Winding Down at Big Bend

We are coming up on our last week of work at Big Bend.  It won't be long before we'll be hitching up and off to our next new adventure.  But before we satisfy our hitch-itch there are a few things we are trying to cram in.  Between our work schedule and the weather there were places we never got to and plants and animals left unphotographed.

Happily, while on duty at the Chisos Basin Visitor Center a Road Runner had moved to higher elevations with the rise in temperatures.  I guess his hunting opportunities were looking up in the trees and brush around the lodge.  I grabbed the camera and headed for the far end of the parking lot to stalk my prey.

Checking the high branches.

Checking the low branches.

Nothing much up here.  Time to look for greener pastures.

Scouting the parking lot.

And we're off!  I think I heard a meep! meep! this time.

Word is getting around that we, and a couple of other volunteers are leaving soon.  One of the law enforcement rangers wanted to do a little something so he arranged a pot luck dinner/party.  The decision was to have it at the volunteers residence section in the West District.  Its a little loop just off the pavement, opposite Cottonwood Campground, adjacent to the water plant.

Once the folks at the western-most (inhabited) part of the park found out they were hosting, they pulled out all the stoppers.  Tiki lights, chili pepper lights, paper lanterns and other do-dads were hung from anything that was more than five feet tall.  Brightly colored table cloths came out and were soon covered with all different kinds of dishes and concoctions from dutch ovens or one of the grills set up for the occasion.  Cyndee made up a big crock pot full of southwest soup.  Doing potlucks are justifiable excuses for going off the diet reservation.

The group getting together and set up just before the sun goes down.

Cyndee enjoying conversation with one of our counterparts in the Chisos Basin Visitor Center.  Phil and his wife Peggy are returning Basin Hosts and both are Master Naturalists.  They do interpretive programs on geology, flowers and grasses.

That's Daisy sitting at the table.  She has been volunteering in Big Bend for years and done a variety of jobs; camp host, maintenance, and trail guide.  She and her partner, Steve know places in the park that others can't find without their help.

Steve and Tina have their backs to the camera.  These two are amazing, they work in visitor protection and patrol backcountry trails and roads.  Some days they would go up and down the mountain two or three times while it took others all day to do it just once.

The intent of this picture was to capture the twinkling lights of the party but I inadvertently captured a sunset that had faded from yellows and reds to a brilliant blue.

It was a gorgeous evening.  We had been having so much wind for days and days that we were expecting to have to weight everything down and wind-swept grit in our food.  But it was anything but windy, there was barely a breath of air and the temperature could not have been more perfect.  We did not even have the normal 20 degree drop when the sun went down, it simply stayed perfect.  The party lasted about twice as long as any of us expected.  It was just too nice to let it go and head home.

But eventually things started to break up, many had to work the next day.  We loaded all our stuff back in Big Gulp, rolled the windows down and started the slow cruise back across the 38 miles to Panther Junction.  But we had just barely got started when we saw something in the road.  It was pitch black now and there was something long and light-colored stretched across the road just ahead.

Finally!  After five months in the desert, a mostly freezing five months, I am getting to see one of the "locals".  There is a huge variety of cold-blooded animals in Big Bend, more than anywhere else, but they have been mighty scarce during the unusually long, cold winter.  But tonight the air is warm and the strong sun of the afternoon had heated the asphalt enough to be inviting to a nice sized diamond back rattlesnake.

As rattlesnakes go, this one was a little thin.  (S)he had not been out of the den long enough to enjoy the multitudes of mice that have been scurrying about everywhere.  I'll bet it won't be long before that changes.

I got close enough to get a good look at the tail.  This one had eight rattles but the button was broke off.  There were eight segments on the rattler but they molt two or three times a year so you can't tell exactly how old they are by counting the rings.  But since the alternating black and white bands on its tail are very distinct, this one is pretty young.  They'll fade, blur and become more camouflaged when mature.

So much in just the last couple days.  If it keeps this up the blog is going to swell.