YotaPilot
Adventurer
This was my first fully self sufficient trip my wife in I took in my 2001 Tacoma I have been slowly building up for the last year or so. Living in Corpus Christi puts us pretty far from the usual adventure spots in the SW, but the Big Bend region is within a days drive, so we thought we'd give it a shot.
The original plan was to go to Big Bend National Park. I had the route planned with all the site we would see and campsite selections to bring to the ranger station. However, the government shutdown forced us to change those plans, so we audibled to the State Park. I did some research about the park and determined what sites I wanted to try and things to see. Big Bend Chat is a great resource as well as visitbigbend.com.
I'm not posting all of my pictures in this thread. If you wish to see more, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77192624@N03/sets/72157636626799366/
Day 1 - Wednesday 09 October
So we packed up on a Wednesday evening and left Corpus Christi after my wife got off work. Our first stop be South LLano River state park where literally pitched the tent and went to sleep. After about a 4 hour drive, we arrived in the dark at 10:30PM brushed our teeth then turned in.
Day 2 - Thursday 10 October
Thursday saw an early morning rise before the sun came up. We knew we had about 6 hours of driving to go and wanted to arrive at Big Bend State Park with enough time to drive the roads during the day and set up camp before dark. We arrived in the border town of Presidio around 1:00PM, topped off on fuel then headed down the road to Ft. Leaton State Historic Site to get our backcountry camping permits. We decided to try Las Burras 3 based on a recommendation on Big Bend Chat. Las Burras 3 is supposed to have great sunsets and views into Mexico. The site was available so we reserved it for 2 nights.
As a side note, the ranger station only allowed us to reserve two nights at a time. For the other nights we had to go to the Sauceda Ranger Station in the middle of the park. Additionally I recommend picking up a Big Bend Ranch State Park Discovery Map. It's a 1:84000 scale map with contours at 160'. Not great for navigation, but better that nothing. It also gives distance breakdowns on the trail which help in finding you site. More on that later.
Once leaving the Ranger Station, we continued a short distance east on Hwy 170 to Casa Piedra Rd. This is where the pavement ends for your time in the park. We continued on this road following the signs for the park until entering the park proper. I took the obligatory pictures of the park entrance sign, but somehow lost them when changing some settings in my camera for my memory card.
We followed Main Park Rd until Oso Loop, then Las Burras Rd. Oso Loop is where is turns to a 4 Wheel Drive, High Clearance rd. The road was not to difficult, just bumpy and narrow with many bushes and cactus hanging into the road giving my truck a fair amount of desert pin-stripping. We made it to the campsite, after a short detour. We actually drove right past it without seeing it. That's where the distance markers on the map used in combination with the trip meter on the truck come in handy.
Las Burras Rd (the good section of road)
Upon arrival at the site I was a little disappointed with it. The "parking" spot was about 30 meters from the "camp site." Having a fair amount of glamping gear I was hoping to be able to set up camp right next to my truck. To explore some other options, I made a short foray off the marked trail and had my first "challenge" of the trip. I drove a little too close so one of the hardy desert bushes and heard a loud hissing noise. That noise was off course air rapidly escaping from my front passenger side tire. I quickly maneuvered the truck back on the trail and assessed the situation. I had a stick, a little thinner than my pinky punctured in the inner side wall of the tire. After some harsh scolding of myself for driving off the trail and knowing better than that, I decided to move to action. We would set up camp first, then if I still had light, would attempt to change the tire. That plan worked out. We got camp set up, I changed the tire (after some conflict with ants while trying to drop the spare), ate dinner, and enjoyed a nice sunset.
The OzTent at Las Burras 3
The OzTent Again. More like "awesome" tent.
Flat Tire
The culprit
High Lift Worked Great
Sunset
The original plan was to go to Big Bend National Park. I had the route planned with all the site we would see and campsite selections to bring to the ranger station. However, the government shutdown forced us to change those plans, so we audibled to the State Park. I did some research about the park and determined what sites I wanted to try and things to see. Big Bend Chat is a great resource as well as visitbigbend.com.
I'm not posting all of my pictures in this thread. If you wish to see more, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77192624@N03/sets/72157636626799366/
Day 1 - Wednesday 09 October
So we packed up on a Wednesday evening and left Corpus Christi after my wife got off work. Our first stop be South LLano River state park where literally pitched the tent and went to sleep. After about a 4 hour drive, we arrived in the dark at 10:30PM brushed our teeth then turned in.
Day 2 - Thursday 10 October
Thursday saw an early morning rise before the sun came up. We knew we had about 6 hours of driving to go and wanted to arrive at Big Bend State Park with enough time to drive the roads during the day and set up camp before dark. We arrived in the border town of Presidio around 1:00PM, topped off on fuel then headed down the road to Ft. Leaton State Historic Site to get our backcountry camping permits. We decided to try Las Burras 3 based on a recommendation on Big Bend Chat. Las Burras 3 is supposed to have great sunsets and views into Mexico. The site was available so we reserved it for 2 nights.
As a side note, the ranger station only allowed us to reserve two nights at a time. For the other nights we had to go to the Sauceda Ranger Station in the middle of the park. Additionally I recommend picking up a Big Bend Ranch State Park Discovery Map. It's a 1:84000 scale map with contours at 160'. Not great for navigation, but better that nothing. It also gives distance breakdowns on the trail which help in finding you site. More on that later.
Once leaving the Ranger Station, we continued a short distance east on Hwy 170 to Casa Piedra Rd. This is where the pavement ends for your time in the park. We continued on this road following the signs for the park until entering the park proper. I took the obligatory pictures of the park entrance sign, but somehow lost them when changing some settings in my camera for my memory card.
We followed Main Park Rd until Oso Loop, then Las Burras Rd. Oso Loop is where is turns to a 4 Wheel Drive, High Clearance rd. The road was not to difficult, just bumpy and narrow with many bushes and cactus hanging into the road giving my truck a fair amount of desert pin-stripping. We made it to the campsite, after a short detour. We actually drove right past it without seeing it. That's where the distance markers on the map used in combination with the trip meter on the truck come in handy.
Las Burras Rd (the good section of road)
Upon arrival at the site I was a little disappointed with it. The "parking" spot was about 30 meters from the "camp site." Having a fair amount of glamping gear I was hoping to be able to set up camp right next to my truck. To explore some other options, I made a short foray off the marked trail and had my first "challenge" of the trip. I drove a little too close so one of the hardy desert bushes and heard a loud hissing noise. That noise was off course air rapidly escaping from my front passenger side tire. I quickly maneuvered the truck back on the trail and assessed the situation. I had a stick, a little thinner than my pinky punctured in the inner side wall of the tire. After some harsh scolding of myself for driving off the trail and knowing better than that, I decided to move to action. We would set up camp first, then if I still had light, would attempt to change the tire. That plan worked out. We got camp set up, I changed the tire (after some conflict with ants while trying to drop the spare), ate dinner, and enjoyed a nice sunset.
The OzTent at Las Burras 3
The OzTent Again. More like "awesome" tent.
Flat Tire
The culprit
High Lift Worked Great
Sunset
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