Tuff Canyon

— With the diversity of scenes in Big Bend NP, it is not surprising that areas such as Tuff Canyon are not widely seen in photos of the park. There are lookout points from the Ross Maxwell Scenic Road, and the trail to the bottom is just 1 mile (1.6 km) with only 98 feet (30 meters) in elevation gain coming back. Once at the bottom of the canyon, you can hike as far as you wish, as long as there is no water on the canyon floor. As you see in the photo above, there was a lot more green because of the several rains the area had received. In fact, while we were there in the park, we had some rain overnight and also during the day. Of course this meant seeing Big Bend in a whole different light, covered with wildflowers and plenty of green. The canyon gets its name because of the volcanic ash (tuff) that has hardened along the walls. This canyon was formed thousands of years ago through erosion caused by rainfall flowing through Blue Creek on the way down to the Rio Grande. Because of all the rain in the area last fall, we were not able to hike very deep into the canyon. The photo below shows where we turned around. This area is prone to flash flooding, and caution should be taken when hiking on the canyon floor.