Archives
now browsing by author
Big Bend National Park (4) : Chisos Mountains
After Pine Canyon, I went to discover the only permanent waterfall in this region, Cattail Falls. It is not on the maps, the park administration seeking to preserve the particular and very sensitive habitat it creates, especially hummingbirds coming from spring to summer.
1. The small valley nestled in the foothills of Chisos Mountains.
2. The falls them selves, a thin trickle decorated of ice because of chilly temperature !
3. The freshness of the place allows unexpected plants to survive, as this fern…
4. Sunset from Cattail Falls trail.
5. I then descended some forty miles to the south-east to discover the Boquillas Canyon carved by the Rio Grande.
6. A dove in late afternoon.
7. Tomb along the trail that goes up the east park boundary.
8. Hiking up the Ernst Tinaja Canyon…
9. The Ernst Tinaja, a beautiful pot created by the floods of the wash.
10. Last sunrays in the canyon…
11. Sunset light as I go back to Vivalavida…
12. Beautiful sky…
13. A spring whose water disappears underground just 300 yards after be appeared…
14. Beautiful spiny specimen!
I then ascended in the Chisos Basin nestled amid Chisos Mountains at 5,600 feet above sea level, where I climbed the highest peak, the Emory Peak at 8,408 feet.
15. The singer who waked me up…
16. A mexican jay still asleep in the cold morning. He let me close to only six feet away…
17. View from the top of Emory Peak. Distant are more than 300 miles away, amazing!
18. Cliff views from the top.
19. Chisos Bassin at sunrise.
20. Following the Lost Mine Trail…
21. Visitor on the path…
22. View to the Chisos Mountains from the Lost Mine Trail.
23. Another one to close that report on Big Bend National Park.
My journey will continue with the discovery of Big Bend Ranch State Park almost adjoining the National Park. To come soon…
Big Bend National Park (3)
Coming out of the Baja after some adventures I will tell you soon, here is another update in Big Bend National parc.
1. Colored sunrise…
The weather is still cloudy, windy and cold. I take this opportunity to introduce you to some of the desert plants…
2. A faded agave flower stands proudly.
3. A nest in cactus…
4. Almost everything that grows here have thorns..!
5. Grains…
6. Nice tiny stars…
7. silky down…
8. Elegance…
9. A little ray greets me at the entrance of Pine Canyon. At this altitude – over 4000 feets high – the vegetation changes, the freshness of the canyon makes enough moisture for some trees, mostly pines and oaks, to growth.
10. Pine Canyon, back view…
11. A mexican jay, beautiful bird that announces the arrival of bipeds by repeated shouts..!
12. Tree on a cliff…
13. Undergrowth flower.
14. Sunset on Chisos Mountains.
15. What a sky to wish good night to Vivalavida..!
16. Arrival at the Grapewine Hills early morning.
17. Nice pinacles…
18. Balanced Rock…
19. Window on the landscape…
20. A yuca growing on the rocks.
The next update will still be in Big Bend NP, to be followed… 😉
Big Bend National Park (2)
Waiting on the laundry to finish, here is an update posted from La Paz, Baja california. 😀
We continue the River Road driven by VivaLaVida in Big Bend NP.
1. Clouds are coming…
2. Survival…
3. Mountains in Mexico…
4. I disturbed him…
5. Another flower.
6. The “Mule Ears” mountain…
7. I got it ! 😉 Sorry for the poor quality of the picture but the roadrunner runs really fast, till 20 mph to catch lézards he eats. The picture is cropped but it’s the only one I managed to take even I saw a lot of these birds…
8. South of the Chisos Mountains…
9. Still some desert flowers…
10. The road goes up North.
11. “Magic Bus”..? 😀 For those that kanow, just a reference to the movie “Into the wild”…
VivaLaVida then took an unmaintained road and needed three hours to drive 5 miles.
12. Down in a wash…
13. Axle crossing…
14. A part of the road in better state…
15. … but still partialy ashed out.
16. The landscape is gorgeous despite the gray sky and the wind rising.
17. Nice step!
18. It leans quite a bit! 😉
19. At the end of this portion of the track, arriving at Glenn Spring where there was quite a bit of water.
20. But the sandstorm rose on the plain…
21. VLV went then back up to the Chisos Mountains to spend the night…
To be followed…
Big Bend National Park (1) : Rio Grande river
I just have one hour before to meet Andrew to go boondocking in the Anza Borrego Desert tonight and crossing the Mexican border tomorrow.
