Texas State Parks Road Trip May 2020

2300 miles, 91 Oreos, 55 Miles hiked, 6 Parks, 2 Masks, and lots of Lysol

Caprock Canyon State Park

Photo Album

Phone Pics Album

With the Coronavirus having flattened out, and Texas now "reopened" for some stupid f'in reason AND me being furloughed for the 2nd week of May.  Rebe and I thought it would be a good idea to get out of the big city with the most cases and spend some time out in nature.  Nature being a whirlwind trip across Texas visiting as many Texas State parks as we could. 

Originally this was going to be a RV trip but the cost of the RV along with the fuel cost made it a little less enticing, so we debated over rental cars or even a crazy trip in my BMW (way too uncomfortable and it really does have an abnormally small fuel tank) and settled on taking Rebe's Lexus (the cushy boat). We packed the Lexus full of peanut butter, jelly, Doritos and Oreos and hit the road.

Day 1 May 7th Colorado Bend State Park

Out in literally the center of Texas, the Colorado River makes a turn, and along the river lies a quiet oasis of trails.  This state park lies behind some private land that the owners let you drive through but also have a sign that says "Don't get out of your car, PRIVATE LAND" all while having to dodge their cattle while trying to get to and from the park.

We left Houston around 10 while I was still working while we traveled.  We had the hotspot of the phone running and the laptop out so that I could still answer questions for anyone at the office.  We got to the park around 2 made some PBJN (N = Nutella) sandwiches and hit the trail.

The park was open but only to those who made advanced reservations online, this was good to control the numbers in the park.  They even have signs posted telling everyone to social distance and to wear mask...now why were Rebe and I the only people in the park social distancing and wearing face coverings?  From the looks of the populace, we're going to be screwed in the fall if this thing comes back around.

Gormon Falls Trail and some typical Central Texas landscape

First trail was Gorman Falls, I don't know what I was expecting but on the way in it was typical cedar trees (Ash Junipers) sucking up all the water and killing all the trees around (side note, 'cedar' trees are native to central Texas).  But the trail was littered with Prickly Pear Cacti and wildflowers too. 

The end of trail waterfall really was nice but getting down to the bottom of the falls was a bit of a challenge.  It was a steep rocky cliff but they were smart enough to put in some rails/ropes to help you get down of course. All of this would be nice if we all didn't suffer from a fear of touching hard surfaces (and guess who left the hand sanitizer in the car).  But the falls were unique, and I can see why this place is special and why it's a state park.  But we really couldn't enjoy the area as it was just too crowded to feel "safe", so we snapped a couple of pics and headed back up away from the crowds.

Gorman Falls

When we got back up to the top, we headed over to the Gorman Spring trail which led to where the spring comes out of the side of the limestone formation.  This was a much less traveled part of the park, only passing 1 other person and along the way we saw 4-5 armadillos just rooting around having a good time.  This area was grassy and pretty.

Marsh along Gorman Spring

The last hike we did for the day was the Spicewood Springs/Canyon trails.  It was a good hike up a nice hill which overlooked the canyon, again with no people really on this trail.  While up on the ridge we were just walking through the forest and then I heard a noise, you know usually when you hear noises in the woods it a lizard or a squirrel that was startled.  Rebe kept on walking after the noise but I just happened to freeze and notice that we had just walked by a copperhead...

Copperhead

The trail looped down from the canyon wall down to the creek that ran through it and we would have to crisscross our way across the creek 6 or 7 times as that was the path of the trail.  And by the time we got down into the canyon everyone had gone home for the day, so we had the spring all to ourselves. The trail weaved back and forth across the stream, where Rebe and I both almost tripped and dunked ourselves.

A stream we crossed Spicewood Springs/Canyon trail

After leaving the park, the small local towns were all shut down and there was nothing to eat for dinner since it was after 830.  So, it was jerky and Oreos for dinner.

