Terlingua Abajo

Our day was spent wandering around the area.  There are numerous native ruins here, left from a time when they farmed along the banks of the Terlingua Creek. 

We examined the area that has been marked off for willow plantings.  On the river’s edge there is a USGS gauging station which also has a zipline with cart to cross the creek (locked!). Later we walked up the road a way and then headed up to a local high point for a better view.  The geology here is interesting and not explainable by me.  There is a lot of tuff and quartz.  Some of it is just lying on the surface (exposed by the last rain), but some of the tuff is in huge domed piles. There is a surprising amount of small surface vegetation.  A lot of recent growth that looks as if it will flower soon — requiring either time or a rainstorm.

Back at our campsite we met the group bringing in willows to plant along the creek.  They brought cuttings about 2–inches in diameter and left them to soak in the creek.  A ranger stopped by to talk with us.  He agreed that we had been given poor information about the condition of the road and shouldn’t have been given a site back here.  He said that the people who made the assignment were probably volunteers, not rangers.  In addition, he commented that the “people” on the east side of the park are not as in the know about the west side.  So tomorrow we will see if we can get out of here.  The ranger promised to check back tomorrow and would “pull” us out if we got stuck.

  

 

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)