Thread: Big Bend July 2008

We drove down from Fort Davis and made a stop in Study Butte for gas, then continued on to the Terlingua Ghost Town. We looked around and took a bunch of pictures. What I thought was really odd was that many of those ruins are privately owned and most are being lived in, regardless of the condition of the building. There is a particularly interesting 2 story building which has no roof. Some one lives there, on the first floor. Most of the ruins are small square buildings which look to be no larger than a horse stall. No A/C, no restroom, this is a shanty town for artists and "free thinkers". It makes my tent, air mattress, box fan, 2 burner Coleman, water/electric campsite seem like the Hilton.

Next stop, the Barton Warnock Center in Lajitas. Their exhibit is very large and took about an hour to see. There is also a desert cactus garden, but at 105 degrees, why would we want to go see that? Back to the AC in the truck, off to the Chisos Mountains Lodge.

It was nice to get inside of the park borders. So much of that part of the state is neglected mobile homes, RVs, and shantys, some inhabited, some abandoned, and most you can't tell the difference. The view was nice, lots of scenery with none of the junk.

We checked in. The rooms are great. They aren't fancy, but along with the 2 beds and a bathroom, there is a fridge, a microwave, a place to hang your clothes, and a place to store coolers and large bags ( which we needed). Several brochures stated that you should not leave anything of value in your car, especially if you plan to go to Rio Grande City, Boquillas, or Hot Springs. We took a short hike to the the Window View Trail. From our front porch, we had a view of the window. With the cloud cover, we had no pretty sunsets during our stay. Dinner at the restaraunt was great.

Thursday was our hiking day. We started by driving west to Old Maverick Road. I did not need to switch over to 4x4 during the drive. We stopped at Luna's Jacal and I also let my son steer until we arrived at the paved section down by Santa Elena Canyon. We hiked the canyon trail. It's amazing just how tall those walls are. We also bumped into an artist named Kenny McKenna. He was painting the canyon. We took his picture and continued on our way. Next stop, Castolon. There is a small exhibit there and a few old buildings. From there we took Ross Maxwell Drive to Mule Ear's and Homer Wilson Ranch. We did get our to hike Burro Mesa Pour off. That was my favorite hike of the trip. It was overcast the entire day so we weren't getting the insane heat of the previous days. We stayed at the pour off for about an hour.

From there we went to the opposite side of the park to see Rio Grande Village, and visit the Hot Springs. The road into the hot springs in interesting. It looks like the rocks could collapse at any time and sent you rolling down the hill. We tried to conceal anything valuable in the truck in the parking lot. This is one of the places with the sign warning you that unattended vehicles are frequently broken into. (Duh, a parking lot is a place where cars are unattended....) I took the good stuff and crammed it all into my backpack. However, what was still in the truck was probably more useful to a homeless person because it would proved for all their needs, a tent, sleeping bags, camp stove, lanterns, propane, bottled water, and pool noodles. There were 2 other vehicles, a small pick up with random camping gear in the back, and a Texas State University van, with the driver's door left wide open. That person was smart. If someone wanted to break in, they wouldn't damage the lock, and would find nothing inside. We couldn't do that. Anyways, we checked out the post office and motel ruins, and the pictographs on the mountainside. At the pool, there was just one guy. We were there a few minutes and I talked with the man. He got up and left. I got a bad feeling and decided we should also leave. I'm glad we did. Nothing happened but I've never gotten that uneasy feeling before while camping/exploring at a park.

About 10pm we had a skunk visit the lodge, then a herd of javelinas. We had been sitting on the porch enjoying the 60 degree evening and here they all came. 2 feet way from us. They were not aggressive and we all just took pictures.

In the morning we did half of the Window trail and left. The drive back to Junction was a real drag. That park is amazing. There is plenty to go back to experience. The humidity was very low, even when it was raining, and the high in the Chisos was 80 on Thursday.