Day 2 May 8th Caprock Canyon State Park

2 lane road = racetrack

After a LONG day yesterday and a 1.5-hour drive from the park to our hotel in Early, Texas the previous night we were up and at it again ready to hit another park.  This time Caprock Canyon State park just north of Quitique, Texas (pronounced "Kit-tee-Kay, don't ask Texas is weird like that). Sadly, this was 4.5 hours from Early and thus it was a morning of driving and driving and driving.  But again, another great thing about Texas is EVERY back road is straight and the speed limit is 75mph, so we were going to make good time but of course it was still a lot of mileage to cover.  A cool/funny story from the trip happened as we pulled through one of the small towns and a tumbleweed, yes, an actual tumbleweed, came across the road.  I pointed it out and Rebe's jaw hit the ground, "A REAL TUMBLEWEED!"  Every time I show one to someone, they are amazed that they actually exist.  A second funny, only in Texas story is while Rebe was driving on one of these 75mph roads going slightly over the speed limit at 77mph we roll up on three cars going SUPER slow, like 55 on one of those arrow straight roads of Texas.  We had come across a couple of these cars earlier in the trip and usually they slide on to the shoulder to let you pass or since you can see the opposing lane for the next ten miles you just pass using the left lane.  Rebe is barreling up on these three cars and goes to pass all three in one go, roll pass the first two and then STOMPS the brake and slides in behind the third car she was attempting to pass.  It was a state trooper going 55mph on this back road and you know how everyone is so paranoid to pass a cop but if the cop is going below the speed limit it’s cool right?  Rebe pulls out and zooms by the state trooper not exceeding the 75mph posted speed limit and then we disappear into the horizon.  The other two cars never passed that state trooper… and are probably still behind him to this day.

On the way to the park we checked the website again to see if there were any updates, none really that we had noticed but we did notice that the park had posted hours that the park was open, and it was only 8am-5pm.  Well this was definitely going to put a damper on the amount of time that we could capitalize in the park and also really hamper my chance of taking some really cool starry sky photos.  Oh well, the hours were their way of controlling the number of people in the park and I really respect that.

Caprock Canyon Scenic Overlook

We got to the park around 130pm and headed straight to an Overlook spot that views Eagle Point.  We sat there for a while, ate our Subway sandwiches all while ducking the fiercest panhandle wind we had experienced yet (lost a few napkins but recovered them).  While there we discussed what short trails we have time to do in the 3 hours we had left. We decided on the Eagle Point trail which was literally through the canyon in front of the viewpoint we had lunch at. The trail was cool at the beginning with views of Eagle Point and the surround cliffs, and then it went downhill to explore a few more side mini canyons.  I was hanging back walking slow as usual to scope out good framing for pictures and Rebe was ahead just walking.  I was about 15 yards behind her and then I spot this HUGE bull at max 20 yards away.  As soon as I let out the exclamation, Rebecca thought I saw a snake so she was looking at my feet still oblivious to the giant animal staring at us.  I mention the bull and she hustled back to my side.  When you enter the park the ranger says, "stay 50 yards away from the bison."  I don't know about you guys, but I saw that video of a little girl get flipped by bison in Yellowstone and I wasn't really trying to be a YouTube sensation at least not in that manner.  So, we stood and debated whether we could sneak by, but he just kept staring so we decided it was best to turn around and live another day.

Eagle Point

The bison Rebe couldn't see

On the way back, we looked for a 'natural bridge' that was marked on the map but there were no actual signs on the trail.  Usually when you hear of a natural bridge it is very visible from the trail.  We get to the spot, look around and still don't see anything resembling a natural bridge.  And so, we keep walking and then we look back and the trail is the actual natural bridge and the trail map say there is a little trail that you can go down and see.  Naturally we picked the wrong side of the trail to go off to see the bridge, but we eventually found it.

Natural Bridge

Since we finished the hike early, we still had a bit of time to kill and headed to the back of the park just to see what the views were back there (that's where the very first image of the blog comes from). We also talked to a ranger who confirmed that the trail we were going to do for the next day was indeed the best in the park... we shall see.

On the way back out there is a little field that is littered with prairie dogs.  We stopped for 20 mins just watch them scurry around and bark at us to alert the others that there was indeed a stranger danger in the area.

