At first, we thought it said Burro Mesa Pulloff. That seemed to make sense. Maybe this was an historic location where burros pulled off to rest, drink water, and chew on a desert bush or two. Then we saw it was Pouroff. So what’s a pouroff? A contest between bartenders? We read the National Park info board. Apparently water poured off of Burro Mesa and down into this gravel canyon during thunderstorms, flooding it. Given that the canyon was quite beautiful and that there were no thunderheads looming overhead, Peggy and I decided to go for a walk.
Today’s post was supposed to be about Big Bends Chisos Mountains. I even included a ‘teaser’ photo in my last blog. When I reviewed our photos, however, I quickly decided that a fourth blog was needed. This is it. There may even be a fifth. Most of today’s photos were taken along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive shown below.
Ross Maxwell Scenic DriveThe little green hiker might be in a heap of trouble if water came pouring down the two steep canyons off of Burro Mesa.Peggy at the beginning of the trail. The buff colored rock is volcanic tuft.A close up.We were particularly impressed with the colorful tuft formation above the trail.And took several photos of it. And now for a potpourri of other photos we mainly took along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Road and a few thoughts on why we took them.Layer upon layer seeming to tumble down the cliff.Erosion can create wildly wonderful rock sculptures and this is one. We thought it looked like a dog. Too bad it didn’t look a bit more like a chihuahua given its location in the Chihuahuan Desert. Chihuahuas, BTW, got their name from the town of Chihuahua located in the Mexico portion of the Chihuahuan Desert. Geologists love deserts. There is little to hide the rocks. Peggy and I love deserts for the same reason. We are particularly fond of the formations like shown in the previous photos and the color shown in this one.It was worthy of a closer look. Peggy sees a face!Reds also capture our attention. Note the two red outcrops on top of the hill…I had a fleeting thought: Garfield.I liked the balance here, but even more the wisps of cirrus clouds that seemed to be rushing toward the divide.These layers of rock speak of millions of years and conditions from ancient oceans to deserts.Layers of rock resistant to erosion form cliffs that go on and on…Stretching off to the left…And to the right.This peak’s erosion had created a unique look.A different perspective.We’ll conclude today’s post from a distant look back at the Chisos Mountains, where we will go in our next post. Maybe.
Wandering through Time and Place 