Santa Elena Canyon--happiness

We took the Sam Watson Scenic drive to get to the Santa Elena Canyon Trail Weds. morning. The Santa Elena trail is one of the more popular trails, and when we got there at 10:30 there were only a couple of parking spaces left.  It is also a popular spot for canoeing but we didn't see any canoes today.  We did see people wading in the cold Rio Grande and even saw one gentleman cross over to Mexico and return.  It was pretty shallow.

The Santa Elena Canyon Trail is 1.6 miles round trip.  The trail goes between the walls of the Canyon.  The walls of the canyon rise 1,500 feet from the banks of the Rio Grande making this one of the most dramatic and popular places to view the river.  The face of the canyon was formed by the Terlingua Fault, which is mostly covered in gravel.  Calcite crystals filled in cracks formed by the fault.

The pictures below are in order, for the most part 🙃, as we walked into the canyon.  Join us on our walk!

Cute arch on our way to the trail.

The parking lot was nearly full.

Looking towards the canyon, ready for the ascent.

Looking back towards the Rio Grande.

Can you find the fossil seashells?

At the top of our climb.

Lots of rocks that fell from the top of the canyon wall.

Someone help me!

I think this is some variety of  a flowering yucca.

We could no longer see the turn in the river.

Blind prickly pear hiding here.

Volcanic rock

As far as we could go without wading.

A quiet, relaxing moment