October 14, 2008
big bend, walking sticks, desert plants
Day Twenty Three
"I had suffered some wounds on my soul, and the scars had calloused into bitterness. If anyplace was capable of abrading them, it was Big Bend. I've visited other desert parks - Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Organ Pipe, and Arches - but Big Bend is the one that captured my heart."
- Ruth Ann Grissom -
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Today's posting will be relatively short, but will have a lot of pictures. Here's the abridged version: Big Bend is fantastic and you should go.
Take a careful look at the pictures and realize that, as with all of the pictures I've taken so far, the actual beauty is far more impressive than I can illustrate with my tiny camera.
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Here's a picture of my friend, Jim. In addition to driving five hours from Munday to Fort Stockton, he drove almost all day today as well.
A Border Patrol guard was at one of the scenic overlooks. He was chatting with a few of us and mentioned that his previous posting was a station downstream where they would sometimes catch 200-300 people a day who were trying to enter the country from Mexico. He met families who had been walking for days, and it wasn't uncommon for one of them to have died along the way. Some were elderly and barely able to hobble across after traveling that far.
For this guard, they ceased to be people and were simply objects, just numbers. He was burned out, so he requested a transfer to the Big Bend station where they see two to three people a week. He's a lot happier now.
Someone asked about the walking sticks for sale. The Border Patrol officer pointed across the Rio Grande to some people sitting on rocks and explained that they wait until he leaves, then run across the river, set up shop, and run back. The Park Rangers, he said, come by periodically to confiscate everything.
By the time he returns, there's almost always another batch.
It's hard to see, but there are some people sitting on the other side of the Rio Grande.
It gets pretty hot and dry here during the summer, and while I was in the Park I learned how some of the desert plants have learned to adapt.
One of the many plants that has adapted is the creosote plant. It drops its leaves, which are toxic to other plants. No other plants will grow within its radius, giving it less competition for the precious water.
Another plant has a coating on its seeds. The seed will stay dormant indefinitely until there's enough water to wash off the coating. Enough water to wash off the coating most likely means enough water to fully germinate.
The animals adapt as well. Some are more active at night, and sleep during the day. Many have evolved to have larger ears, which dissipate heat more efficiently. Some learned to dig burrows into the cooler earth.
One clever mammal, in order to beat the heat, invented air conditioners.
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distance: 0 miles
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Never gets really big. Smells great when it rains. Wood is so dense it will not float. Wood quickly burns down to long-lasting cooking coals. Wood is incredibly hard to carve, but polishes to a wonderful golden color. One of the oldest living organisms on Earth... Older than giant trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrea_tridentata
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