Big Bend Trip Report (1 Viewer)

[duggy]

Attendees:
@duggy
@richxd87
@3D Mark
#tomluu

I must admit, I'm still high from this trip. This was my very first trip to Big Bend and I will have to confess my admiration for the place. I recently changed positions at my job and was immersed in the everyday grind of work, and really lost my perception of the great outdoors. Big Bend changed that for me. I'm sure most of you here know the history of the place and have seen a lot of it through pictures, but if you've never been, YOU MUST GO!

Day 1 - Walmart, Amistad Natl Recreation Area

Having already mentally checking out of work at the beginning of the week, we met up late Tuesday afternoon at Walmart on Fry Rd and I-10. We projected to leave at 3PM as to barely skirt around the San Antonio rush hour, but some unforseen last minute preparations had some folks arrive late. Not to worry, we would be right on time for our arrival to Amistad National Recreational Area for our midpoint stop. Having left at 4PM we arrived at Amistad around 10PM, just 30 minutes shy of our projected window. notbad.jpg

We parked our cars, setup camp and sat around the campfire for an hour before calling it a night. We were beat but excited for the next day's trek into Marfa

What camp looked like in the morning

 

[duggy]

Day 2 - Langtry, TX, Marfa, TX, BBSP

Leaving the Amistad area we were pretty pumped to continue onto the day's travels. The Amistad area is a natural reservoir that spills onto both the Mexican and Texas side. From the past year's droughts, the area has dried up so water crafting in the area is slower but there is still peace and serenity to still be had from the area. The area that we camped off of had a small hike down to the creek which the water levels at one time were 20 feet higher. Camping in this area is on the honor system and if you arrive late you can enter, setup camp and pay when you exit.

Today we head to Marfa, but on the way out, we had a quick road-side Geology lesson from our own Geophysicist , @richxd87. The rock formations being explained in this picture is why there is such a sudden change in the formation from smoother, lighter rock to the more tan and jagged rocks. It was explained that there was a sudden influx in the appearance or disappearance of water that caused the top layer to deposit the top layer which is why we see the drastic differences in layers of rock. Always cool to learn about the area you're visiting!

At this point, we were taking a pretty leisurely pace getting to Big Bend, mainly because we could. It was a grey day but as we would have it, the sights were too pretty to be speeding through.

Langtry, TX
We stopped into Langtry, Texas which many abandoned buildings still breathe the faded air of the old west. One dirt road winds down to the Canyon which overlooks the Rio Grande river valley, and offered us our first gasp of amazement to our stellar view.

Marfa, TX
We continued on to Marfa, passing through Sanderson (while seeing @Adrift in his sweet 40 series), Marathon, and Alpine getting gas as needed. These small towns thrive on the traffic from Big Bend, but will have to input that Marfa is a......quirky town to say the least. Minimalist art paints the town signs as they read:

Apparently it's good, and I'm going to try it next time I'm there.

We (read: my girlfriend) wanted to see the Prada art installation in Marfa, but as it was approaching 4PM, and it was 36 minutes west of Marfa, we decided against it. We ultimately decided to visit the Chinati Foundation instead, which you may have seen the famous concrete block installations in their field. We wanted to take a tour of their many other art installations, but all tours were closed for the day, so we decided to goof off on the blocks.

BBSP
Either there was no information about this, or I did not read clearly enough (most likely the latter), but if you do not make it to either the Presidio Park Ranger Station, which lies outside of Presidio, or the Sauceda Ranger station on the interior of the State Park after driving 27 miles, you WILL NOT be granted a back country pass to camp in a primitive site.

The Presidio Ranger station closes at 5PM
The Sauceda Ranger station closes at 6PM
No, they will not wait for you to come if you are 30 minutes late. We asked.

We arrived to the Presidio Ranger Station to find that they were both closing soon, and that we only had campgrounds available to us, or the overflow parking. Overflow parking sounds so urban and city-like so we immediately dismissed it but at our arrival to the interior of the park we were presented with a half decent camping spot with enough room for our 4 trucks and 1 trailer. We would camp here tonight, and check in with the Ranger tomorrow.

Once we pulled into the camp site, it started raining. I don't mean your typical small rain drops. This was fat juicy rain drops that greeted us just as we were setting up camp. We hurried to setup the awnings and tents so we could take retreat under them. As the rain started, a double rainbow peek out and came to say "hello". We knew the rest of the trip would be pretty awesome.

 

[duggy]

Day 3 - BBSP


Our original plan was to stay one night in BBSP, wheel the trails and then take off to Terlingua Ranch and stay at their campgrounds. After talking with Barrett, the Ranger at the Sauceda Ranger station, he advised us to wheel the whole day in the Park and stay another night. We didn't need much convincing to stay.

