Westward Ho, Desert Country

April 2 - Pahrump, NV - Our escape from the cold is almost over for this winter. Tomorrow we start heading to the not-so-warm north. We hope to be back in Lethbridge by Sunday. We will update the last few weeks of our journey when we return "home". Thanks for your patience - stay tuned!

Well, we're heading west now on the long trek back home. We took a little jog north into New Mexico to see Roswell and Carlsbad and then headed back into Texas on our route west. You know the drill - newest entries at the top, captions below the pictures. This is a cluster of 4 Mogollon masks repesenting their ancestral spirits. More than 200 mask pictographs have been found at Hueco Tanks, the largest collection in North America.

These are just a few of the pictographs that we saw beneath the rock. The colour was incredible considering they were painted hundreds of years ago.

At one point we had to crawl into a very narrow space under a large overhanging rock where we saw a group of beautiful pictographs preserved from the elements. It was well worth the claustrophobia. Other tribes who lived in the area are the Kiowa, Mescalero Apache and Tigua. This pictograph is part of a rock painting depicting white dancing figures. It was done by the Mescalero Apaches around 1800 AD. Over 2000 pictographs have been found in the Park - in crevices, under rocks, in caves. Some date back as far as 10,000 years ago. Most of the pictographs were done by the Jornada Mogollon tribe. Our guide showed us their art, pottery shards, mortars and ancient earthen dams. Most of the art pictured animals, birds and large-eyed figures but the most famous images are the masks. Hueco Tanks is famous for its rock art and ancient pictographs. This overhanging rock provided shelter at a stopping point on the Butterfield Overland Mail run and, as you can see, people carved their names over the pictographs as long ago as 1884. I guess vandalism isn't a modern phenomenon. I think the picture of the man in the cowboy hat must be a self-portrait!

March 8 - On our last morning at Hueco Tanks, I took a guided rock art/pictograph tour. Our guide, Ed, was extremely knowledgeable about the Park. He grew up in the area and used to camp out here as a boy long before it was a park and visitation was restricted. He became a volunteer just so he could visit the Park whenever he wished. These are the trams which carried us up the mountain. We rose 946 feet in 4 minutes to a height of 5,632 feet. The view to the west - on the right is New Mexico and far off in the distance is Arizona. Here you can see downtown El Paso and just beyond it, on the other side of the Rio Grande, is Juarez - the 4th largest city in Mexico.

March 7 - We took the Wyler Aerial Tramway to the top of Ranger Peak in El Paso's Franklin Mountains. From the top you can see 2 countries (U.S. & Mexico) and 3 states (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona (in the distance). This is a view to the east - the airport, Fort Bliss and Biggs U.S. Army Airfield. Another view from the top. I waited below to call 911 in case Ted fell (unfortunately there was no cell service here - oops!!). I had no desire to climb (or scramble, as Ted called it) straight up large boulders using only my fingernails. Ted, being Ted, had to climb to the highest point on the North Mountain. Far below you can see the Park Visitor Centre. This is one of the larger huecos we saw - most held no water because of the drought conditions. Hopefully the rainy season will soon begin.

The Park is named Hueco Tanks after the huecos (hollows) found in the rock. Over 34 million years ago, magma pushed up into an older limestone formation and then cooled. Weathering eroded the overlying limestone and carved the now-exposed igneous rock into its present form. The huecos hold and trap precious water in the desert and the rocks provide shelter and shade so the area has been able to support people, plants and animals for thousands of years. This is one small pile of rocks on the North Mountain. Welcome to Hueco Tanks State Historic Park located in the Chihuahuan Desert about 20 miles east of El Paso. We stayed in the campground here for 4 nights and would have liked to stay longer except it was booked solid for spring break by rock climbers. The area looks as if God picked up a mountain and dropped it, shattering it into 3 large piles of huge rocks. The Park limits the number of visitors and only the North Mountain can be explored without a guide. Also in the Park is the peak known as El Capitan (8085 feet). There are lots of great trails in the Park that we'd like to hike someday. March 4 - On our way to El Paso, TX, we stopped at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for lunch. This is the highest peak in Texas (8749 feet).

