Big Bend Ranch Spring Break 2011

[steelfrog]

So, for Spring Break '11, we went as a group to the Big Bend area, starting with Big Bend Ranch State Park--which is TERRIFIC! A Hidden gem!  And with a hidden gem of a park manager, Barrett Durst!  And then off to Big Bend National Park. We hit it at a time of year when the atmosphere was very clear and the colors were "popping"! All these pics are unedited (I wouldn't know how to edit them even if I owned a editing program).

This first is the 2 little ones in The Ranch (4 and 5 y.o.):



Mandy and Nick looking into Fresno canyon; the famous Solitario across the way; part of the Flatirons section; Lower Shutup I believe is the gully to the right of the big cave to the left:



A nice shot of the southwestern Solitario, showing the high point of the Solitario Fresno Peak, the Flatirons and the curve of the Solitario to the right (south):



Big Bend Ranch sunrise:



Silvia (4 y.o.) contemplating her first rock downclimb, into Cinco Tinajas. Mom can't watch!



In Cinco Tinajas with a desert bluebonnet:



We found a really nice javelina skull, with teeth intact; here it is with a live collared lizard and some deer bones:



The 4 y.o. on her first campout, with her first campfire and her first marshmallow--history in the making!



Incredible colors in the sunsets every night:



Next we rode the River Road to the NP; here's the 5 y.o. on the LMT:



And the 4 y.o. on LMT:



And a parting shot of ET, Backbone and Picacho Ridge:



OK; that's all for today!

[steelfrog]

I am heading to The Ranch again in early March.