Big Bend Trail report...
Ben & Alicia (blue FJC) and me & Kitty did the Big Bend trip together after meeting up in San Angelo, Texas. Ben has a friend, Trevor, there who put us up for the night and we met Trevor last year at the Round Up. These Texas boys sure like beef. We feasted on a brisket Trevor cooked all day on the grill, homemade salsa verde and pinto beans seasoned with onions, garlic, cilantro and serranos! Had a good time playing pool and chatting with his old neighbor next door. Took off Monday am for Big Bend which was just under 400 miles from San Angelo. Not much to see along the desolate highways except the gigantic wind mill farms contrasting with the scrub brush and gnarly trees. These things are huge with propeller blades 50-60 feet long.
We got to the Big Bend ranger station about mid afternoon at Panther Junction just north of the Chisos Mtns. It was then that we discovered that they had absolutely no campsites available (spring break). Our only option was to zone camp along any of the roads or trails throughout the park. This didn't sound so bad until she tells us that we have to leave our trucks on the side of the road and hike at least 1/2 mile from there or until we cannot see our trucks from our tents. I think I twitched a bit as I thought of the big box containers of camping gear we hauled over 1400 miles from GA. I eased up a little and decided we would just wing it. Sure we can do that, it may take a couple trips, but no problem. So the young lady helping us says,
which area do you want to camp in, pointing to a color coded map on the table?
I said, I dunno, we want to drive on the backcountry trails like Glenn Springs and Black Gap.
Are you sure? Those are really rough and never maintained. Do you have 4WD?
Grinning, OH, don't you worry about us miss ranger, we are in heavily modified FJC's!
What is that a jeep or something? *Something like that*
Ok, then you could camp in any of these zones. *OK, you're not helping me decide*
So as the afternoon sun blazed down on us, we traversed across Pine Canyon Road, down Glenn Spring Road and turned southwest onto Black Gap Road. Unbeknownst to us as I put my finger down on the pink highlighted area of the map, the zone we registered for the first night along Black Gap Road had a high ridge right along the trail. There was no way we were going to haul our crap over that ridge. The zone also bordered River Road East and Glenn Spring Road again, so we decided we still had enough daylight to continue east on River Road back to Glenn Spring Rd and would set up camp there, where it was much easier hiking territory.
The nice caveat the young ranger left us with before we tore off down the trails: You can tailgate on the side of the road, you just can't sleep there. First thing we did was recon the area and found a nice little revine (not quite
) a 1/2 mile from the road and set up our tents and sleeping bags. Then we trekked back to the trucks and set up a pop-up canopy and our gas stove, chairs, tables, etc... and proceeded to fry up some seasoned pork chops and chimichurri rice (thanks Trader Joes). Then we kicked back and watched the sun set while sipping our Shiner bocks.
Didn't see but 1 or 2 vehicles drive by as we sat around our non-camp site on the road and retired for the evening. The next morning we quickly packed up our tents and bags and schlepped everything back to the truck. Made some quick breakfast of sausage and instant oatmeal and headed further east on River Road to the Rio Grande village. Along the way we could tell we were close to the river, so we stopped at one of the reserved campsites and hiked a few yards down to the Rio Grande. That's where we spotted our first Mexican nationals - horses grazing across the river.
Further down the road we stopped at the Hot Springs site. The sun was starting to blister, but we still wanted to stick our feet in the 105* natural spring that oddly flows right into the Rio Grande.
At this point our travel mates (Ben & Alicia) decided to take a slower day and we traveled back up the main road to Panther Junction and around to the the western half of the park. They stopped along the way and doubled back down Old Ore Road. We kept going, determined to cover as much ground as we could in 2.5 days. We continued all the way down Old Maverick Rd which was a fun little washboard road with few turns - 4W-HI was mucho fun. As we approached the national border the St Elena Canyon walls became monolithic - surely there aren't any illegal crossings at this end of the park, and certainly no need for a US border fence!
Recent floods have ripped the shoreline of the river of its natural beauty and sand seems to have settled further upland than normal, but the canyon is truly amazing. So many colors of banded sedimentary rock are trapped in the walls that you can tell at first glance that this was eons in the making. We hiked a short trail up the canyon wall at first, then it descends along the northern edge until there simply is no trail - just 600 foot walls straight up and water at your feet.
We continued on our day long loop up the Maxwell Scenic highway through the Chisos and back around to the Rio Grande village where we would meet Ben and Alicia again. They were running a bit late, not counting on the length of time it would take to travel down the Old Ore Rd. We saw our first glimpse of the "paisano" or road runner here in the parking lot next to the RV campground. We gassed up again (120 miles covered that day!) and rolled on up Old Ore Rd for our second night of camping. With the sun fading and our energy drained, we stopped after only a mile or so to repeat the previous night's ritual of scoping out a tent site and setting up the tailgating fiesta. Ben set up his portable propane hot water heater for a shower and everyone freshened up.
That evening the breeze was lovely and warm and we all considered sleeping upright in our chairs, staring up at the stars.
Wednesday morning we continued our trek up Old Ore Road and stopped at Ernst Canyon to hike up to the "tinajas" (translates: jars) where pools of water have been carved into the red rocks. Strange to think that people settled here over 100 years ago without the slightest resemblance of a town for miles and miles. We did learn, however, that there once was a post office down by the hot springs and that someone was wrongly accused of mail fraud and shot because they were closest in residence. Wild west justice for you there.
We made it back up the main highway and had to stop at border patrol, just outside the park boundary. The large officer who motioned us to stopped looked across the seats at us through the open window. He simply said, you're both US citizens, right? We replied yes, and then he steps back, quickly turns his head back and forth to look at our truck and says with a big grin,
man I haven't ever seen one of these things lifted before, this looks great!
We made it back to Trevor's for one last night of civilization before heading over to Katemcy. Another delicious meal, a hot shower and we sacked out pretty hard.
LSLC Round Up 2009 in Katemcy
We got there Thursday afternoon and quickly set up camp. Then found our friends Matt, Will, Sidney & Christina, and met some new folks. The place is always windy in the mid-late afternoons, so setting up tarps and tents can be a challenge and you MUST stake everything down unless you want it to become a tumble weed.
That's our camp in the distance - blue canopy and tarp.
The FJC's naturally flocked together and I and Matt (five-by-five) led most of the trips. Matt knew his way around the park better than I, and we both spotted the less experienced guys/gals.
I think I was the first FJC to accomplish this one last year and it freaked the others out. But this year we got everyone up this huge incline. Some of the built 40's even stopped to check us out.
This guy came all the way from the Hammers the week before. He won some recognition for flopping his junk the most. Twice at the Hammers and once or twice here.
This is Will's 40. He drove his wife's FJC last year and swore he wasn't going to beat it up. So he brought his latest project this time. He won recognition for the truck that most people would trade their rig for. It was sweet. Two tone metallic paint.
Aggie Highway