Prairie dog and bison dung

The hotel accommodations were a small B&B in Quitique, the only place in town and since the 'rona was on the prowl we were the first visitors in a while and actually had the place all to ourselves.  Tessa, the owner, was really cool about the whole ordeal really respected our space when we were meeting.  She was SUPER accommodating and helpful.   We ordered dinner from a small cafe next door which was their 2nd day back open and then we lounged around and called it an early night.

Day 3 May 9th Caprock Canyon State Park

Before the host left us yesterday evening, she inquired on what we would like for breakfast and Rebe and I were not really trying to push our host to feed us even though we had paid for the B&B.  She knew we were going to the park and that we would like something quick so we could get into the park, she then offered up breakfast burritos which were perfect for us to scarf down as we drove into the park.

Today was going to be the big hike, we had spoken with a ranger on what trail we should do for the day and he sort of verified our thoughts that we should do the Haines Ridge Trail and then come back along the North Prong Trail.  All in all, this would be just over 7 miles of hiking with a 600' steep switchback right at the start, this way we would get worst out of the way and the rest would mostly be downhill.  Walking through the canyon was nice, a couple of nice views and even a coyote ran by...and then the hill climb began. 

Rebe before the climb

This wasn't the worst thing we have climbed but it was rough, but I'd say the views from the top were well worth it.  The trail continued along the ridge with occasional views off either side.  The trail continued to the back of the ridge where we came down a slot in the canyon which from going down would NOT be any better than the way we had gone up.  Also getting to this section of uphill from the end was 3 or 4 miles in, definitely smarter to go the way we were going, and it also saves you from having to climb down the section we had gone up.  Win win win. The rest of the trail was tame, unshaded, we did find a 'fern cave' which was a slight cave that captured water from somewhere that allowed ferns to grown in this corner.  Surely a rare sight for this canyon.  From there it was just red dirt and views looking up at the canyon walls all the way back to the car.  4 long hours, 7+ miles and a gallon of water chugged.

View from the top of Haines Ridge

After the hike we wanted to get off our feet for a little while, so we had lunch at Lake Theo on the other side of the park.   We chilled in the shade while watching the birds circle.  We had originally stopped at the Amphitheater to sit and eat our lunch, but it seems the mud or barn swallows had made the Amphitheater there nesting ground.

Swallow takeover

To finish the day off we did a quick 2-mile hike over in another section of the park that was near the canyon rim, by now the park appeared to be empty so it was just Rebe and I along with a lot of bison dung.  The views of the canyon rim were very nice but they only lasted for about 1.2 miles, from there the trail just wonders along the plateau until it meets up with another trail 2 miles later.  We decided to circle back and call it a day.

Canyon Rim Trail

Our night stay would be in Canyon, Texas aptly named for being located near the Palo Duro Canyon which is the name of the next State Park we would be going to.  After coming in for the night we did some stretching (because à OLD) and ordered some mid-grade Thai for dinner.

Day 3 May 10th Palo Duro Canyon State Park

I stumbled across Palo Duro Canyon State Park many years ago on an internet post, and every now and then I somehow figure out how to slide it into a conversation.  “Did you know Texas has the 2^nd largest Canyon in the United States?”  Then everyone is shocked and of course never heard of it.  I have been saying if I ever end up close to it, I will make an effort to go see it. Well this week revolved around this one park; I had the time off, now we just had to figure out how to get out there. If you’ve made it this far in the blog, then you can see how the schedule panned out.

As you drive into the park you get a hint of what are going to see, but nothing really prepares you for what is past the front gate.

Palo Duro Canyon from Visitor's Center

This view is so spectacular I forget I’m in Texas, just does not seem right that is in one of the flattest states in the US.  Caprock Canyon had me saying the same thing.  With parks like these and 75mph speed limits what’s not to love (even the road to the Palo Duro was 75mph).

The hike for the day was going to be the famous Lighthouse hike but with an added twist.  We had read that you can do the Givens, Spicer, Lowry Trail (GSL) which meets up with the Lighthouse Trail and then come back on the Lighthouse Trail and see more of the park.  Only problem is the trailheads are about a mile apart, and of course this would have to be covered on foot.  What is one more mile between tired hikers?

