Wednesday we drove out of the park to the area between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch, a Texas state park. The area between the parks contains a few stores/shops and travel outfitters. We traveled with Far Flung Outfitters for a 3 mile morning jeep ride to a 360 degree vista and an afternoon float trip down the Rio Grande River for 5 miles.Our morning jeep ride included some geology/fossil record lecture, plant identification lessons (how many kinds of cacti varieties could we learn?), some wildlife including a lizard (see photo), a tarantula, and some javelina. Floating in the afternoon became a bird watching trip as there were several species along the river.
When we made it back to the hotel Thursday evening, a herd of javelinas was feeding on mesquite beans in the middle of the lodge parking area. It was great to see them so close.