When we left Carlsbad Caverns, we took a drive through Lincoln National Forest. We had hoped to visit Sitting Bull Falls, but the gates were already closed. As you can see, the snow still hadn't melted. After eating lunch at a cafeteria 750 feet below the surface, we entered the Big Room. It is 8.2 acres in size (14 football fields) and absolutely filled with every type of cave formation possible. The highlights included the Bottomless Pit, Rock of Ages and Painted Grotto. Seen above are the Giant Dome and Twin Domes. When the tour was over we took an elevator to the top which sure beat walking the 750 feet back to the surface. The Natural Entrance and the Big Room Routes were both self-guiding tours, but we rented the audio-phones to get the most out of it. To enter any of the other caverns, you must be accompanied by a guide. In the Natural Entrance, we descended 750 feet via a series of steep switchbacks and saw the Bat Cave, Devil's Spring and Iceberg Rock, a 200,000-ton boulder that fell from the cave ceiling thousands of years ago. In this picture a stalactite is growing towards a stalagmite. They are only a few inches apart, but it will probably take thousands of years before they meet to form a column. This is the mouth of the Natural Entrance of the cavern as seen from the steps of the amphitheatre. Carlsbad Cavern was discovered by local cowboy, Jim White, in 1901. He explored it for the next 30 years and made amazing discoveries. This is definitely the best Cavern we have visited although Ted remarked that Luray is still the most colourful. We made the best of it, however, by visiting the Carlsbad Caverns where the temperature was much warmer down below than it was above ground. In the picture you can see the amphitheatre where people gather at dusk from April to November to watch thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats leave the cavern on their nightly search for food. The mass exodus can last from 20 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Only a few bats had returned this early so we didn't see any.

March 3 - THE UNTHINKABLE - SNOW!!!! Ted was devastated when we stuck our noses out the trailer door and saw snow-covered ground in New Mexico!! This wasn't supposed to happen! Up close and personal with a rattlesnake. Thank heaven there was glass between us. I don't know what it is about Ted, but he managed to upset it somehow and you actually hear its tail rattling through the glass. This is one of six Mexican gray wolves at the Zoo; these are an endangered species. Other animals at the Zoo include cougars, bobcats, bison, elk, javelinas, prairie dogs and mule deer. Meet Maggie, the bear, a member of the local art community. Maggie loves to cover her paws in paint and walk across sheets of paper strewn on the floor. Her paintings are then matted, framed, displayed and sold at the Visitor Centre. She was near death and traumatized when she came to the Zoo from Georgia and painting is part of her therapy. This area is part of the Chihuahuan Desert and on the self-guided tour we saw cacti, succulents, juniper trees, pinon, sand dunes and desert uplands. The cacti were just starting to bloom.

March 2 - It was a beautiful day so we spent the day outside at the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. It's a safe haven for animals who have been injured or orphaned. Above you can see a one-legged roadrunner. Roadrunners prefer not to fly and can run as fast as 15 mph (on two legs, of course!) I took the opportunity to make a few new friends. Beam me up, Scotty!!

This is one of the displays in the Museum. The exhibits could use some updating - the movie was over 20 years old. The Museum includes a day-to-day accounting of events including witness testimonies, photographs, maps and newspapers. There are also exhibits on crop circles, UFO encounters, Area 51, etc. March 1 - Being huge X-Files fans, we had to make the trip to Roswell, site of the infamous "Roswell Incident". On July 4, 1947 a UFO allegedly crashed in a field about 70 miles outside of town. Mac Brazel, the ranch hand who found the UFO, brought the debris to Roswell a couple of days later. A local newspaper reported the incident on July 8, 1947, but the next day a press release was issued stating it was just a weather balloon that had crashed and that was the start of the Roswell Incident cover-up. The Museum is currently housed in an old movie theatre and is trying to raise money to build a more UFO-like building. Note: the street lights have alien faces! February 29 - This is our campsite in Brantley Lake State Park, New Mexico just a few miles north of Carlsbad. We can't say enough about the state park campgrounds - power, water, large sites, picnic shelters - some even provide clothes lines and sewer - at a very reasonable price.