The main road of the park actually goes down to the Canyon floor and a lot of the hikes take place within the canyon, this is obviously a great advantage by saving hikers the chore of having to hike down the 800-1000’ down to the canyon floor (and of course back up) then having to hike further to the point of interest. The trailhead for GSL starts right off the road and hikes along the base of one of the canyon walls for 3.1miles before meeting up with the Lighthouse trail.

View of the GSL, Lighthouse off to the right

After meeting up with the Lighthouse Trail we had another 1.25 miles until we were at The Lighthouse.  The trail ends well before the base of The Lighthouse but after some hustling up some steep walls, we were able to make it to the top and enjoy the views from The Lighthouse.  These views are probably some of the best in the park and it is no wonder this is the most popular hike in the park.

View from The Lighthouse

Now that the best part of the hike was over it was time to head back, the views from The Lighthouse trail were almost as good as from the GSL either of the hikes is well worth the time

Us at The Lighthouse

We reached the end of The Lighthouse trail, surprised to see that the parking lot was full, at least more cars that we were expecting, though we did see quite a few people on the trail today.  Yes, we tried to distance ourselves from every single one of them, but I cannot say all the hikers were doing the same.  Funny story, while up at The Lighthouse a girl approached us and asked if we would take her pic and I told her how about I take a pic of you and text it to you later?  In her excitement to get a pic she forgot that she was supposed to be social distancing and SHE EVEN HAD A MASK AROUND HER NECK. Like she knew what the deal was, but I guess just forgot for a sec.

Anyways, from the parking lot we struggled to find the trailhead back to our car but eventually did and a mile later and more than 9 in total we were done.

Rebe being the forever trooper was like, “what else can we do” I gave her some serious side eye and said we can drive around and talk about tomorrow as I don’t need to get anymore hiking in today as my quota has been reached.  We drove around to see other views of the park, stopped again at the first viewpoint before officially calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.

View from the park road going down into the canyon

Day 4 May 11^th Palo Duro State Park

Weather for the day was looking a bit questionable with rain forecasted just after noon and western Texas and rain don’t really go well together. I remember a few years back I was in Midland and we got caught in a rainstorm and it near flooded the streets in a matter of minutes.  Concrete and flat states do not mix.  With all this thought out and many discussions between Rebe and I the night before we had tentatively scheduled to do the Rock Garden Trail along with Rylander Fortress Cliff Trail.  This is a hike from the Canyon floor up to the rim, along the rim to a few overlooks and then back down.  Do not know if you have been paying attention but the day before we did 9 miles and the day before that we did 7 miles, today would be another 8.5 miles but this time it would be upward and not flat.  Poor Rebe was not really looking forward to this hike and honestly my feet were not either but who knows when the next time we will be back at this park so you have to do the good stuff when you have time and that is what we did.

Rocks of the Rock Garden Trail

The Rock Garden trail is aptly called such because it winds through a field of giant boulders that had fallen some time ago, from the trail you get a slight sense of it but from above you can really see the large number of rocks in the area.  Unlike the trail in Caprock Canyon that headed straight up the canyon wall in a half mile or so, the Rock Garden trail worked its way slowly around the wall until it eventually finds a gentler slope to crest the top taking over 2.7 miles. Rebe and I discussed whether we liked the quick steep route or the longer flatter route and we both had mixed feelings about it.  Good for the Rock Garden Trail was that much of the way up we were always able to stop and take in great views of the Canyon floor below. 

View from midway up the canyon wall

Once to the top, we realized that the trail had taken us a long way away from where we had started, the trail didn’t zigzag in the same area but ran along the wall for quite a way.  The trail on the canyon rim would lead us back to an overlook that was directly in line with where we had started and then even further past that point and from there we could see other highlights of the park including Capitol Peak and the Lighthouse way back off in the distance.  There was even a solitary windmill along the road that leads to the park, not visible of course from the canyon floor but along the rim it was clearly visible though 7.5 miles away.

