My first stop was the visitors center to grab a map and figure out a game plan. While being helped by a very young ranger, I was convinced to buy a National Parks Pass and stay for the night in their lot. After all, I was now 1 hour from VanHorn and there was nothing else near, just nature!
Please understand this blog is for me to remember, to appreciate and to house my photos while sharing with anyone else who may be interested or possibly inspired by it. But I understand some of these photos and posts may be quite boring and redundant. I’m not trying to entertain or be anyone but me. 😘✌🏼
I asked the ranger which trails I should consider, knowing it was already late afternoon. She suggested the Devil’s Trail which was right where I would be van camping for the night.
The start of the trail was easy with a great view of the mountains.
Those cute little star plants, not so cute up close. Their green thin leaves are completely lined in thorns. Every plant out here looks softer until you get snagged by it!
Very rocky and dry. Impossible to capture how small these grand mountains make you feel.
Now this squiggly cactus is new for me. Looks like a bad hair day.
The burnt orange color in some of the plant life added to the landscape.
As well as the dead wood trees. They look so wicked! Surviving out in the desert definitely is only for the sharp edged.
Beautiful combination with the round shaped cactus, the thin prickly branches, the softer ( looking/not touch) greenery along with the mountain background.
I was loving these twisted red colored Texan trees. I’d never seen anything like them.
Again with that warm burnt orange thrown in!
I was truly enjoying this hike and all the greenery combinations. The weather was cool with a breeze. The desert in May is perfect weather!
I’m so used to seeing fallen trees on my hikes in Ohio and Kentucky but out here it’s rare to see a pile of dead wood.
No comment needed, this is pure perfection of natures canvas.
I absolutely love the black and white twisted tree. Working together. All answers to life are in nature, truly.
I think I was the only one who dared to go down into the riverbed. At first I turned the wrong way and was missing Noni from my Thailand hiking days. He would always brave ahead to see if it was a promising direction. I needed him to help me manage this trail.
Survival of the fittest. That tree was making it work!
I followed the riverbed for about a mile. Wondering if the height of its walls would ever lower enough for me to find my way out. I wondered if hiking with someone else helped since at least one person would have common sense, but on my own, it was just me and my instinct.
And there’s those beautiful yellow desert blooms.
As I kept walking along the river bed, a hole appeared and I honestly wasn’t about to see what may be inside. I was beginning to wonder if I was getting out of this riverbed.
Eventually I found a lower level and a small trail out and back up to the main pathway I started on. They always say to never take the same path twice. Or, something like that. It definitely would be easier sometimes if I did.
I'm just your average gal figuring out her way through the second half of life that decided to follow a calling to Thailand. Now back in the USA due to covid, seeking nature for further direction.
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Tonya Takes Thailand 