This update is entirely devoted to Big Bend National Park which borders with Mexico 137 miles along the Rio Grande.
1. Arrival at Study Bute…
2. Vivalavida through fields of wild yucca…
3. … which sometimes reach impressive heights!
4. Near the wonderful Santa Elena Canyon, this solitary caught my eye…
5. The Rio Grande River out of the canyon.
6. Mexican side: the cliffs are 1500 feet high!
7. End of the trail that goes upstream for about one mile. Even though it was tempting, I haven’t tested my kayak here because navigate the Rio Grande requires a special permission sice it forms the border…
8. Reflection on the Mexican side…
9. Sweetness of a micro beach…
10. Returning to my feet with the Chisos Mountains in the distance…
11. Erosion near the Harmonia…
12. Mushroom… 😉
13. Vivalavida then followed the river on the border following an uncrowded dirt road.
14. Sunset on the Chisos Mountains…
15. The nights here are deemed darkest of the U.S, no light pollution around to alter the purity of the atmosphere. Here northward…
16. … then south, with Orion and Jupiter high in the sky.
17. Early morning at my boondocking site.
18. Fantastic sunrise! (panoramic of 5 vertical images)
19. Mexican mountains so close…
20. Rio Grande arm.
21. Flowering…
22. Another color touch…
23. Chisos Mountains foothills.
To be continued in a few weeks or sooner if I fin some network to post…
Thank you for your loyalty at all, it’s really nice! 😀
Still in Texas…
Here a new update, a little closer to the last one because I will normally leave Sunday for four weeks in Baja California where I likely won’t have connection possibilities. It will therefore be a small “black out” on the blog, you will not mind me… 😉
Continuing my way westward, I made a quick stop for a night in the beautiful Garner State Park, on the banks of a beautiful river. it was cold, 24 in the morning, but the atmosphere was quiet in this desert period…
1. Garner State Park.
2. What a hot road ! This one traveled from Ilinoi..! 😀
3. Across gentle hills making me thinking about some places of Lozère, South of France…
4. Small town of Camp Wood, quite picturesque…
5. Amistad Reservoir, an artificial lake North from Del Rio.
I made ​​a stop at Seminole Canyon, an important site for its petroglyphs. It’s a deep canyon carved in limestone and adjacent to the Rio Grande.
6. Going down to the canyon…
7. After a short ascent, entry under the overhang used as shelters by the indigenous Indians approx. 4,000 years ago.
8. Petroglyph 1: the winged man, probably a shaman…
9. Petroglyph 2 : men and animals
10. Petroglyph 3: a large centipede
11. Petroglyph 4 : this one, which cannot really know what it represents, is exceptional because only discovered on this site. It has no known equivalent to date…
12. Going up the canyon, spectacular view of the limestone hollowed and polished by the water…
13. Small flowers on my path, rare in this season…
My route continued west till Marathon TX where I received my folding kayak, a small wonder White Water approved. I’ve also had good intestinal haywire that stoped me three days in the small camping… I then veered south to go to the Big Bend area, which borders Mexico.
14. Entry in the Chihuahuan Desert.
15. Arid desolation…
16. From the Marathon campground…
17. Sunset on the mountains…
18. On the road to Alpine TX.
19. Immensity south of Alpine…
20. Endless straights … The longest to date for VivaLaVida was 73 miles..!
21. 78F that day. But the amplitudes are terrible on the continental shelf where no mass of water mitigates. I had several times high seventies and 36F at the best of the day two days later, with good frosts at nigh, even an exceptional 19F for this region…
So much for this update. The following will take you to Big Bend National Park, where I spent a week discovering some places where only one vehicle as VivaLaVida could take me… 😀
Central Texas…
Firstly, some of you may have noticed that a new page appeared in the main menu, which shows the way of Vivalavida since mid December. It’s along this line that you can find the sites of my pictures images. This line represents the path of Vivalavida but doesn’t include mountain bike rides or hikes I did. Maybe coming in a future version
From Austin, I went discovering several sites in central Texas. I didn’t expected Texas as rich in beautiful places.