View from the canyon rim, Lighthouse to the left, windmill on the right edge

We enjoyed our time at the top, sat around for 30 minutes had some snacks enjoyed the view and after reaching the ‘end’ or at least as far as we were going to walk for the day and started heading back.  Remember the rain that I mentioned at the start of the day, well it finally showed up just as we were getting into our decent from the rim.  The rain luckily never got above a drizzle and just as we were getting into the last quarter mile it started to pick up. I would say it was a well-timed hike for us and even more so a hike worth doing again.

Day 5 May 12 Drive to Monahans and Monahans State Park

It was moving day once again, this time we were heading south from the panhandle (just south of Amarillo, Texas) to Monahans, Texas another 4 hours in the car on some of the straightest roads you can imagine. Driving on these straight roads makes one wonder if these are record breaking straights but apparently they are not even close (https://www.dangerousroads.org/around-the-world/our-lists/3759-the-10-longest-straight-roads-in-the-world.html).

Once again, we had lucked out with the weather, the morning in panhandle was cold and foggy.  It was a brisk 44 degrees Fahrenheit and fog so thick that if you were to go to Palo Duro the sights probably would not be as good as the previous days.

Dreary day, photo doesn't really do it justice 

The trip would lead us down into the Permian Basin, the heart of Texas oil country and a place that I know well from my numerous trips to this forsaken place. Somehow people from the area love it, but I just cannot seem to wrap my head around the love for Midland.  There is literally noting but mesquite trees and pump jacks (oil pumps) as far as the eye can see, and I know you all are rolling your eyes thinking I’m being silly but take a look at the satellite view, better yet I will post an image so you can see what I’m talking about.

All those dots are oils wells

This was Rebe’s first trip through Midland, and she was even surprised at the density of oil wells in the area.

We finally arrived at Monahans Sandhills State Park around 230pm and the temperature was only 91 degrees Fahrenheit now and it felt every bit of it.  Not sure we are going to be ready for the next couple of days in the heat.  It was so hot we got out of the car, walked around for 5 minutes and decided we would come back closer to sundown to beat a bit of the heat and maybe even see some stars out here away from the big cities.

We arrived back at Monahans Sandhills around 8pm and it was still supposedly 90+ degrees but at least it did not feel like it anymore.  The park has a small interpretive trail to explain the habitat and some of the animals that live in the ecosystem.  From there we headed out to the dunes to enjoy them in the cooler temps and less harsh pre-dusk light.

Dem Dunes (Monahans Sandhills)

We also stayed until an hour after sundown to see if the stars would come out and they did, but we 

were still too close to the cities to get some epic pictures. Also, the milky way wouldn’t be rising until midnight and the park closed at 10pm.  At 955pm we started our hike back to the car in the darkness, like the smart hikers we are we had our headlamps with us this time, so it was much easier to see where we were going versus just using our cellphones as flashlights.  It also helped that the ranger was parked in the parking lot, so we had something to walk towards.  Otherwise who knows, we might still be searching for the car.

Ranger Rebe

Day 6 May 13^th – Davis Mountain State Park, Marfa and Teralingua

Texas Mountains?

Last night was a ‘late’ night and so we slept in for the morning, well at least Rebe did. Today was mainly a moving day but along the way we would stop off and get a hike in a Davis Mountain State Park.  This was another park that made the list but was not highly rated or a place that we had planned to spend a lot of time.  We got on the road around 10am and stopped off at the local Subway to grab a footlong that we could eat for lunch before we did our hike. With Subway in hand we headed on down to Fort Davis, Texas but while doing 80mph (yes, that’s the speed limit on I-20 in West Texas) a car in front of us kicked up a rock and cracked the windshield.  You know you got to get those things fixed quick or they’ll spread so Rebe found a shop in Pecos, Texas that would fit us in for quick fill in.  With this finally resolved, we were 30 mins behind schedule but not that big of a deal as we were not on a time crunch for the day.

