White Socks and Sandals: March 2008

Pix from Ocotillo March 08

Welcome to Ocotillo Overlook.

Epic hikes. Incredible scenery. Overwhelming. Dig in.

Let's start with an intro to the place. Nigel and Craig are standing on "the overlook" with the Rio Grande about 1000 feet below and Mexico behind them.

(click the pix for larger views)

Nicholas and Mary are standing on "sunset rock" which is a great place to, well, watch the sunset.

We named it Ocotillo Overlook because we think Ocotillo are among the coolest of all desert plants.

Most people don't think of buzzards as "neat" but they are amazing flyers and several dozen of them nest in the rock walls of the canyons around the place. At sunset we get to watch them cruise by a few feet away.

So, what do we do there? Hike. Camp. Get poked by cactus. Climb rocks. Check out overwhelming views. Amazing sunsets, incredible starry nights, and silence.

For example, here's what a major brush fire looks like from 30 miles away. After sunset, we could see the orange glowing smoke.

The property is bounded on the East by a big canyon, on the South by the Rio Grande (seen from the Overlook) and on the West by a smaller but very steep canyon.

This is the East canyon, looking North.

Here's Mary looking into the East canyon.

I've been there at every time of year, even late December, and there are always flowers blooming.

This is a fun hike to "Lightning Point" which is one of the scariest sheer cliffs on the place.

William, Nigel and Nicholas on Lightning Point. Guess why we call it Lightning Point.

I make them lay on their stomachs for this view, about 800 feet straight down.

Typical hiking. Bring sturdy boots, hats, sunscreen, and strong ankles.

Nicholas loves the rocks. He scampers up those things so easily.

William too is completely fearless and pretty darn tough.

Craig, though, is just a nut. Here are photos of our hike down the West canyon, trying to get to the river. (We've done the East canyon before, and that was a 5 hour hike).

The hike starts out easy enough. Downhill, picking across boulders and thru cactus. Then we get to the canyon floor, which is more challenging because of the bigger boulders, but easier because of less vegetation.

Here's a view of the canyon from above. Of course you can't see the bottom, or the 100 foot cliff that stopped us about halfway down.

Along the way we found lots of caves and overhangs. Several of them still have smoke stains on the roof of the cave...

Before long we came to the cliff. Naturally the kids wanted to stand right on the edge and lean over.

Craig is in this pic, circled. He's wearing a green shirt.

So, Craig and Nigel scout around for a way down. I'm ready to head back, since MG and I have a fear of falling to our death on rocks.

I made Nigel and William turn back, since I didn't want to have to tell their Moms that I allowed them to fall to their deaths on the rocks. But, Craig is over 21 so he went around the other side and found a way down to the river. Look for the green shirt.