Smith Spring Trail

Monday morning of my spring break trip with Zak brought with it a change of venue. After two nights in Carlsbad we packed up and headed to the town of Terlingua. But we stopped for one more hike in Guadalupe Mountains National Park along the way -- a simple 2.3-mile loop to Smith Spring, a sheltered oasis in a patch of oak woodland at the foot of Frijole Ridge.

The parking lot was empty when we arrived just after golden hour.  We had the trail to ourselves, and a different view of El Capitan from the previous afternoon.

This conical formation fascinated me.  I can't find a name for it anywhere.  Given its prominence relative to its surroundings, you'd think it would merit one.

The trees near the trailhead had at least half a dozen male and female Western Bluebirds.  Our first real wildlife sighting of the trip!

This fellow was more comfortable with me than his comrades, most of whom flew off when I started clicking away.  He gave me a few different poses before also changing trees.

I should have asked more questions at the visitor center about the flora.  I don't know what these dead blossoms are, but I loved their intricacy.

Smith Spring is pretty small, but still by far the biggest body of water I'd seen in the area.  Fed by one small cascade it was a quaint little oasis in the arid land.

The roots of this tree near the water's edge looked like they'd seen a thing or two in their time.  Reminded me of Yggdrasil, the "world tree" from Norse mythology.

I liked how the morning light illuminated these dead branches.  I can just get lost in an image like this, following all the various lines with my eyes.

Something else I wished I'd asked about -- exactly what cactus was starting to bloom with yellow flowers.  My online research hasn't yielded anything definitive.  Just some references to prickly pear, which I suppose is possible.

EDIT: I got some help from park ranger Michael Haynie, identifying what are actually fruit and not flowers. :)

The cactus in question is a cholla and that was last year's fruit you were seeing. They will have huge magenta blossoms in late May and June. The fruit forms later and is yellow as you saw. Many people mistake it for a flower, but it does contain seeds. They are not juicy as the fruits of prickly pear and they are very spiny. Not recommended for tasting!

Manzanita Spring was bigger and closer to the old Smith homestead.  And along the same line of sight to El Capitan as the trailhead.  Other than some spiders in the dead grass there wasn't any real activity here, either.  But still a nice reflection.

We didn't dawdle too much on this walk -- just a couple of hours in all.  Big Bend National Park was calling, and we still had a four-hour drive ahead of us.  The bluebirds alone made this worth the stop, though!