Yep, warp speed highways

It was very interesting moving from the flatlands of West Texas down from I-20 to I-10 and starting to see mountains in the distance.  One starts to ask themselves again, “is this still Texas?”  We made it through Wild Rose pass and this section of the road trip was amazing and Rebe and I were starting to get excited that this park could be amazing.  We got to the front gate and the area had seem to have lost a bit of the luster, but it was still cool. In the state park there is a lodge built in a standard adobe fashion and it is decked out in all white.  A unique place, of course not open right now due to the pandemic but will probably be opening back up in the next few weeks. The park was empty, only a handful of cars and we never actually saw a ranger and like Sandhill the day before they were not even checking park reservations.  I guess the parks that see less visitors they aren’t really concerned with social distancing if no one is there.

CCC Viewpoint (built by the CCC) overlooking Fort Davis 

We got into the park, toured the grounds and settled on hiking the Skyline Drive Trail and the Old CCC Trail.  A bit of history for you, the CCC was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The program's goal was to conserve the country's natural resources while providing jobs for young men during the Great Depression.  And as result of this program, numerous National Parks (and apparently State Parks) were the recipients of trails, bridges, buildings built by the CCC.  If you been on a great road or great trail in a National Park, the CCC probably had a hand in it. And these guys were all paid $30/month (plus room and board) or about $450 a month in today’s dollars.  The Skyline Trail went along the upper ridge of the park and had some nice views of Fort Davis and the Indian Lodge on site, the trail then went down the hill into the lower section of the park.  There we took a break at the Interpretive Center and did some bird watching and of course ate some Oreos. We then took the CCC trail back to the top of the ridge, all in all adding another 5 miles to the foot odometer.

View along the Skyline Ridge trail

After the hike we drove by the actual Fort Davis to see it, but it was closed for the day and decided to just drive around and see the area as the mountains were pretty cool.  We did not get quite lost, but we got a bit off the path and decided to abandon our viewing ideas and just head for the famous Marfa, Texas.

Marfa was cute and I can see why folks visit, but since we were visiting during the week and during a pandemic most everything was closed.  It seems like the best time to visit would be during the weekend as that when everything will be running full steam.  We decided to have dinner at the Hotel Paisano, and even this place was not even running at full capacity.  We got a salad and a stuffed pepper to go and ate in a couple of chairs in town.  While waiting for the food I snapped a couple of shots of Marfa. 

Hotel Paisano, where we ordered dinner and the corner where we ate

The Palace and the town watertower

Overall, I would visit again if I was in the area, doubtful I’d drive 9 hours for the sole purpose of visiting this town.

From there it was down to our next pad in Terlingua. MAN!  Who knew how far south Big Bend was?  The place is REMOTE.  Our room was amazing, and the owner of the place upgraded us to a suite.  The Big Bend area of Texas is known for its dark skies, so I had to sneak a peek.

Pic just outside the Inn where we stayed.  Ignore all the weird banding that's the camera going crazy

But the Milky Way does not start to rise until midnight, followed by the moon at 2am… so maybe later in the week I might get lucky with some star shots.

Day 7 May 14^th Big Bend Ranch State Park

The Rio Grande and Big Bend Ranch State Park

Well… it’s time for the BIG SHOW.  (My wrestling fans will know this, if not you can excuse my silliness). Today was our first full day in the Big Bend area and we were holding out a bit of hope that Big Bend NATIONAL Park would open while we were down here.  Sadly, the park is not open and an update that I read yesterday said the park might open June 1^st.  With all that said, Texas was kind enough to partially open their state park version of Big Bend.

The day began as all days do with us waking up late, prepping for hikes and figuring out what local joint serves a good breakfast and we found a place called Espresso Y Poco Mas.  They had breakfast burritos on the menu, so we called in an order and got them to go, they were serviceable.  I’d like to think that in this time of to-go ordering you really lose some of that hospitality and the true experience of a new place.  It also goes to show how well your online presence for a business will serve you.

