Birds, vistas, and a shower

Just a brief entry tonight, but I always think that when I start writing. Today I drove to the other side of Big Bend, to the Cottonwood campground, with many stops along the way. My first stop was at the little store here, for gas, ice, and internet. While I was pumping gas, I looked up to see a coyote trotting across the parking lot. When I told Jake about it, he asked if I'd seen a roadrunner too. I hadn't...then.

I spent too long at the store, sitting outside and uploading my blog posts. I also talked to people. I had been talking to a couple, when I noticed they too had a Virginia license plate. (They are few and far between—75% of the cars here are from Texas.) I asked where they were from, and—you guessed it—Blacksburg! We laughed and talked for a while. They live on Shadowlake, not far from Kroger.

I finally hit the road and my first stop was only about 5 miles away, the hot springs. I changed to my bathing suit and hiked down to the river. The springs were indeed hot, and since the day was also hot, I didn't stay in for very long. I actually got in the river for a while, as the cool water felt great! I only went in about waist high, and there were other people swimming there, but I probably shouldn't have done it. I've heard that the river is pretty contaminated. But, I was careful not to get any water near my mouth or nose, so hopefully I won't die of some odd waterborne illness. I did see a lot of lizards on the trail, which was cool!

Next stop was the main visitors center. I bought a small book on the cacti of the area, and a tee shirt, and I mailed a couple of post cards. There's a small post office next to the visitors center. I still didn't spend any time at the cactus garden, but that's on my list before I leave the area.

I then headed to Cottonwood, stopping whenever there was a good view or a display. The scenery was amazing. I can't remember the name of the road, but I'll look it up before I post this. ETA: it was Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

I finally made it to the Cottonwood Campground. It's quite different from where I'm staying in Rio Grande Village. It's only about 25 campsites under some cottonwood trees. It was quite hot (maybe 90˚F) by the time I got there, so that may have influenced the way I looked at it, but I like where I'm staying much better. However, there were definitely birds! Vermillion flycatchers were everywhere, bright splashes of crimson. There were woodpeckers too. But the highlight was the roadrunners! I saw the first from a distance and got excited about it, then a second one decided it wanted to be where I was. He (she?) came right to me, then into a nearby campsite. He paid no attention at all to me as I stood there snapping pictures like a crazy person. What a funny bird!

I had hoped to hike a nearby canyon, but I took so long to get over there that I decided I'd better skip it. I decided to stop on the way back to photograph the colorful wildflowers and blooming cacti. The bonus on that was that I saw several cool birds on my stops, including a lifer, the pyrrhuloxia. It looks sort of like a mutant cardinal.

I made it back by about 7 PM, and stopped at the store for a shower. It was $2 well spent! When I got back to my campsite, Rhonda stopped by to confirm our plans for tomorrow. We're meeting at 10 AM at the border crossing. There is a nice woman with her son in the next campsite. They have a rooftop tent too, a Roofnest. Mine is a clamshell design. Roofnests are rectangular hard shells. The whole top lifts straight up, making a box-shaped tent. I had actually looked at Roofnest tents, but I'm glad I got an iKamper. She said it was hard to get hers down, as you have to pull down on all 4 sides.

I'll finish with a sunset image from yesterday, with the light reflecting on the Rio Grande.