Man, am I exausted! Talk about hiking!!! We hiked miles and up several thousand feet LOL. It was beautiful out there in Big Bend - it never ceases to amaze me.
No Bears, No terantulas
We did come close to seeing a mountain lion and were really disapointed when we had spoke to others that were on the trail before us that had seen one cross the trail in front of them. It had just caught a deer and was pulling it into the trees off the trail! When we went down there it was probably just an hour after. You could smell the lion still and there was "Scat" on the trail which was pretty fresh! Oh well. Maybe next time!
However, for some reason we always seem to run into a snake somewhere! There we are, my friend and I, me in front, (I'm the smaller one so he can see over my head!) hikeing down the trail, chatting away, looking UP for birds when suddenly I stop dead in my tracks and almost jump out of my skin when I suddenly heard "hssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!" There about 3 foot in front of me was a black tailed rattlesnake coiled up and ready to strike! How COOL! Oh man, he made me jump, and my friend jumped right with me LOL, but he warned us in time and we immediately got out our camaras - click click click! Slowely he made his way across the path from where he was and disapeared into the bushes, watching us and rattling that tail the whole time. He was AWESOME! I just love 'em.
So, that was probably our highlight of the trip. The views of course were amazing and we saw all the beautifull birds that live out there. Nothing new for us this time but then we weren't expecting to see any new birds as we've birded Big Bend several times and I think have most of them that live out there.
We did get rained out however - luckily my tent is able to stand up to the storms but my friend ended up sleeping in the car as his tent was like a swimming pool LOL Poor thing! I was as snug as a bug in a rug though. But the storm that came throught the first night was un real. The wind and the lightning was something else! Especially when you're in a tent!
Of course one thing had to remind me of our dear little hamsters and that was watching some of the rock squirells out there. There was this gorgeous little rock squirell that looked just like hammydudes "biscuit"! He was very dark brown chocolate colored with a really shiny coat and just like a sable had those light rings around his eyes - so pretty!
But now its back to reality....
I could have stayed out there for several more days !
Anyway, hope you all had a good one! I did take lots of pictures and hope to put the highlights onto my site when I can. When I do I'll let you know under the "Miscellaneous" section (as I know this is not particularly hamster related and doesn't belong in the hamster chat section! ) :P