It was pretty windy and cold the week that we went as there was a storm system moving in from the southwest, so the preferred campspot would be protected from the winds, and we would shield ourselves from the rain if necessary, with the awnings.


I've heard magical things about Guale 2, but the winds would have made it unbearingly cold so we decided to camp at Las Burras.

We figured that we could fit 4 trucks in there but Las Burras 1, 2 and 3 are not enough space if you have RTTs and/or trailer. Next time we will camp at Guale 1 or 2.

After we all got a good shower in, I ditched the trailer at the Sauceda Ranger Station and joined the group to wheel the southern end of the park on what they call the "Epic Trail".

I don't have many pictures from wheeling the trails, but I would rate them 2/5. They aren't too bad and 2WD high clearance can tackle most of the trails.

Stopping for a quick lunch

After we finished wheeling, which took longer than we though, I split off from the group to get the trailer from the Ranger station. Now, remember that this is my first time taking this trailer off-road so I did not know what to expect. It took me a half hour to get back to the main road, and another half hour to get back on the trail, which is another 1 back to the camp spot, since I had to drive so slow. The trailer sitting on a single leaf spring was starting to give since it was not enough spring for the weight I was towing. Unbeknownst to me, these issues were brewing like chilli in a slow-cooker. It was getting really dark and I was still on the trail to myself.

There was a point where I stopped on the trail, shut off my car and really listened to what was around me. There was absolutely nothing. Not a peep, squeak except the quiet snoring of my dog in the backseat. The silence was deafening and the moon shined the ground like a flash light, it was so bright. The silence made me uncomfortable, only because I was never presented with this absolute silence before. I was half worried something would jump out at me, but also half ambitious to meet up with the group again. I'll leave my "philosophical" ramblings to another day, but I just wanted to share that with anybody heading out to BBSP.

We ended the night with laughter, good food, good weather and most importantly, good company.

If you squint, you can see our trucks in there somewhere.

 

[duggy]

Day 4 - River Road (Hwy 170), BBNP

We were leaving BBSP and on the way out to the main train I was blindly feeling confident in the trailer as we exited the trail to the main road. The trailer was being dragged up and down hill climbs, being put through it's paces on the trail. We stopped to take some quick pictures and proceeded to hit the Big Bend State Park sign

Highway 170
We took a short cut out to 170 from the State Park and stopped at the next State Ranch sign to get a better picture with all of the trucks.

Doing a quick check-over, this is where I realize I have a busted leaf-spring on the trailer. I didn't get a picture, but here is some carnage from the trailer, sitting on a single leaf with both of them busted. With some great ideas from the team, we rigged up two pieces of firewood and a lot of ratchet straps to get the axle to stay in place. I also aired down the tires to 12PSI to get it to absorb some of the dampening forces.

We ran with this setup for the rest of the trip, even dragging it through Glenn Springs road, which is not tough on a truck, but tough on a trailer.

We visted various stops along River Road, arguably one of the most scenic routes I've had the pleasure of driving on, including the Contrabando movie set which was built in the 1980s as a movie set. It's obvious why this location was so appealing to movie producers. The jagged peaks and red rocks make for a beautiful village, even if it is all fake.

Some of the sights we saw along 170.

Big Bend National Park
There is a place in Far West Texas where night skies are dark as coal and rivers carve temple-like canyons in ancient limestone. Here, at the end of the road, hundreds of bird species take refuge in a solitary mountain range surrounded by weather-beaten desert. Tenacious cactus bloom in sublime southwestern sun, and diversity of species is the best in the country. This magical place is Big Bend.

Approaching the ending leg of our trip, we head into BBNP, which compared to the SP is almost 3x larger in size. BBNP offers you some vast scenery which almost is hard to believe at times. We checked into the Panther Junction Ranger station to try and find a back-country camping spot, but most were either filled or could not support 4 cars. This is a large issue in NP, if you plan to go with a group of people, you'll have to get lucky on the campsites that you get since you can only reserve 24 hours in advance, but once you are there, you can reserve up to 14 consecutive days. If you plan to have a different site every night, this can be challenging, but we made it happen!

Our first night's camp spot would over look the Santa Elena Canyons. They really make you feel small, tiny like an ant.

 

[duggy]

Day 5 - Santa Elena Canyons, Hot Springs, Black Gap Road

Today is the day we really got to stretch our feet and explore the National Park. We packed up for the day after cooking breakfast. This is the first time I have mentioned food on our trip, but it is something that is worth speaking about. The group came together as a whole to provide food for each night, which included:

1) Smoked pork butt shredded to make shredded pork tacos with fresh camp-site made pico de gallo
2) Marinated beef ribs and chicken kept fresh in our fridges grilled on a Weber grill we bought in Alpine
3) A healthy dose of eggs, bacon and sausage tacos every morning for breakfast
4) A tomato based soup with chunks of ground beef for the cold nights we encountered

I will have to give credit to my girlfriend who prepared all of the food on our end, and @richxd87 for smoking the pork butt.

