Big Bend National Park - Santa Elaina Canyon

Santa Elaina canyon is one of the three slot canyons in Big Bend.  The thousand foot cliffs are truely spectacular. A trail leads into the mouth of the canyon and about a quarter mile in on the american side.

There are a lot of people who take kayak and canoe trips in the canyons.

 The cavity in the rock had the shape of a fish.

We had a picnic lunch after hiking the canyon trail.

The nearby visitor center was an army outpost early in the twentieth century.

 The mule ears.

 Don't touch! They'll stick you.

 

Volcanic ash.

Hikers on the mule ears trail.

 You can just make out the canyon entrance in the distance.

Finally sunset at the campground.