Big Bend National Park and State Park November 2011

[oliverlove]

Coming off the end of the River Rd. and headed for the Solis Overlook.


Another of the small rock piles that permiate the park.

I couldn't help but find humor in the Park Service's placement of this sign... Too funny!!

A valley directly next to the road that we stopped and chanced to see simply because we needed to stretch our legs. I was suprised at what little signage there was to mark it for visitors. There was a short hike that went down and into the canyon I believe, but with a dog in the car we couldn't leave the truck for that long.

Mule Earss, or Donkey Ears(not to sure what they call them)

The Solis Overlook. There is a Scwatch in the pic, see if you can find it. The Mtns in the background are in Mexico, and there is a gap that you can just see. There were some crazy stories about people escaping into Mexico by walking through the gap. No idea if it is true, but great romantic stories to think about as you gaze over the landscape.

After a short dash to Teralingua where we stopped for some fuel and a sandwich, we headed off towards the State Park Ranch just a little up the road. As we drove through the outskirts of Teralingua we saw these great piles in the front yards of the current landowners.

I might be a bit taken aback when I purchased a home and found that it came two for the price of one!!

There are signs for a ghost town down the road so when we came upon these charmers I pulled in to take some pictures!

It turns out I was wrong!!! These were simply more relics in front yards!!! The shotgun toating local filled me in while pointing out the quiant 'NO TRESPASSING' Sign.:Wow1:

 

[oliverlove]

The road between Teralingua and the State Ranch has to be some of the best scenery I have ever seen.

The road was fun to drive, the river was gurgling, and the sun was shining.

I found a spot with river access and drove down to see the water. It seems with miles and miles of road and river we managed to find the one spot with other people. A family was putting their canoes in. I was strongly tempted to scamper across the ankle deep water and stand in Mexico while my beautiful copilot took my picture. But, with company I figured that was a bad plan. Oh well... I'll have to jump the border some other day.

As we continued down the road we found these great balancing rocks. They are holdouts from the serious erosion that helped to shape the river valley.

I would suggest a serious suspension setup if you really want to travel the State Ranch. My stock shocks weren't up to the task of the dirt roads at high speed. It made this part of the trip pretty miserable.

At this point it was a hussle to get out to our site with some light left. We were trying to get to the ranger station asap.

Some locals giving us the evil eye.

So there is a pretty big gap here in the pictures simply because I was so overwhelmed by who I met at the ranger station. I ran into a few interesting people in the parking lot, a very nice guy with a HUGE F-150 and his family getting ready to head up to the Sand Dunes NP. He was able to drive quite a bit faster than we could on the roads and found them really enjoyable.

The real highlight was a average looking guy came up to me and asked about my RTT. We talked for a few minutes before me made a comment about traveling full time with his dog. I just about jumped out of my boxers when I realized that Spirit was sitting in his vehicles front seat. HOLY ****!!! THIS WAS A REAL LIFE FORUM USER STANDING IN FRONT OF ME!!!! I'll be honest... For a few minutes I felt like a 13 year old girl at a Juston Beaber concert with a VIP pass. I could hardly breath. I had read everything this man had ever written on his website (http://theoasisofmysoul.com/) and here he was talking to me!

Ok, well, moving on. So we picked one of the most remote sites that we could get and headed out on the road. At this point in the trip we should have picked a site closer.

Its not that it wasn't worth the drive, its just that we were so tired of blown shocks and a whiney dog that we could have done with less driving. Although, I did have a great time going up a very steep road that I wasn't sure my truck was going to be able to do. The Hankook tires proved they were worth the cost with this 30 second stretch of rock.

The happy filthy couple after a very chilly night. It was crazy the temp different from night to night.

Still happy though!!! We had a great breakfast of granola bars, and water. It was time to hit the road, and with over 3 hours of dirt between us and the highway it was time.

On the way out, we did spot this beautiful flower. It was really the only color around. After getting up in the dark and watching the sun rise, it was nice to see a bit of life in this hostile territory.

In true Texas fashion as that is what we are, we had to drive a few cattle! Thankfully they seemed to be going in the same direction, and were great about the photos.

Not too sure if you can see them, but we ran into a herd of Havalinas.

Finally!! We are back to civilazation!

We had planned to stop on the way home and camp out one more night but at this point I really wanted to be in my own bed. It was a marathon drive for 14 hours, but we made it! Thw drive down the border in the dark convinced me that I need an ARB out front, as the standard bumper won't stop a fly at speed.

I hope you all enjoyed the trip. Its funny how the pictures become more sparse the grumpier we got. Get out and enjoy nature, we sure do!:sombrero:

 

[bakerla]

excellent reading and pictures. thanks for sharing

 

[Sempertoy]

Great trip! Brings back memories of a Scout trip that we took there a few years ago. I would love to go back and see it again through expo eyes.

 

[Mirth1]

second hot springs

There are two hot springs. The second one is just down the trail about 1/2 mile from the old bath house. In the Langford's day it was used for people with social diseases. It is worth the walk It is covered with reeds and it like a covered hot tub Hardly anyone goes down there and you usually have it to yourself. You can read about it in the book about the Langfords "A Homesteader's Story" by Fred Gibson Gibson is the the author of "Old Yeller" The homesteader's story is an interesting read and gives you a better insight to the early history of the the springs. I enjoyed your post and can not wait to goes back this spring, Thanks