Vistas along Ross Maxwell Road

There were a number of beautiful sights along Ross Maxwell Road. 

Sotol Vista View

This view is considered one of the best in Big Bend.  The view looks south toward Mexico and the Rio Grande, about 14 miles away.  The mountains in the far distance are located in Mexico, and the US-Mexico border is along the ridge that’s sort of mid-way between those Mexican mountains, and the ones in the foreground.  If you look closely, you can see a sort of “notch” in the ridgeline – that’s the Santa Elena Canyon.  Looks tiny in this image, but it’s not!

Burro Mesa Pouroff

A bit further down the road, there’s a short road that leads to the Burro Mesa Pouroff.  A pouroff is a dry waterfall, altho if there’s enough rainfall, it can turn into a true waterfall!  For now, we just have some lovely vegetation!

Mule Ears Distance View

In the images above and below, you can see the formation called Mule Ears.  These were formed by dikes that erosion has sculpted into this formation.  These peaks have been important landmarks to travelers between the Rio Grande and Chisos Mountains.  There is a spring about a mile northwest of the peaks, and a trail leading to it.  However, as you can tell from the long shot, above, it would have been more of a hike than Jeff & I were up for!

Mule Ears Closer View

Tuff Canyon West View

Tuff Canyon was created when Blue Creek cut a narrow canyon in the soft grey rock, called tuff.  It is compressed volcanic ash.  This view makes this part of the canyon seem rather wide.  However, a walk over to the other side presents a different picture.

Tuff Canyon East View

On the east side of the canyon, the walls are much closer together and the canyon is much narrower.  The ash making up the walls of the canyon have been cemented together by pressure from overlying layers.  They were later exposed by erosion.

Santa Elena Canyon

And, here we are – 14 miles (as the crow flies) from where we began back at the Sotol Vista View!  It actually took us more than 14 miles to get here, since we were in a Jeep, and not flying!  This has to be one of the most beautiful natural borders I’ve ever seen.  As you look at this image, the right side (where we were standing) is in the US. However, just across the Terlingua Creek (which flows into the Rio Grande River), lies Mexico.  The canyon walls on the left are in Mexico.  The walls are very high and so this is a very effective border between the countries.  Information states that the walls of the canyon are higher than 3 Washington Monuments, placed on top of each other!  We were cautioned, tho, not to cross the creek.  The land on the other side is Mexico, and this is not a recognized border crossing.  There were a number of people at this location – otherwise, I’m sure Jeff would have crossed the creek, just to be contrary! 

Enjoy!