Canyon climber!

Dried up mud by Rio Grande

Gaila and Dick in canyon overlooking Rio Grande

Wednesday, February-27-13 – Boquillas Canyon Trail

It was really windy again last night and my trailer was shaking. At one point my arm went out, and it connected with Baloo’s head, he was sitting right beside my bed staring at me so I guess he wasn’t too happy about the wind either.

This afternoon we drove out to the Boquillas Canyon  to hike the trail. It’s a mile and a quarter round trip and first climbs over a steep little hill and then there is a great view of the Rio Grande.  On our way down we saw mortar holes in the rocks below which were made by American Indians. I stood there and imagined them singing and talking as they ground the grain and looked out over the river.

 As we walked further we could hear singing and soon we could see the famous Victor (he’s on YouTube) sitting on the other side of the river. Once US dollars were deposited in the glass jar, his assistant Jesus who was on our side of the river asked us what song we would like to hear and would we like to buy any of the displayed items that included walking sticks and the decorated copper wire figures  - tarantulas, etc.  Victor sang out with amazing volume, the song I am not sure of as it was in Spanish. We carried on walking along the river as it wound through the canyon, at one point seeing a brown sand dune that had been formed by down-canyon winds. It was my kind of walk, easy, and interesting.

Tonight Gaila made us delicious chicken vegetable rice soup with corn bread (she is a great cook!) and we played Monopoly again.  I said goodbye to Dick as he is heading out tomorrow morning early to begin his hike on the Outer Mountain Loop. I picked up his pack, groaning as I lifted it -most of it-2 inches off the ground, it felt like it weighed about 50 pounds but Dick laughed and said it’s only around 35 pounds.  I wished him luck and briefly imagined his two day hike of 30 miles (it’s labelled strenuous in the hiking trail book) hiking up and down steep hills with a big heavy pack, a tiny tent, skinny mattress on rocky ground, no pillow, dehydrated food, no ice cream, and all alone out there in the dark. And no hot shower at the end of the day! There’s a zillion bugs out there, spiders, snakes, mountain lions,  bears, and rocks that reach out and try to turn your ankle….I must  put that adventure on to my “must do” list and remember to try it – in my next lifetime.