Historic cemetery in Teralingua

After stopping by a local historic cemetery, we drove to the Visitor’s Center for the State Park in Lajitas which of course was closed. We saw they had a short nature trail out back, and that was closed also. We re-read that main park road (unpaved) was closed, we knew that though. We had plans to do multiple trails, Closed Canyon, Hoodoo, Contrabando. For today we decided to skip Closed Canyon save that for later maybe tomorrow and focus on Hoodoo and explore for the rest of the day.

Hoodoos from the Hoodoo trail

The Hoodoo trail was along the Rio Grande and aptly named for the hoodoos that stand along the river.  These are formations formed long ago when the Rio Grande was a mighty river and not the small creek it is today.  Side note: the Rio Grande is, like many rivers in the world, a minor example of its former self.  It has been sucked dry from water usage in El Paso and Cuidad Juarez.  Much of the water seen in southern Texas is mostly from the Rio Choncos. Either way the greenery around the river is cool along with the formations but the rest of the trail is just meh.  The overlook was nice, so if you find yourself in the area and are doing this trail, hit the highlights (overlook, hoodoos and river edge).

Rebe has a thing for touching the water wherever we go, this time I caught her in act 

We drove rest of park on the road along the river then decided to see if the unpaved park road that goes through then center of the park was open …nope.  6 miles of dirt road for no reason other than disappointment, not even good views.  Worth a shot, plus we know what the roads are like for next time when we come back.  They are passable in a car, but a rental SUV would make the road go by faster.

Went to lunch in Presidio at a tiny joint called El Changarrito.  A small mom and pop joint that was selling tortas, good choice.

El Changarrito

We made our way back through the park, took a few more pics, and called it a day because 1) it was 100F out 2) if we did everything today, we’d have nothing left for the next few days. Plan was to come back out at midnight when the Milky Way was rising.  Stayed up, started to head out, stars looking nice, but the clouds were rolling in… maybe tomorrow.  On the bright side I did see a meteor or some large space debris fly over head while I was looking out.  It was amazing, sadly Rebe just missed it ☹

Day 8 May 15^th Big Bend Ranch State Park

Day 2 in the park, and we decided to sleep in because we only had a small hike in the morning planned and the hike was in the shade so we could afford to be out in the heat of the day. Hike was at the Closed Canyon which is right off the river road and is a hike through a canyon directly to the Rio Grande. It is a beautiful canyon that was getting a bit of traffic on this day as it was a Friday, but it was never crowded.  The canyon got more technical as we got closer and closer to the end, having to hop down steep ‘slides’ or literally slide down them.  

Some areas had large boulders wedged in the cap that you had to climb over, and then we got to the difficult part.  It was a 5’ slide into a 2’ puddle of water, that in itself was not a deal breaker but the idea of coming back through with wet shoes up the slide to even me seemed a bit sketchy.  We were in this area with another group of women who moving through the canyon well, but this stopped them too.  If I weren’t carrying two cameras, I might have tried to hop over the top of the trouble area as there were a few places to make such a maneuver but Rebe would have been stuck on that side.  Plus, I could have broken a camera…or myself.  Since we were defeated, we all headed back to up the canyon and to the car.

"End" of the trail 

We finished Closed Canyon around 1-130 and decided that we would have lunch in Lajitas the small town just outside the State Park.  There is a golf course in the town (because of course you would build one in the f’in desert) which looks tough but they also have a restaurant on site that I thought we could try.  After waiting 20 minutes for service on the patio we got up and left and went back to our room to make ourselves a sandwich. 

We killed time in the room to let the temperature cool down before we headed back out for another hike in the park.  We knew the National Park was closed but we thought we would drive down the park road just to see ‘how closed’ it really was.  Sure enough they had the park road blocked right at the entrance so we u-turned and headed on back to another spot we had scoped out. Seems there was another trail in the area, inside the National Park boundary that was ‘closed’ but since no one was looking we went ahead and did a quick hike on Indian Head Trail, named for the mountain in the area.  The road to it was a simple dirt road but about half a mile from the trailhead there was a little ditch that the Lexus could not make it through.  We had to park the car, hoof it to the trailhead and then do the hike. It was a decent hike with a lot of large rocks and a few views of mountains further into the park but nothing serious to write about.  There was a rock that we found that had some Indian petroglyphs, that was interesting.