Hill Country, Texas

We really loved San Antonio and the Hill Country. There's so much to see and do in Texas - we've only scratched the surface. We'll definitely be back again. Just a reminder - most recent pictures at the top, oldest at the bottom, captions are below the pictures. February 29 - Oil and gas wells dotted the landscape north of Fort Stockton. Wind power and fossil fuels - western Texas is making use of both. February 28 - On our way to New Mexico, we saw hundreds of wind turbines, most of them on top of mesas. These were located just east of Fort Stockton and reminded us of Fort Macleod and Pincher Creek. After showing you beautiful historic buildings, we thought we should show you a contemporary one. This house was on the other side of the Guadalupe River from the road to our campground and everytime we went by we remarked on how unique (??) it was. We finally had to take a closer look and decided we really didn't want to be on the top floor during a windstorm. If nothing else, it must have a great view. Looks like a giant treehouse, doesn't it? Mission San Juan was also built in 1731. I loved the bell towers which are still in use.

The San Jose Mission is noted for its beautiful "Rose Window", an example of Spanish Colonial ornamention. It is said to be carved by Pedro Huizar in honour of his sweetheart, Rosa, who was lost at sea while on her way from Spain to join him. The less romantic theory is that it was named after Saint Rose of Lima, the first saint of the New World. I like the first theory better. Mission San Jose, established in 1720, was one of the most prosperous. The church itself was completed in 1782. At that time 350 Indians were living in 84 two-room apartments which lined the walls of the compound. The entire mission including the grist mill and granary have been restored. Paintings on the exterior of the mission have faded, but the interior wall and ceiling paintings have retained their colour and beauty. I made Ted go on a mission tour. There are 5 missions in San Antonio including the Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero) and most still hold religious services. I managed to see all but one (I didn't want to push my luck!!). The one pictured above is Mission Concepcion. Built in 1731, it is the oldest un-restored stone church in the U.S. February 24 - We paid a visit to the North Star Mall in San Antonio, and like everything else in Texas, the cowboy boots are bigger!!

HemisFair Park was built for the 1968 World's Fair and is now a great park filled with waterfalls, fountains and beautiful gardens. The view of downtown San Antonio from the observation level of the Tower. The Tower of the Americas - a 750 foot tower that was built for the HemisFair in 1968. We went up 500 feet in a glass-walled elevator to the restaurant and observation level. Back on ground level, we enjoyed a 4-D movie, "Skies Over Texas". It was great - instead of the usual 3-D, our chairs actually rocked while we went bull riding, a blast of air made us think a rattlesnake had just slithered past our legs and when a longhorn steer shook its head and sprayed drool, we actually felt droplets of water on our faces. Yuck!!! What a great way to spend the day! The river and canals of the "American Venice" wind for almost two and a half miles under a series of bridges which allow pedestrians to cross from one side of the river to the other. They actually drain the river/canals once a year (I thought they were kidding at first) at the annual Mud Festival to remove some of the debris that collects during the year.

