The Javelina Fam

On our second day in Big Bend, Chris and I woke up early to hike into Dog Canyon before it got too hot.  Because it was earlier in the day, and a bit cloudy, it was delightfully cool and slightly foggy with a thin, almost non-existent mist.  Chris and I stopped to photograph some gorgeous, early morning mountain views.

It seems that Chris and I were not the only ones who had arisen early to enjoy the fresh, cool morning.  Chris  spotted a whole family (herd, pod, gaggle?) of javelinas!  There was even a teeny baby javelina.  Javelinas can actually be pretty aggressive, so we stayed out of their way and used our zoom camera lens to watch and photograph them.  I think that we’d actually discovered this group’s home.  As we watched, several of the javelinas scrambled (they were amazingly nimble) up the side of the rock and headed off, perhaps to find water.  Two of the largest javelinas stayed behind.

We stopped by this spot again on our last day in the park, but didn’t see any of the javelinas.  Chris bravely scaled the rock ledge to check out the javelinas’ home.  (This was brave both for the rock climb, and for the risk that the javelinas might return.  They  can be really ferocious with their tusks and teeth.)  Lots and lots of javelina scat (poop!), reported Chris, but no javelinas themselves.  We then spent several minutes daydreaming about being animal photographers or scientists or something, and what an awesome find this would have been for us.

Spotting these javelinas was definitely one of the awesomest parts of our trip.