Santa Elena Canyons

After packing up and talking to the Ranger making his morning rounds we went to inspect the Santa Elena Canyons a bit closer. The Canyons tower over you 1,500 feet as you stand at the base. The smooth orange/red tinted rock offer a voice back when yelled into, when you step into the interior of the Canyon. There is an easy, mile long hike filled with switchbacks and loose rock that enters you into the valley of the canyon. We went to explore this hike and were pretty thrilled that we got to experience this portion of Big Bend.

Hot Springs

You've probably heard about the Hot Springs in Big Bend, namely as the concrete base used to be a base for the bath house of J.O. Landford who hunkered down in the area and made the place his own little retreat. Hot spring water is considered old water, fossil water, ancient and irreplaceable. Heated by geothermal processes and emerging at 105° F., the water carries dissolved mineral salts reputed to have healing powers. The therapeutic value of heat has long been touted as a remedy of both body and soul.

There is a quick half mile walk to the hot springs, and if you are feeling froggy, you could even swim across the Rio into Mexico.

The drive in/out of the Hot Springs is cool since they had to carve a road in the mountain.

Black Gap Road
Black Gap Road is touted as the most difficult 4WD road in the park. There are some off camber portions and washout hill climbs that you'll have to go through. We did this on the way back from Panther Junction to our campsite. The difficulty level raises once the dark sets in. All in all, it was a cool road, but we did not get to check out the mine. Sorry for the lack of pictures on this one. It was rainy and dark.

 

[duggy]

In conclusion, reminiscing through this trip, I did not feel rushed or that we had to stick to a certain schedule. We took a leisurely pace and if we didn't get to check something out, we would omit it for the next trip. There was a point in time that we made the executive decision to omit staying at the Terlingua camp grounds and stay another night in the park. I am glad I made time for this trip and had (mostly) the correct preparation. The remote ruggedness of this place definitely can offer some serenity if you are stuck in the everyday grind of work. I am thankful that we did not have any catastrophic failures (except for the trailer) and that everybody made it home okay. I'll definitely be back to Big Bend.

I hope I didn't ramble too much, and thank you for reading this far. Here are some misc pictures that you might enjoy.

This is how my dog slept on the way home from Big Bend.

 

[duggy]

I can finally say that this post is finalized. I enjoy writing these out and planning the pictures for all to see. There wasn't much wheeling on this trip, but more of a camping/expedition trip.

 

[HFDPNL]

Awesome! Sad I missed it. We stayed at the resort at Lajitas for my 30th. We drove 170 to Presidio, but didn't really explore the park much. I've been saying I wanna go back and explore the parms as soon as I get time.

What did you do with your pup at the hot springs? I see the sign in the pic that says no pets, but I'd hate to leave them in the truck. Definitely have to bring mine whenever I go back.

 

[duggy]

Awesome! Sad I missed it. We stayed at the resort at Lajitas for my 30th. We drove 170 to Presidio, but didn't really explore the park much. I've been saying I wanna go back and explore the parms as soon as I get time.

What did you do with your pup at the hot springs? I see the sign in the pic that says no pets, but I'd hate to leave them in the truck. Definitely have to bring mine whenever I go back.

You know, I have a funny story about the resort at Lajitas. We were on 170 (River Road) when I found out I had a broken leaf spring. We continued onto Lajitas to get gas and went inside to ask about an RV/Trailer repair shop. I was mostly always pointed to go to Alpine, but a suggestion was to try and contact a guy at the RV Park near the cemetery in a yellow jeep named Tony to see if he knew anything.

It was an odd situation for me as I'm used to the big city life where there are probably 3 RV parks and 15 jeeps on a block. We went to the park to go and find if he had a leaf spring for us to buy or knew of a place but he was out playing golf and couldn't be reached. That'd be nice just to check out and not worry about service. Kind of a "catch me when you can" type of deal.

The weather was excellent when we went to the Hot Springs so we rolled down the windows and left her in the car. If it's hot, I would definitely not suggest leaving them in the car. That area also has high crime for unattended vehicles being that it's pretty secluded and it's right next to the border.

 

[Darasick]

Man! Great pictures and great writeup! Thanks for sharing Duggy, it looks like a trip I would enjoy!

 

[richxd87]

Here are some videos of the trip my wife made, hope yall enjoy!

 

[richxd87]

 

[richxd87]

 

[richxd87]

 

[richxd87]