Big Bend Ranch SP in December

[cornercanyon]

Day Five—

Rolling over before sunrise the thermometer outside reads 27°. It feels colder. Worse I feel worn out after a poor night’s sleep. Pain poking through my right ankle each time I pull my feet together. Sleep is over too soon, I need to pee, though it is cold outside. My mind runs through the options: 1— lay here, holding my feet apart in the cold; 2— get up, make coffee, find tweezers and readers, crawl back in bed to pull out the offending cactus spines. It doesn’t take long for 2 to win out. Soon a sauce pan’s water steams, the big dipper upside to the north as morning musters in the east, poured over ground coffee brings the welcome aroma. The coffee works, a second cup raising the sun. Needing an easy day after breakfast I head over to Cinco Tinajas and Leyva Escondido loop off the Main Park road.

On approach to the narrow slot and pour overs I missed a good red tail hawk photograph. A cool shady spot to relax and watch the breeze play over the water, the five tanks hold precious water.

Continuing up Leyva Creek enjoying cottonwoods and willows, climbing over sanded rock. Cottonwoods may be my favorite tree, it ishard for me to pass one without admiring its shape and location. Any day under one is calming and rejuvenating. The poplar leaves dancing in the slightest breeze. Their shade an inviting canopy.

Hoping to see the hawk again I find Loggerhead Shrikes instead. A short 5km hike today. I miss the turn to pictographs, not every day is perfect. A quiet recovery day.

Stopping at Sauceda before returning to camp I take a hot shower, pick up 20 liters of water, and check the weather. Cold front coming in in about 72 hours. The day I return home.

The stars tonight are impressive again. With Orion over OUTSIDE to start another night’s sleep—

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[cornercanyon]

Day Six—

21° seems unlikely, though it is early, early and another very cold morning whether the thermometer works or not. I make two cups of coffee as quickly as I can in the dark. We are heading out to La Mota Mountain to see if we can catch a sunrise on La Mota from the east.

Looking at the topo map it looks like the road out to the Donnell Ranch crosses a bluff in a good spot. I forgot to start recording in Gaia when I left camp. The drive out took about an hour and with some adjustments am in place just 30 minutes before sunrise.

Big Bend Ranch State Park is so beautiful. The morning is cold and clear, standing in my down parka, knit cap and wool mittens waiting for the sun to reveal light and shadow across the wide expanse. I love this landscape.

After sunrise I drive on out to the Donnell Ranch. Can we drive out? Or is this Texas? Texas, yes sir.

Near La Mota1 camp is an east-side trailhead into Leyva-Escondido loop, opposite Cinco Tinajas. So, we head down toward an unnamed spring and over the rise. Looking out over Leyva Creek and looking for the Leyva Ruin I spot a young Red Tail Hawk warming his chest in the morning sun while scanning for breakfast.

On down to the ruins, we find the small wood building in bad shape and overgrown. Up creek we go toward the pictographs below Lava Escondido Spring. On the way we follow mountain lion tracks, pretty fresh, I am happy.

The pictographs are interesting. It appears the folks who came before us here were not as advanced as the anasazi in the four corners area.

Finishing the loop we return to the trailhead, (zoom in and you'll see OUTSIDE patiently waiting). Another 8km hiking today.

Returning to camp we have an early dinner finishing the zucchini spaghetti then head out to do ‘The Road to Nowhere’ only to find it closed. This summer’s monsoon season has left several trails closed and the staff still working on some of the main roadways. Even with the closure we had another great day off roading, hiking, and enjoying being outside–

 

[wibornz]

Day Four—
warning: not a single jeep photograph in this post =/

Late into the night before, a juniper fire shared the night, offering up the wonderful incense that man cannot improve upon. I like to believe sitting by the fire watching the constellations rise over the nearby hill tops we share something with our ancestors as they watched the sky for the coming winter solstice and the hope growing daylight brings.

30° this morning; still looking for that growing light as coffee brews while I warm my hands near the propane flames my ancestors didn’t have.

We are hiking in Fresno Canyon today. The plan is visit the Crawford-Smith ruin, perhaps continue down the old Lajitas-Marfa Road to Fresno falls, then back track a bit to the Chimney Rock trail, returning up along the flat-irons past Rincon and back down Fresno Canyon where we parked OUTSIDE, [green], should about 15 kilometer hike if we skip the falls.