It begins with the Hamilton Pool, a wonder created by a small river which falls into a natural pool partly dominated by a large vault.
1. Arrival on the site (panoramic of 4 vertical images)
2. A real wonder… 😉
3. Suspended vegetation…
4. The impressive vault that covers part of the pool.
Few tens of miles to the west, I went to the Pedernales Falls The river falls down a few tens of feet in successive stages. A beautiful place in the morning light…
5. Boondocking and early Wake up to enjoy the morning light on the river…
6. First pot in the limestone.
7. The falls.
8. The river carves its way into the rock…
9. Details…
After my tour of the falls, I looked some birds in a quiet corner…
10. Female cardinal…
11. … and her male.
12. Bright yellow for this lesser goldfinch (I guess)…
13. A mockingbird.
14. A house finch.
A few miles further west, I enjoyed a nice walk on Enchanted Rock that bears his name. A wonderful serie of red domes. It was quite crowded since that Monday was holiday in Texas…
15. Large boulders at the foot of the dome (panoramic of three vertical images)
16. Throughout the climb, forms sculpted by the wind and dust are amazing.
17. Arrival on the summit of one of the domes…
18. The main dome (panoramic of three horizontal images)
19. Behind, I walked to a small lake for a different point of view…
20. The mountain peels..!
21. Marks on the rock…
22. At the top of the main dome, the view is endless…
I then continued my travel to the west and will present soon other nice Texas locations! 😀
Stay tuned for more to come…
Texan coast and some urban…
I’m back after ten days of no man’s land in the extreme southwestern Texas and I find a Wifi to write this small update (I have a little delay, sorry… 🙂
After the episode of mosquitoes, I continued my journey on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to Galveston Island. Galveston is a known beach resort, southeast of Houston, but almost deserted at that time of the year.
1. Lighthouse next to my road…
2. VivaLaVida on the ferry to Galveston.
3. Jetty in Galverston
The west side of the island is remained wild, protected by a State Park. The island forming an inland sea isolated from the ocean, it’s a haven for thousands of migratory birds, including some rare. I stayed two days to observe them and I will present here some.
4. Early arrival of thousand of Red Heads.
5. Group breakfast…
6. Elegant duck.
7. A rose spoonbil…
8. A march oak.
9. Stern hunting…
10. White pelican.
11. Full moon in early morning…
I then headed to Austin, a nice city a little different from other Texas cities. Cosmopolitan and a little European style, I spent a day and a half. There is Live Music everywhere, whole streets where there are bar after bar on both sides, in each Live Music from 2 to late in the night … It was sunny and quite warm, in the seventies…
12. Camping before Austin…
13. Downtown Austin
14. Boot shop…
15. … and texan hats!
16. Some urban…
17. A big foot.
18. The State Capitol.
19. Commerce Street…
20. Reflection…
21. Back street…
That’s it for these images of this beautiful city where I felt that life seems good. The next update will take you to west Texas, discovering some wild places along VivaLaVida’s road…
Mississippi delta
After visiting the nice town of New Orléans, I spent a couple of days in the Mississippi delta, a huge wet zone and totaly flat. VivaLaVida sometimes slept on the beach it-self and I could observe many birds…
1. A nice campsite, isn’t it?
2. Half sun! 😉
3. A seagull at sunset…
4. Sunrise with sea mist…
5. Halo in the mist…
6. Work of the night probably…
7. Another campsite…
8. Royal terns resting.
The next day, I moved a few tens of kilometers and arrived in Texas in an area where there are freshwater marshes behind the dunes, promise an interesting ornithological fauna.
As I walked there, I met me a retired volunteer. Exchanging a few words with, she said: “From 5, mosquitoes will attack you!”
Me: “Really? Even in the wind?”
Her: “Yes , pray for having wind…”.
I found a place to sleep on the beach and after photographing the sunset, I walked into VLV and have undertaken to postprocess some images. Around 9:30, when I turned on the light, stupor: it was almost impossible to see through the windows as there were so many mosquitoes above! Thousands at least. Then I realized that a good fifty were able to enter VLV, where I’m not sure yet . Perhaps through Dashboard ventilation since all other issues being closed… So I had a pretty mosquito hunt before cooking my diner and after because obviously they continued to enter. The next morning, there was again a good fifty but fortunately, as these little creatures have never loved me, , I had only one bite on a toe… : – D
So much for the story.
