Day Eighteen

This morning when I woke up it was still pitch dark so I went and looked at the stars. I could see everything, as it was clear skies. Yesterday was so cloudy so the skies cleared up over night. After taking a shower I have come to the realization all plumbers in Texas must be four feet tall. As I am walking over to check out of my motel a roadrunner runs in front of me. I headed over to the Rio Grande River part of the park. The Rio Grande is very dirty. Turns out that part of the park is closed for the summer. They recommend that you don’t hike most of the trails in the summer because of the heat and that there is no shade. I then drove over to Boquilla Canyon overlook. There you could see Boquilla Del Carmen across the river in Mexico. I hiked up to the top of the overlook. I then headed over to the hot springs although I not sure I found them. If it was the hot springs then they were pretty dirty. The road getting there was split into and you drove along a canyon. There were the ruins from the hot springs along the path and some petroglyphs. I stopped off and hiked down to the Homer Wilson Ranch site. After that I headed to Santa Elena Canyon and hiked around the river. I then headed back to Castolon Visitor Center, which is also closed in the summer. On the way back I decided to hike to Burro Mesa Pouroff. It is a dry riverbed with a giant waterfall when it rains. Of course when I started not a cloud in the sky. I get back there and then I hear thunder echoing through the canyon. I decide I have to get out of there fast. As I am walking along a giant flying insect attacks me. That really picked up the pace. I get back to my car and it starts pouring as I am heading out of the park. I come to a spot in the road where it is flooded. It is low enough that I can drive through it. I go up over a hill and there are several trucks and cars stopped because there is another flash flood. This one is much larger but after about ten minutes the trucks were able to drive through it. Five minutes later it was over and we were able to drive through it. I made it to my hotel for the night finally.