We went on the River Walk boat cruise and really enjoyed seeing historic buildings, gargoyles, the Rivercenter Mall (above) and a real-life wedding in progress. This is the famous River Walk (Paseo del Rio) of San Antonio. Located one level below the downtown streets, it is a series of walkways along the San Antonio River lined with hotels, art and gift shops, boutiques, restaurants and sidewalk cafes. Things move at a much slower pace than on the busy streets above, but it is easy to go back and forth between the two. In honour of the anniversary celebrations, re-enactments of the siege took place. It gave us quite a start to look over our shoulders as we walked down to the River Walk and see men aiming their "rifles" at us. These are the grounds of the Alamo which was originally a mission when it was built in 1724. It became a military post in the early 1800s. February 23 - You can't pay a visit to San Antonio and not visit the Alamo. It was extremely busy the day we were there as they were celebrating the 172nd anniversary of the first day of the 13-day siege in 1836. Less than 200 Texians and Tejanos managed to hold off over 1500 Mexicans until March 6, 1836 when nearly all the defenders of the Alamo were killed including knife fighter Jim Bowie and frontiersman Davy Crockett. The Alamo became a symbol of a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds and Sam Houston is said to have shouted "Remember the Alamo!" as he led the Texans to victory over the Mexicans at San Jacinto on April 21st.

You know you're in Texas when you see longhorn cattle grazing in the pastures. This was definitely ranching country. One poor lonely tree and a few shrubs managed to grow at the top We finally reached the top and couldn't believe our bad luck - the batteries in our camera were totally dead. We couldn't even get one picture, but then we were fortunate to meet a couple and their daughter from Dallas and they were kind enough to take our pictures and email them to us. We really appreciate their kindness. Thank you, Lynne, for proving that we made it to the top. What a view!! It was a fairly steep climb up the Summit Trail - 485 feet in half a mile, but we made it to the top and the view was totally worth it. From Luckenbach we drove to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, the large hill you can see in the picture. Enchanted Rock is a pink granite dome that rises 425 feet above the surrounding countryside. The Tonkawa Indians named it believing that ghost fires flickered at the top on moonlit nights. It was said to be the site of human sacrifices so while some tribes used it as a gathering place, others feared it and refused to set foot on it. Others said a Spanish conquistador had cast a spell on it. Whatever the truth might be, it is considered to be a place of awe and wonder.

Walk across a bridge from the store and you'll find a large open area beside the river where guys were setting up tents for the free dance they were holding that evening. We had to stop at the concession and have a dill pickle on a stick and sopapillas with honey. I know it's a weird combination, but boy, was it good! This is the side of the "outhouse". If you look closely, you can find license plates from Alberta and Saskatchewan! February 21 - Luckenbach, TX. We didn't see Willie or Waylon, but we were lucky to find a group of local musicians singing country songs and telling stories. Luckenbach is a small town (pop ~25) with a general store/tavern and dance hall. The town, founded in 1849 as a trading post, was bought by Hondo Crouch in 1970 for $30,000 when he saw it offered for sale in a newspaper. It's a great place to hear country music - by both well-known talent and those who just like to jam for the thousands of visitors Luckenbach receives each year. On our hike we found a place where we could tether our horses, but we settled for resting in the shade instead. Horses were allowed in the park and people had to yield the trail to them. Here you can see the high limestone bluffs along the river. This park is a great place to swim, hike, fish, picnic or go tubing.

February 21 - Although the Guadalupe River ran just west of our campground, we drove a few miles and spent the afternoon at Guadalupe River State Park. In places it was extremely shallow; the drought the southern states is experiencing is very obvious when you see the rivers here. The water is incredibly clear - you can see the fish swimming by. You can see a variety of trees, too - giant bald cypress, oak, pecan and elm. This formation is known as the King's Throne. I wish we could show you these in 3-D; pictures don't do them justice. Welcome to Sherwood Forest. The columns looked like a forest of trees, hence the name! This is our guide, Becca. At this point we were about 180 feet below the surface and behind her is Purgatory Creek which reaches a depth of 211 feet. The colours in the Cavern were not as brilliant as those at Luray Caverns, VA, but we found the tour to be more informative. February 20 - Close to our campground just outside of New Braunfels, TX is the Natural Bridge Caverns named after the natural bridge you see above. We walked for half a mile underground surrounded by amazing stalactites, stalagmites, columns, etc. It was discovered in 1960 by 4 college students from St. Mary's College in San Antonio.