2012/06 Western USA trip - McKittrick Canyon |
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It was still very hot and we had enough time to visit somewhere else. I suggested McKittrick Canyon in Texas, which is reputed to be one of the prettiest spots in the state. Edna was intrigued to be visiting Texas, even though I pointed out that it was not exactly Dallas or Houston.
The Texas border is quite close and the canyon is in the same range of mountains, the Guadaloupes. This part of the state park is usually unmanned, but the gate across the road is locked at 6pm, so we couldn’t stay long. Last time Sandie and I were there (in the winter) we had to shelter from the rain storms in a 
garage at the old Pratt farmhouse. I remember that the garage roof was made out of giant sheets of limestone.
But we didn’t have time to explore the canyon itself, and opted for the nature trail, which took us up and down the canyon wall through agave and sotol and ocotillos and chollas. We found these cholla flowers and some dangerous hedgehog cacti. An hour of hiking in the heat was enough for us anyway. We exited through the gate with minutes to spare. We left Texas 
without seeing any Texans.
As we drove back into New Mexico I pointed out all the milestones that had coincided. We were at our farthest point from our start and we were turning back towards Hope. We were five weeks into a ten week trip and had clocked over 5000 miles so far. And it was the 
longest day of the year; the evenings would be drawing in from now on. However, we’d be driving north faster than the world was tilting so we’d actually be getting lighter evenings for the rest of the trip.
Back at the campground I stopped at the dump station where we found this lizard who’d learned to hang around this rare damp area. A thorny devil, we all thought and then remembered we weren’t in Australia. It was actually a horned lizard, not a close relative to the thorny devil, but more a case of convergent evolution.