Bear Sighting

Monday, 3 December

Big Bend NP, Part 3

Chisos Basin, Big Bend National Park, thank you.

We woke up to 44 degrees.  A little warmer than last night, although the forecast high for today is supposed to be cooler than yesterday.  Lazy morning as we had decided yesterday to enjoy breakfast at the restaurant nearby.  We lingered a little so as to consider other campers as we cranked up Sprinty.  Especially since about half the campers in the campground were in tents.

While parking Sprinty in the restaurant parking lot, we saw a black bear scamper across the parking lot about 50 feet away.  Too fast to grab the camera, and I was more focused on Kris who was outside the van helping me to tuck Sprinty into a parking place.  What a way to start today’s adventures.

View of The Window (destination on yesterday’s hike) from the window at our table at breakfast:

After breakfast, we headed for the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive that goes to Castolon and Santa Elena Canyon.  In the National Park brochure, they recommended this drive if you only had one day to visit the park.  Along the way, we stopped at the Sotol Vista, then turned down the road to the Lower Burro Mesa Pouroff trailhead.

We hiked the half-mile hike along the dry wash to the base of the Burro Mesa Pouroff, which is the term they use for seasonal waterfalls.  For an area that gets 6-11 inches of rain a year, pouroff is a good description in that it does not mislead you into thinking you will see falling water.

When we arrived at the base of the pouroff, there was a guy in an orange shirt who was at the top of the Burro Mesa pouroff, which is accessed via a longer hike.  He waved his arms for us to take a picture.

We continued to the Castolon Visitor Venter where we learned some of the history of this part of Big Bend National Park.  We learned that in the 1920s, they grew cotton in this region along the Rio Grande River.  The Visitor Center itself is in a former Army barracks built in 1920 when the Army was sent to this region to deal with bandits that were crossing into the United States and making mischief.

We checked out the Cottonwood campground, this is the third of three national park campgrounds at Big Bend.  It is completely first come/first served, which is just as well.  It was the most primitive of the three campground, which could be an issue for someone making a reservation without carefully reading the description.  As it was early in the day and with no cell service there at all, we decided to change our original plan and skip staying there.

We continued on down the road which ended at a parking lot at the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon.  

Santa Elena Canyon is 8 miles long and 1,500 feet deep. In some places the canyon is only 30 feet wide at the bottom.  Darrell wanted to throw a golf ball from the United States to the Mexican side and bounce it off the cliff face and have it come back to the United States.  But he did not bring a golf ball to throw.  Probably just as well as he is a terrible thrower, and it would likely have fallen into the river, just as his golf balls like to go swimming at regular golf courses.

The Santa Elena Canyon Trail trail is 1.8 miles round trip.  The trail description said it was an easy hike, with some steep stairs near the beginning, and you had to cross Terlingua Creek.  I expected a wet crossing - turned out it was just muddy.  Soft, sticky mud, the kind that sucks your shoes/boots right off your feet.  Fortunately, there were two National Park volunteers that happened to be at the crossing and they pointed out a place to cross upstream that would avoid the mud.  It required some maneuvering on a lesser used trail, but was worth it to avoid the mud.

It was a beautiful hike along the bottom of the canyon along the Rio Grande River.

Once we reached the end of the trail - which pretty much just came to an end where large rocks blocked going further upstream without going swimming - we found a place to eat lunch.

As we made our way back to the parking lot, we met the guy we saw in the distance at Burro Mesa Pouroff (photo above).  Kris recognized him from his orange shirt.  We exchanged photos of each other using AirDrop a she had taken a picture of us at the bottom.

Overall, I think this hike is similar to the Narrows at Zion National Park, only without having to walk in the water.  Of course, I say that based on videos of others doing the Narrows - we only walked as far as you could without getting your feet wet when we visited in February, so it remains on the “do next time” list.

Finishing with what we planned for the day, we made our way out the west entrance to Big Bend National Park.  There were several choices of RV parks near Terlingua, TX, with various reviews from 2 stars to 5 stars.  We decided to pass on the RV parks in Terlingua, and pointed Sprinty to the Maverick Ranch RV Park  about 12 miles away in  Lajitas, TX.  It was rated 5 stars, and priced accordingly.  A factor that influenced our choice was that an RV Nomad we follow on social media had arrived there yesterday, and shared that they were at Maverick Ranch.  While we have not met them, we know enough about their travel preferences to know that it would be plenty nice for us.  And it is.  Nice showers (which we are craving), pool, and fair WiFi.  And if we were adventurous, if you stay at Maverick Ranch RV Park, then the greens fees at the golf course in Lajitas are only $125 plus tax each vice $175 plus tax each if we weren’t staying at the resort or RV park.  Alas, Black Jack's Crossing may be the "Number One Resort Course in Texas", but for that rate, someone else can enjoy it. 

Within minutes of getting Sprinty nestled into his site for the night, a gentleman in a large pickup pulled up in from of our site.  Our first thought was he was part of the campground staff.  Turned out, he owns an Airstream Interstate (Airstream’s version of Sprinty” and wanted to talk Class B camper vans.  We gave him a tour of Sprinty so he could see our layout.  He commented that there were several features in our Roadtrek he wished he had in his Airstream.

As Darrell was getting ready to wander over to the shower, Dan and Lisa of “Always on Liberty” (https://alwaysonliberty.com)  drove by as they made their way to their campsite located a few sites over.  As Darrell has been following them for about a year on social media, he went over to introduce himself.  They hiked the Lost Mine trail from Chisos Basin.  They will be spending the month here at Maverick Ranch RV Park.  And they stayed here last year.

When Kris got back from her shower, a lady named Linda was walking by with her dog, and started asking Kris questions about Sprinty, which led to another tour. 

After dinner, Darrell took Lisa up on her invitation to join them and another couple, Sean and Julie Chickery of Chickery’s Travels (https://www.chickerystravels.com/) at a campfire at their campsite.  Sean and Julie have been full-time for over 4 years Darrell has bumped into the Chickerys (virtually) in following a number of RV Nomads.  Another couple from Alpharetta, GA, was also there with their two kids - they seemed to know both of them, and Always on Liberty and Chickery’s Travels May have been the inspiration for them to hit the road full-time.