Big Bend Black Bears are always good to see on any trip to Big Bend National Park.They are a sign of a return to the past prior to extirpation. Before I get to the bears, I want to add a few other parcels to my recent visit to Big Bend.
Day 1 Upper Oak Spring
On arrival day I wanted to get out and take an easy hike to stretch my legs after the long drive. I wasn’t up for any brush beating cross county adventure. With this in mind I chose to do a short hike from the Basin Lodge to Upper Oak Spring. Some call it Paloma Spring. However there is no firm name appearing on any current or historical maps that I have seen. I will for this post continue to call it Upper Oak Spring. I met up with another BB enthusiast and we headed out in the early afternoon for the short trip.
The Hike
The Spring is hidden in a deep rhyolite cleft in Upper Oak Creek with steep cliffs and a hanging tinaja. The hike to the spring is short but the final descent into the drainage is a steep 200′ drop to the hanging tinaja. The lower part of the spring is an additional 60′ below the tinaja. This is pretty area, very close to the Basin store, but feels remote and doesn’t appear to receive a lot of visitors. There is a social trail that leads to the upper part of the spring, but the lower part requires a steep climb down into the canyon. Access to the lower canyon is via the Window trail. I made a hike there and details can be found in my post – Upper Oak Spring from the Window trail
My eye caught an unusual object in the brush on the way back to camp. It was an old leg trap. The trap was anchored by a chain to the roots of a tree. Furthermore the roots had grown around the trap. I managed a picture and found out a little about the manufacturer.
Artifacts
“In the mid-1800s, a 250-person family began making traps, eventually becoming the biggest trap company in the world, only to later ditch trap making altogether in favor of dinnerware production. Trap-making began with the Oneida Community (1848-1880) as a famous experiment in harmonious group living. Sewell Newhouse was one of the members. Newhouse was a blacksmith who learned to hand forge traps. When the Oneida Community began making these traps, they improved Newhouse’s design and mechanized the manufacturing process. Oneida trap-making ended in 1925 when the company sold the last of the business to a group of former employees.”
The inscription on the trap I found reads, “S NEWHOUSE ONEIDA COMMUNITY No. 3, PAT SEPT 86”
I’m not yet to the bears, so “bear” with me while I tell the rest of the story. We’ll get back to the Big Bend Black Bears. Hold that thought.
A Red Buffalo
On my next hike I did see a buffalo though. 🙂 I visited a few sensitive sites this day, but I’m not going to provide any detail about location on the next series of photos, just enjoy.
Big Bend Black Bears
OK, I still need to get to the Big Bend Black Bears? A little history first and then, the pictures.
Although Big Bend Black Bears were indigenous to the Chisos Mountains and other sites in Texas, when park was established in 1944, there were no resident bears in the park anymore. After the bears were victims to hunting, trapping and ranching. Furthermore the bears wandered only infrequently through the park from their sanctuary across the river in Mexico. Later in 1969, and in 1978, female bears with cubs were seen in the Chisos Mountains. This re-colonization has continued and now the Big Bend Black Bears are no longer a rare sight in the Park.
I observed these bears travelling on the edge of the Basin Campground on a very quiet afternoon with almost all campsites unoccupied. The Female had an entourage of 3 cubs and they briefly explored the western edge of the campground before dropping down into the Window drainage. I was fortunate to capture this family in their travels.
It’s good to see them back!