Ernst Tinaja Trail

— One frequent destination of mine, Big Bend National Park offers remote locations and expansive views. On this particular visit back in 2009, I took my mountain bike to explore some of the park roads on two wheels. A buddy and I decided to ride to Ernst Tinaja (most people drive there). The Ernst Tinaja trail is short (about 2 miles round trip) and ends at a sandy wash. We dropped our bikes at that sandy wash and hiked to the tinajas (surface pockets or depressions in the rocks) passing a canyon of highly-convoluted rock layers. Those rock formations give you a clear vision of the earth has turned upside down. The tinajas are a great natural container that holds water. From time to time a visitor can see an animal who fell into those tinajas and could not get out of them. Around the tinajas, the rock is very slippery. One must exert a great deal of caution when walking around them. Even though high-clearance vehicles are recommended when driving to Ernst Tinaja, on this particular trip we passed a Toyota Prius slowly maneuvering along the rocky road. In the shot here, the mountains on the far horizon are in Mexico (Sierra del Carmen).