Algae Patterns in a Tinaja

One of the lesser traveled trails at Colorado Bend State Park is the Tinaja trail. This rocky trail takes you up and down canyons in the middle of the park to a tinaja. A tinaja, taken from the Spanish word for clay jar, is a bowl-like depression in the rock generally formed by erosion from water. In arid or desert environments occasional water collects in tinajas and supports small ecosystems. There seem to be tinajas as points of interest at several national parks across the west. I have been on the Ernst tinaja trail at Big Bend National Park, which sits in a rather picturesque canyon a short hike from the trailhead. The tinaja in Colorado Bend State Park sits in the bottom of a canyon and requires at least 2 miles of rocky hiking to get to it.

Tinaja at Colorado Bend State Park

The shortest route to the tinaja begins at the trailhead for the Cedar Chopper loop, see the parking area next the Cedar Chopper Loop on the map below. From there it is a couple of miles of hiking to get to the tinaja (see the circled 4 on the map). You can either hike out to the tinaja and back or make a big loop of it like I did on Monday afternoon. I took the Cedar Chopper Loop to the Tinaja Trail and ended up down by Gorman Spring near the river, I then hiked the River Trail down to the Dogleg Canyon Trail and back up to the Cedar Chopper Loop. This was a 7 mile hike with a lot of climbing up and down canyons on rocky trails, but there are a few overlooks to take in the scenery.

I spent most of the hike hoping to see some wildlife, but they either weren’t around or heard me coming long before I could see them because I don’t think I even saw a bird the entire hike. But when I got down to the tinaja, I saw that there was a lot of green pond scum or algae (not sure what to call it) floating on one side of the pond and I thought it made some nice patterns. I have been trying to focus on detail-type shots to go with the wider landscape photos I usually take, so I spent some time taking zoomed in photos of the algae swirls. I’m not sure that algae makes for a good subject of artistic natural abstract photos, but I present to you patterns in pond scum.

It would have been nice to have had a polarizer to knock down the reflections of the cloudy sky, but I traveled with my light-weight kit for this hike as I knew it would involve constant elevation changes. If anyone else was around, they probably would have thought me a crazy man sitting on a boulder shooting photos of algae with a telephoto lens.

I continued on my hike which led me down to Gorman Spring and I briefly considered hiking down to Gorman Falls, but I knew it would already be dark by the time I got back to the car, so I continued on along the river to the Dogleg Canyon Trail. This trail climbs up to the cliffs above the river trail and provides a few overlooks of the river valley. The image below is a phone photo taken just before sunset overlooking the cliffs across the river (the 3 on the map above) with the last of the day’s sun on the hills beyond. I climbed up and down this trail and eventually made it back to the Cedar Chopper Loop and then to the truck in the dark.

It was a nice long hike and I had no trouble getting to sleep that night. Thanks for reading.

14 thoughts on “Algae Patterns in a Tinaja”

  1. I love it . . . Patterns in Pondscum. I think you could start an art exhibit with that name. I’m sure the artsy-fartsy would flock to it from miles around, and pay thousands of dollars for one of your original “Frels” pond scum photos.

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  2. This is the same route I usually take at Colorado Bend only I start through Dog Leg Canyon and return past the Tinaja. Last time I was through the Tinaja had almost no water so glad to see it is recovering somewhat. Sometimes along the River Trail I have seen some Aoudads. In talking to a ranger (I thought at first, they were pronghorns) I learned that CBSP has quite and Aoudad population. Evidently, they escaped one of the exotic animal ranches across the river when it was low enough for them to cross. They allow hunters to take all they want as I guess they are prolific breeders. Nice pics of the algae. Interesting subject.

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    1. I didn’t know about the aoudads. I don’t think I have seen any out there. There is a ranch not far from the park with dozens of ostriches, so I know the ranchers keep some exotic animals around. I have seen lots of deer. I’ll keep on the look out.

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  3. Your photos of the swirly algae patterns reminded me of what happens in spring when heavy pollen hits our waters. Especially in marinas, where there’s not much wind or tidal flow, they can remain for a while, and they’re attractive in the same way. I was interested to read about the Cedar Chopper Loop, too. Have you read the book The Cedar Choppers? It’s fascinating: a look at Appalachian settlers who landed west of Austin in the 19th century, and who made a living out of chopping cedar.

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    1. I didn’t know why it was called the cedar chopper loop. There is plenty to chop. I know the park was ranch land that was purchased about 40 years ago and some of the areas are named for those ranches.
      There is another trail called the Tie Slide Trail. Took me a while to learn that was named after the Boy Scout tie slide that they wear. At least that’s what I heard.
      It is probably my favorite state park. Thanks.

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    1. 😂 It’s a good thing. My niece is talented and recently has tried her hand with abstract paintings. Not usually my thing, but she has made some cool ones, and that’s what first came to my mind. Thought maybe Jason had taken up painting.

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  7. While it’s pretty to look at (great pics BTW) blue-green algae blooms proliferate and ‘bloom’ very quickly in response to warm temperatures, sunlight, and high levels of nutrients. Blooms can deplete the oxygen and block sunlight to other organisms, and may produce powerful toxins that are capable of causing illness and even death to wildlife, livestock, pets, and even people. 🙂

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