From Camp the trailhead is about 27km, [blue and purple], about an hour and a half each way. On the way down Fresno Canyon in the Jeep the ancients called us to a pictograph site. Hand prints in the ceiling in a rock shelter; a good fire and cooking site by the looks of it. Prints from another time. Holding my hand near them it strikes me how personal their markings are; not like today’s graffiti, or a drawing of Gilroy. These prints welcome and yet show who belongs here and whom does not. Time to move on.

Crawford-Smith is an abandoned home. Not just a homestead land grab these folks built here to stay and craft a life. Reading the story about the orchards and gardens. Realizing that the road up Fresno Canyon was THE Road between Lajitas and Marfa at a time when the common motor vehicle was a black Ford. I sense we are pampered today, there are few hardships we face as difficult as their daily life must have been.

On down to Fresno Falls. I must admit the water mesmerized me that day, the falls are maybe 10 feet in total. A gorgeous site and flowing water is always welcome in the desert, ‘falls’ seemed a stretch for me. I don’t think of Lava Falls as much of a waterfall, a significant rapid, yes; a fall, not really. Still the sound water on rock makes; the sensual curves the mixture sand, water and rock carves out; all together make music the desert sings best.

On the trail to Chimney Rock I found curious ‘Easter Egg’ rocks. I haven’t had time to look them up or learn about their origins, I am fascinated by their look. It was very difficult to leave only foot prints and take only photographs in the presence of these interesting geologic artifacts. In fact, I did take some cactus spines with me back to camp. Thank goodness for a good first aid kit's tweezers and some readers so at least I could leave them in the park.

Chimney Rock looks out over Government Road trail passes on, below the Lower Shutup trail. Continuing north and west below the Solitario’s flat-irons Government Road trail meanders past Rincon and back to Fresno Canyon. This day my legs again are waning too soon. Rather then follow the loop on around to return up canyon from the Jeep, I turn back toward lower Fresno Canyon using the creek bed as my path through cottonwoods, gravel, and sand.

Returning to the Jeep not far from the ruins I meet John and Denise from Montana. What a lovely couple living the vanlife. My it would be nice to reach that level of freedom for Jule and I.

Another 15km day hiking, though not as much up and down. I am younger than I feel tonight–

Nice reflection on life in general. The desert will remind you to not touch things and how easy we have it in these days. Just think, there are people in this life that will never see, hear, smell, or in general experience a night sky that you have seen on this trip or a waterfall in the desert.

While city lights and a nice fountain can be beautiful, they fall way short of what Mother Nature and God has created. There are few things in the modern world that can recharge a person’s life like a sky full of natural light, the sound of water flowing or rock and the peace and tranquility of being away from all the stresses of modern life.

I love modern life, don’t get me wrong it has made vast improvements over our daily quality of life, and extended or lives in general. With that said, I fear the vast majority of people will never know some of the experiences that you and I have seen and done in our life time. They will not know fresh coffee in a cold morning made over a flame as the sunrises and paints the world full of color out of darkness . Instead they will have their face focused on a screen like I do right now at 514 am this morning. Better get another cup of coffee and set outside to watch the morning get painted.

Great post as always and just what I needed this morning. Thanks Cornercanyon.

 

[wibornz]

Day Six—

21° seems unlikely, though it is early, early and another very cold morning whether the thermometer works or not. I make two cups of coffee as quickly as I can in the dark. We are heading out to La Mota Mountain to see if we can catch a sunrise on La Mota from the east.

Looking at the topo map it looks like the road out to the Donnell Ranch crosses a bluff in a good spot. I forgot to start recording in Gaia when I left camp. The drive out took about an hour and with some adjustments am in place just 30 minutes before sunrise.

Big Bend Ranch State Park is so beautiful. The morning is cold and clear, standing in my down parka, knit cap and wool mittens waiting for the sun to reveal light and shadow across the wide expanse. I love this landscape.

After sunrise I drive on out to the Donnell Ranch. Can we drive out? Or is this Texas? Texas, yes sir.

Near La Mota1 camp is an east-side trailhead into Leyva-Escondido loop, opposite Cinco Tinajas. So, we head down toward an unnamed spring and over the rise. Looking out over Leyva Creek and looking for the Leyva Ruin I spot a young Red Tail Hawk warming his chest in the morning sun while scanning for breakfast.

On down to the ruins, we find the small wood building in bad shape and overgrown. Up creek we go toward the pictographs below Lava Escondido Spring. On the way we follow mountain lion tracks, pretty fresh, I am happy.

The pictographs are interesting. It appears the folks who came before us here were not as advanced as the anasazi in the four corners area.

Finishing the loop we return to the trailhead, (zoom in and you'll see OUTSIDE patiently waiting). Another 8km hiking today.

