Big Bend Nov2011

WeeJeep2

Adventurer
After enjoying and being inspired by everyone else’s trip reports I figure its time to give it a shot. I wanted to get some current photos up for the members that are headed that way for Thanksgiving week. Here's a summary of our trip.

DAY 1 Departure Houston area on Sat. Nov. 5 late morning. Drove out to Garner SP to spend the night. Arrived in time for sunset and some time to explore the upper section of the river.

Crossing the Frio River

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Rocky Bank

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River Ripples

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River View

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On DAY 2 we traveled west on Hwy 90, crossed the Pecos River with a stop at the bridge overlook for lunch.

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We arrived at the North entrance for mid afternoon and collected our back country permit for 3 nights at the entrance station.

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With adequate daylight left we headed out to Dagger Flats for a late afternoon view before heading south on Old Ore Rd. towards our campsite.

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We made it to our camp site at McKinney Springs just prior to sunset and settled in for the evening.

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Day 3 started with a pancake breakfast and then off down Old Ore Rd to the south after breaking camp. The campsite is in the draw and offers some protection from the wind.

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We made a few stops along the way including Ernst Tinaja to do some hiking. With two geologists along you can never see too many rocks.

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After lunch we made it down to Rio Grand Village and did the short hike out the back of the campground to look over the river. Also topped off fuel tanks since we came in straight from Marathon.

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From there we did the Boquillias Canyon Overlook and then headed on to Hot Springs. There is a large tree down by the river, (person for scale)

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and a nice draw with some colorful trees over the hill up river from the parking lot.

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We had to hustle north on the paved road a ways to make our campsite in Pine Canyon No. 4 before the sun set. Nice views but very exposed to the wind that did pick up over night.

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Day 4 Headed south on Glenn Canyon Rd. with a stop at Rice Tank to poke around. The camp site at Rice Tank is the flat area in the foreground.

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Next stop was a small canyon just north of Glenn Springs to stretch our legs.

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From there it was West on Black Gap Road. No problems with the Rubicon towing the trailer and a stock 2011 Tacoma TRD Offroad. The trailer had spotters on a few off camber sections to make sure it didn't tip.

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We finished Black Gap and got to Mariscal Mine in time for lunch. We spent our share of time exploring the ruins and continued West on River Rd.

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We stopped at a few places including Black Dike which is an intrusion of black rock that projects out into the river.

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We rolled into Buenos Aires Site No. 1 with ample time before dark and called it a day.

continued ....
 

WeeJeep2

Adventurer
Day 5 started with a nice sunrise and lit up the river below our camp.

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We started with a hike up through Tuff Canyon just north of where the River Rd. joins the paved Ross Maxwell Rd.

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From there it was on to Santa Elena Canyon to hike back as far as we could.

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From there it was north on the paved road with a stop at Mule Ears Overlook, a hike out to Burro Mesa Pour Off, and a stop at Sotol Vista Overlook on our way up to the Chisos Basin area.

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There was a cold north wind howling through the camp area to greet us. We found a site that offered some cover and space to set up the tent and park the trailer. Sites in the basin are small, (but they do have heated rest rooms with flush toilets).

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Day 6 started cold but the wind had stopped. We headed off with the rising sun towards Emory Peak. We passed a view of the "boot" along the way.

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We made the summit by 11 am, enjoyed the view, had lunch and continued on our way.

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The hike continued out to the south rim for a view over the desert area we'd been driving for the past 3 days.

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From there it was back to the basin to catch the late afternoon sun setting through the Window (via zoom lens). After a 15 mile hike that was plenty close enough.

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Day 7 Time to pack up after a luxurious two nights in the same spot and start the trip home. We finished off Big Bend with a drive out to Grapevine Hills and a hike out to the Balanced Rock.

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After the hike it was one more dusty road run back to pavement.

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We left the park out to the west and headed north from Study Butte to Alpine and on to I-10. We made it to Sonora to camp for the night.

Day 8 We were the only tent campers in the campground at the Caverns of Sonora. They have hot showers, lots of curious deer, and some shade trees in the camping area.

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We did the cave tour Sat. morning. Lots of intricate formations to see. It was about 1.5 hours in the cave with a small group of 8 on the tour. Well worth the stop. The peacocks on the grounds even clean the bugs off the front of your vehicle while you are parked.

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We jumped back on I-10 but detoured slightly northeast at Junction so we could get some barbeque at Cooper's in Llano for a late lunch. We arrived back home for 7pm to make a full day of it. The next morning we deposited a nephew and his wife at the airport having successfully survived their first overland camping trip.
 

1leglance

2007 Expedition Trophy Champion, Overland Certifie
Funny how as a native Texan I have never been to Big Bend, your report really shows me how tragic that is.
Thanks for the write up and now I have to check the next chunk of time off so the family can head that way :)

Also I gotta say 2 geologist on a trip like this must have been interesting for everyone else...at least as long as they get along!

Thanks again for posting, it looks like a great time and really makes me want to explore the area.
Would you say 3-4 days would be enough to get a feel for Big Bend?
 

WeeJeep2

Adventurer
3-4 days wil get you a good start on seeing what the park has to offer. One to the east side, one to the west side and one up in the high country. It's a 1500 mile round trip for us so making a week of it when camping is a more typical trip for us. We've been known to buzz over for a 4 day weekend, (one day there and one day back) traveling light and staying in hotels.
 

Woodsman

Adventurer
I've been wanting to hit Big Bend NP for some time now and your report is just another reminder that it needs to get done.
 

Mr. Leary

Glamping Excursionaire
Excellent trip report. Haven't seen many trip reports on here lately that involve the many hikes there are in BiBeNP.

Thanks for sharing!
 

WeeJeep2

Adventurer
What he said.

The truck tows it on the highway with a ball hitch and longer tongue extension. The jeep takes it offroad with a short tongue extension and Lock'n Roll Coupler.

The truck mpg drops from 20 to 15 on the highway and will hold 70+ mph. The Jeep drops from 15 to 10 on the highway with the trailer and will be down below 60 mph on the up hills in 4th or 5th gear.
The rest of the traffic is passing by at 80+ on I-10.

The jeep is also set up with air springs to take the extra load on the back end.
 

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