Multiconstruct

So I’ve fallen behind in my narrative. When I left I had planned on leaving Big Bend because all the sites at Rio Grande Village were reserved and I was overwhelmed by Recreation.Gov to look at other sites. I decided to hit the hot springs on my way out. The panel of pictographs I hadn’t been able to find popped out and the hot springs were hopping a bit.

There was a guy sharing a black bear video from earlier in the week and we struck up a conversation. I’ve been doing Stoic spiritual exercises for a week at this point and Rey was also a week into his spiritual journey so we hit it off more than a bit. He posts his stuff at http://www.us385.com

We ran into each other again and ended up going on a hike and I spent a couple more nights at his campsite at Cottonwood. Rey is a great local guide and he took me to an obscure pictograph site our first day and a settlement site with more mortero holes than I’d ever seen at one place.

While we were at the mortero site we found a sheltered ledge by a water tank that was a perfect spot for a mountain lion. There was some scat and we heard it yowling as we were leaving.

Rey was a great guide and we had some wild coincidences besides both being a week into our wilderness/spiritual journeys. We were both wearing green zipper pants and we had both sewed buttons on them the day before. Rey got me paying attention to my dreams. I’ve been aot more rooted in philosophical inquiry and practice/study and less into mystical experience but being dream aware has been a nice addition to my practice.

Walking back from the mortero site Rey showed me how to spot artifacts and we saw a ton of worked stones and some rocks set up as a base for wickiups.

I also saw some pictographs that had been degraded off of Indian Head Road with some better directions then when I couldn’t find them before. Then I explored the Alpine and Marfa area.

I checked out the Museum of the Big Bend and dis some hiking. After that I went up to Fort Davis, which was the best fort so far of the six I’ve seen. I finished up the area at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Center and cactus museum which is definitely worth seeing.