Returning to camp we have an early dinner finishing the zucchini spaghetti then head out to do ‘The Road to Nowhere’ only to find it closed. This summer’s monsoon season has left several trails closed and the staff still working on some of the main roadways. Even with the closure we had another great day off roading, hiking, and enjoying being outside–

Nice camera work. Always interesting and inspiring. Another great update.

 

[cornercanyon]

Nice reflection on life in general. The desert will remind you to not touch things and how easy we have it in these days. Just think, there are people in this life that will never see, hear, smell, or in general experience a night sky that you have seen on this trip or a waterfall in the desert.

While city lights and a nice fountain can be beautiful, they fall way short of what Mother Nature and God has created. There are few things in the modern world that can recharge a person’s life like a sky full of natural light, the sound of water flowing or rock and the peace and tranquility of being away from all the stresses of modern life.

I love modern life, don’t get me wrong it has made vast improvements over our daily quality of life, and extended or lives in general. With that said, I fear the vast majority of people will never know some of the experiences that you and I have seen and done in our life time. They will not know fresh coffee in a cold morning made over a flame as the sunrises and paints the world full of color out of darkness . Instead they will have their face focused on a screen like I do right now at 514 am this morning. Better get another cup of coffee and set outside to watch the morning get painted.

Great post as always and just what I needed this morning. Thanks Cornercanyon.

Thank you Ted. I find nuggets in your posts, too.

Comparing ruins like Monarch (southern Utah), Crawford-Smith (west Texas), and Leyva (west Texas), to each other and to our homes today puts a whole different perspective on our daily lives. Where is our food coming from? How do we heat or cool our sleeping quarters? Are our sleeping quarters even secure for sleep?

Living in the rhythms of creation is so different from today's first world living. Even just 'dipping a toe in', as you point out few folks do, opens up an entirely different view point into our world—

 

[AppleJacks23]

We just stayed in Guale 2 over Thanksgiving for one night. Can't wait to go back!

 

[cornercanyon]

We just stayed in Guale 2 over Thanksgiving for one night. Can't wait to go back!

Thanks for sharing your photos. One of the most requested campsites in the interior. Was it windy? That site has expansive views between Rancheritas and Oso Creeks and on down to the Rio Grande and Mexico.

How do you like your Gobi rack?

Day Seven I drove out to Guale TH for a hike, (post coming soon)–

 

[AppleJacks23]

Thanks for sharing your photos. One of the most requested campsites in the interior. Was it windy? That site has expansive views between Rancheritas and Oso Creeks and on down to the Rio Grande and Mexico.

How do you like your Gobi rack?

Day Seven I drove out to Guale TH for a hike, (post coming soon)–

Fantastic site and i would definitely go back. As you know the tattoos to get the is no joke. Yes windy and rocky. We lined the windward inside of the tent with all the non-volcanic rocks I could find and then anchored the guy lines with my tool rolls.
As for the Gobi rack, I picked it up used off of here two years ago and it's what allows our family of 4 to go places in the wrangler!
I do have to say that the picnic table there was a nice touch!

 

[cornercanyon]

Day Seven—


29° Looking forward to driving Guale today. One of the most requested campsites, Guale2, is booked, so I plan to visit the trailhead and skip heading out from the camp site. After a late breakfast and stop by Sauceda, on to East Oso Loop taking the East Guale Road to visit the abandoned tank up top.

This short loop does not see most the traffic out to Guale though I enjoy the view from the tank. And off to the east see the flat irons again. It is a gorgeous day.

The drive out passes the West end of Javelin Road, a path for another trip out here. On down toward the Rio Grande. While I didn’t go down the camp road, The main road would be doable with my Hiker Trailer. All the camps I have visited so far in BBRSP will accommodate our Hiker Trailer’s Extreme Off Road 5x9. Today’s hiking plan is to travel out atop the plateau between Rancheritas and Oso Creeks to a point with a good view of the Rio Grande below Presidio.

Sitting there looking out over the river a Red Tailed Hawk climbs up the late afternoon thermals and off up the river valley.

On the way out Oso Creek looks inviting and there appears to be an old trail down into the canyon below I don’t see on the maps. On the way back in I turn off toward Oso Canyon and find a cairn marking where that old trail into Oso below Guale. Another hike for another day.

High up above on the next ridge OUTSIDE awaits the coming sunset and a drive back to camp in the dark.

About 50km of driving and 12.6km hiking today. My last full day in the park this trip. Tomorrow a cold snap is coming in and Christmas is only 3 days away. Time to head back home in the morning—

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