9. The campsite in question under a nearly full moon.
10. A snowy plover.
11. Two others…
12. Readheads.
13. A nice heron…
14-16. A small series on the brown pelican, wonderful.
17. A neighbor of my camp…
Bye for now……
Eventful way to New Orleans
My definitive papers there, I could set sail “for real”, unusual feeling of freedom ..!:-D
So I took the road to Alabama where some beautiful public forests worth a short stop on the way to Louisiana and Texas. I leaved Buford late, so I was caught in Atlanta trafic jam, especially with a steady rain. I spotted a small Primitive Campground near a small lake approx. 130 miles away but when I got there, a sign said “Seasonal Closure, we will welcome you from mid march” … It was dark for two hours, so I opted to sleep on a small car park at a trailhead in the forest.
I woke up at 4am by a strong gust of wind shaking Vivalavida. A storm front was coming and lightning were so numerous that the light was almost constant. Fifteen minutes later, I heard sirens in the valley and then voice in speakers too distant to be audible. I turned on the little Weather Radio that Corry and Mike had given me, the Swiss couple I’ve camped with in November. It broadcast loop alert “violent storms and marked tornado risk” urging everyone to get away..! Glups, I have not dragged to break camp and get out of this forest, so as not to take a tree on Vivalavida. Ten minutes later, they were real downpour under a huge storm that forced me to drive not faster than 10 m/h, I didn’t just see anything. With almost continuous lightning, it was daunting! Arrived in the valley 45 minutes later, I sheltered under a bridge where two trucks were already stoped. Wake somewhat hectic!
I could take the road again 1:30 later. The weather being advertised rainy for two days in this area, I made ​​the choice to forget the walks that I planned in these forests and head directly to New Orleans. So I drove 530 miles in one go and I arrived there at around 18h​​.
I visited this charming city quite different in the landscape of American cities. I hardly heard some French Creole, at most a few seniors. This language seems to be lost, it’s a pity…
Here are some pictures gleaned during my walks…
1. The French Quarter and his cabs…
2. The cathedral…
3. Madonna in an alcove.
4. Inside the cathedral…
5. Typical balconies…
6. Arcades near the famous Café du Monde…
7. Typical house of the French Quarter.
8. Streets are busy…
9. Live Music is everywhere, in cafes as on the street…
10. Nice face…
11. Another one…
12. Old colonial house.
13. New Orléans rickshaw.
14. Small bars like this, it’s everywhere!
15. Small street…
16. Another one…
17. Nachez comming back, one of the last boats of Mississippi which still runs on steam.
18. The famous paddle wheel.
19. The famous Café du Monde, crowded at any time. You can taste the famous Café-Beignet, the local specialty. Too bad I can make it taste you… 😉
20. The night is falling…
21. … but live music continues…
22. Stores stay open till late in the night.
23. The city is really animated.
24. Reference name…
That’s it for this little pictorial tour, hoping that it doesn’t make too much of a blow… My feet were a little heavy after 10 hours visiting streets and quays..!
The following day, I discovered the vast Mississippi delta; so the next update will be again more wild with some new adventures to tell you… 😉
Way back from Florida (add)
In my last post, I forgot to show you pictures of Phenix, a small town in Alabama that was built along a river right next to the only rapids around. The river “falls” of about 25 feets on three or four hundred yards. This enabled the construction of mills, particularly those used by the cotton industry, a major in the region. Today rehabilitated as homes and offices, the area looks really friendly. Here are some pictures of this beautiful little town.
1. Disused drawbridge, downstream of the city
2. Trees of the surrounding forests is here transformed into paper and cardboard.
3. Arrival at Phenix, view of the river. The Indians believed that a monster once lived in these rapids and removed some canoe or raft trying to cross it…
4. The neighborhood of old mills…
5. Reconverted industrial buildings…
6. To the left, the building that contains the Pressure pipes and turbines, now out of use. (panoramic of de 3 vertical images)
Here are also three pictures taken when going through Atlanta…
7. Downtown
8. Remains of the Atlanta Olympics…
9. A five floors highway junction..!
That’s it for this supplement…Enjoy the weekend! 😀
D5 Creation