Big Bend and Big Bend Ranch State Park - MLK 2017

[wngrog]

After we cruised to the end of the road near Shutup Canyon in the SE corner of the park, we backtracked to enter The Road to Nowhere. This is a cool narrow road that traces the eastern edge of El Solitario, an ancient volcano.

You can see our camp in the distance over Louis' LX470

It takes a big ole Land Cruiser a 5-6 point turn to get turned around at Nowhere. I am sure we could have squeezed a couple more in on the trip but 4 seems optimal.

Camp again in the distance as we descend

 

[wngrog]

Here are a couple more pictures from camp, we stopped in and collected our vehicles we left behind and stopped to check out Fresno Vista on the way back to the headquarters to register for night number 2.

I love the living desert. You can leave here without looking close and see nothing but if you look close you see life everywhere

The vastness of Big Bend is amazing. The mountains seem to go forever in all direction

Fresno Vista is on the list of campsites for the next trip. This is looking west. It would be an amazing sunset spot.

 

[wngrog]

We stopped in HQ, took a shower, grabbed some ice and hit the trail for Guale 2 campsite. The weather report was 50% chance of rain with 25-30 mph winds out of the east. We backed up camp with Guale 1 which is in a protected area but we really has Guale 2 on the brain.

This trail started off good and got better after every turn.

 

[wngrog]

At this point Andy got on the radio and said can we stop and take some drone footage? I was glad to oblige and took the Phantom up for a spin to try to capture more of what we were seeing



Check out the link above for a short video clip of the mesa

 

[wngrog]

The park ranger told us it would take over 2 hours to go the 8 miles to Guale 2 and the storm we knew was coming was brewing hard to the west.

We dropped into the campsite as the sun was setting and were greeted with 20 mph winds but what felt like camping on the edge of the Grand Canyon. This is one of the most unreal sites I have ever seen and even though we knew we were going to get hammered by the wind, we knew the sunrise here would make it worthwhile.

 

[wngrog]

That evening we pitched tents and cooked dinner on the edge of the Guale Mesa. As thunderstorms crashed to the west and north of us, the east wind picked up to steady 20-30 mph. We took David's ridiculous looking electric blue tundra with non matching camper top and blocked some of the wind so we could enjoy the light show that rivaled any 4th of July display. By about 8 pm everyone had stowed their tents and made arrangements to sleep inside their vehicles. No one wanted to drive the mile back to Guale 1 campsite and miss sunrise over the canyon.

Turned out staying was the best plan. Our resident pro photographer came around and tapped on everyones vehicle just before dawn to prepare for the sunrise. When only a few got up he honked his horn just in time for us lazy bones to see the explosion in the sky.

It was unreal and worth the stay in the storm.

We packed up quickly and headed to Guale Overlook a 1/2 mile to the west to see the vista there.

Like the campsite, the overlook was spectacular

Here is a short video showing the overlook from my Phantom drone

 

[wngrog]

At this point one in our group had already had to turn north and depart followed by two others about an hour later. Four of us had the entire day to explore in the park so we split up at the Rancherias Loop and headed back east for Jackel Pens. This road is less maintained than the Guale Mesa road, with a few arroyo crossings and some steep descents and climbs.

This is the best picture I have of the Big Blue Truck....

Steep hill on the west end....

Rancherias Camp

This little guy was a great tool for the trip. Big Bend Ranch lets you burn fires so I bought 1/2 a trailer full of wood along with my tent, water and kitchen supplies (skottle)

 

[wngrog]

Jackel Pens was an old ranch house with pumps and an old farmhouse. We stopped and made a sammich and walked around and looked at stuff. The wind was picking back up so we were getting whipped.

You know. There is nothing Expo about this truck and it certainly is not Expo As F__K.....like our kitted out 100 series.......

 

[wngrog]

The ranger at the office had told us that Mexicali was one of the best campsites in the park and we were about 2 miles from it at this point so we hooked a right towards Vista Point and began to climb. Im super glad we did not miss this part of the trail. It was.....well, Epic......

Turns out, it was not the best site in the park. Not even close. But I am glad we went because at that point we were only 4 miles from Vista Point so we turned south and peeled out.

When we got to the point, the wind had to have been going 40-50 mph. You could literally lean into it and it would hold you up.

But the view south was worth the wind and the one-way drive to it.

At this point everything we did was "going home" so there was less picture taking and less talking on the radio. A bit of a bummed feeling took over the group.

Then we hit this big ass hill again and we all woke up and started enjoying the last of our trip.

The road out from Jackel Pens is pretty smooth and fast so we made much better time to Saucenda this way that on Guale Mesa.

Here is a 6 minute video of the day starting at Guale and ending on the drive out of the State Park

 

[wngrog]

We made our way to Presidio by 4 pm and gassed up. Since I had left mine parked Saturday morning, I was still on one tank of gas from Study Butte. I estimate I could have done all of it with an extra 5 gallons. I had 10 on me.

We wanted to get on the road so we could drive Texas HWY 17 from Fort Davis North in the daylight. It is an unreal drive. Beautiful.

We quickly passed through Border Patrol and Marfa (its a shame to rush this town)

Fort Davis too is a great little town but time was wasting so we hammered it north

And sure enough, Texas 17 was just as magnificent as ever. Just at sunset our timing was perfect and a beautiful way to wrap up our west Texas MLK17 adventure

Until next trip..... #eaf out.......

 

[Fireman]

IT WAS THERE! Can't hide pretty.

 

[Tulip]

Great write up Nolan.

 

[OGBeno]

Solid Nolen. #EAMF.

 

[dbbowen]

Great report, looks like you fellas had a great time. Awesome Photos!

 

[BMThiker]

Great pics!