View from Indian Head Trail of BBNP

Rebe and the large rocks of the of trail

It was now dinner time and finally more of the restaurants in town were open, more specifically the pizza joint on the far side of town.  We put in a call for a supreme pizza, picked it up to go to keep with our social distancing although the pizza joint was keeping with some COVID guidelines by only allowing 7 people in the store at time.  Sadly, all of them were sitting at the bar eating next to each other. I grabbed the pizza, a couple beers and we headed home to enjoy pizza and some HBO shows (we are re-watching all of Westworld before watching season 3).

The night was shaping up good for star pics, the clouds had cleared, and we headed back out of the house around midnight just to catch the start of the Milky Way rising. I tried my hand at star trails, but I do not think I captured enough images and I didn’t feel like staying up for 2 more hours to catch enough images.  While that was happening Rebe and I used Google’s Sky Map, which is a great app for locating constellations and even where the Hubble Telescope is sitting.  The Milky Way did rise, and I got some good images of it, I just need to find a more dramatic foreground for tomorrow (if weather permits).

Milky Way seen from BBNP, just inside the entrance

Day 9 May 16^th Big Bend Ranch State Park

This would be our last day in Big Bend Ranch State Park, and I guess it would be a good time to tell you a little on how this park came to be.  Starting in 1905 a guy bought some of the land in the park and decided this would be a good place to ranch some sheep and cattle.  Of course, the Depression hit along with numerous droughts and he had to sell the ranch.  This happened quite a few more times (the selling of the land and droughts causing the sell) before the Texas Public Works Department bought the land in 1988 and eventually opened the land to park use.  Humans have been living in this area for over 10,000 years as the area has the Rio Grande and if you know anything about human history, we ALWAYS settled near a large water source.

Today we hiked Rancherias Canyon and up to Rancherias Falls. This was a desert hike; I really can’t get too excited about it.  The views of the surrounding cliffs were nice, and the trail was not heavily used as there was a quite a bit of growth of the trail in some areas.  Also, there were no true trail markers, just rock cairns (piles of rocks).  At the beginning of the trail the cairns were huge, but as we got further and further along the trail you could tell that the park stopped creating these huge piles of rocks and hikers had taken it upon themselves to mark the trail with 5 or 6 rocks stacked atop one another.  The trail meandered through the canyon crisscrossing the creek bed which was to lead to Rancherias Falls.  Rebe and I have done many trails that lead to waterfalls, usually if you’re going to a waterfall, you’ll see a stream, a creek or a large water source on the way to said falls.  We did not see this this time.   Shortly after we started, I told Rebe that, “I don’t think we’re going to see a waterfall.”  Sure enough, after 2.1 miles and where the falls were supposed to be, we didn’t see anything.  We didn’t see anything that even looked like it could be a waterfall.  OK, maybe we need to come during the wet season…whenever that is in the desert.

Rancherias Trails

Once again, we went back to the room for the hottest part of the day, had lunch, a nap and watching some shows.  In the evening we went back out to the Starlight Theater, a restaurant and bar in the ghost town of Terlingua.  The county of Brewster, where Terlingua is located has only had one case of C-C-C-COVID-19 but they have gone full steam ahead with the reopening.  It was a little scary even waiting to get food to go.  Guess we’ll see how this all works out in a couple of weeks.

Teralingua - Starlight Theater

After dinner and shows we went to bed with the intention of waking up at 245am to get out and see the Milky Way again.  My phone decided it wanted to play stupid and not ring the alarm at 245am, but me being me I knew something was up and I woke up at 315am.  I woke Rebe and we headed out the door into the darkness.  It really is weird how dark it is down in this area of Texas; the stars are so bright you can see in the dark even without the moon (which was set to rise at 4am).  Like I said on the previous day, I had my eye set on a better location for a little more drama and I think I found it.

Tried to get the car in a few shots, meh…

The next and final day was us driving 9.5 hours back to Houston with a stop in San Antonio for In-N-Out.