Part 3: Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Okay, no glaciers, no waterfalls, but plenty of desert - maybe we can learn some geology. . .

Here's another view looking east from the Scenic Drive western face of the Chisos Mountains. The window into the Basin is the V-shape about a quarter of the way from the right edge. Since you were introduced to Casa Grande in the previous post you'll probably recognize it in the left portion of the window.

In Geology, a dike (or dyke) is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture in a pre-existing rock body. An excellent example is the orange stripe uncovered by erosion between the hills on the right. As I understand it, that stripe is the top of a vertical wall of igneous rock which filled a fracture in the surrounding rock. Presumably, as that saddle erodes further, more and more of the orange wall will be exposed. This type of dike is called magmatic.

The shot above shows more examples of magmatic dikes and in truth, they're all over the place in and around the Chisos Mountains.

This was shot from the Sotol Vista Overlook looking west-southwest towards Santa Elena Canyon, the path worn through a very impressive landform by the Rio Grande. If you look past that mesa 4.5 mi out, you'll see the notch that marks eastern end of Santa Elena Canyon 14.6 mi away. The ridge behind that appears to be a bluff (4265') 34 miles away in the Parque Nacional Cañon de Santa Elena. And beyond that, 166 mi away is the Ciudad de Chihuahua. Ain't Google Maps great?

We're still on our way to Santa Elena Canyon but first, compare the picture above with the previous one. What a difference! And they're on the same planet! Just over 8 mi apart. I can't tell you a thing about the features in this shot, but it's awesome. How can people not love geology?

This one is Cerro Castellan - I tried to get Google to translate it and it came up with: Cerro Castellan. Not much help there. My best guess is Castle Hill. If anyone out there can translate it, by all means let me know. This was one of the places I'd scouted beforehand and had big plans to shoot. In the event, the beautiful blue sky with mares tails galore has begun to cloud over and I don't hold much hope for a Big Bend signature sunset. And besides that, I'm running out of steam. I may work on this shot later - I actually shot the sky earlier in the day anticipating exactly this  eventuality - and with the right sky. . . you never can tell.

Here we are - Santa Elena Canyon. Mexico on the left, US on the right and the Rio Grande in between, Yeah, I know. I'd hoped to actually see the river here too - but it's there, I promise. The overlook just isn't high enough. Well, whether it's the sky with no clouds or too many clouds or an overlook that doesn't quite, you do the best you can with what you have to work with. I did check for you; the elevation at the base of canyon wall is 2160' and the top is 3600'.

Finally, let me address the Mule Ears. I was looking for them much of the afternoon. I knew generally where they were but missed the turnoff driving south. There's a sign for Mule Ear Overlook (on Mule Ear Road) and the overlook is also the trailhead for a trail to Mule Ear Spring and beyond. No Mule Ears. I'd wanted to see them and compare them to pictures I've seen of the Bear Ears up near Utah's Escalante Staircase NM; you know, the National Monument the feds are selling off to the oil and gas special interests. Well, I'm happy to report that the Bear Ears look like bear's ears and the Mule Ears look like mule's ears.

I'm outta here. I made it back to Austin at 3:00 the next morning (after sleeping for two hours in a well-placed I-10 rest area).