gallon of fluids we headed over to the residence area of RGV to help christen a new washer and dryer.  No joke, there was sparkling cider and plastic wine glasses, a toast and everything.

It seems that this two machine laundry was a long time in coming.  Despite the machines having been bought and delivered to the sight four years ago, today was the first day they had been operational.  The explanation was that it was a combination of the speed of a government project and the culture of "Big Bend Time".  We are learning that a lot of things around here are always mañana.

I don't know about everybody else, but mañana we have to be back to work at the basin visitor center.