Big Bend NP in Feb--join us

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

MarkBC and Doug Stewart will be camping in Big Bend National Park, TX starting Feb 18th of next year. We will be in Chisos Campground for a few nights and then in Rio Grande CG for a few more.

Anybody who's interested come on and join us.

 

[MarkBC]

I'm MarkBC, and I endorse this Plan.

 

[longhorn1]

Make sure you hike the Windows from Chisos campground and hike the Elena Canyon. jd

Sent from my SM-G900V using Wander The West mobile app

 

[Foy]

Be sure to check out the official Border Crossing near RGV. A $5 fare gets you rowed across the river in a jonboat and another $5 buys a ride up the hill (on either a burro or in the bed of a pickup) to the delightful Mexican village of Boquillas. Fine food at Jose' Falcon's and a modest guide fee ($10?) gets you to a very nice hot spring about 3/4 mile outside of town. Bring your passports!

Foy

 

[hoyden]

I'll probably end up through there before that, but if timing works out...!

 

[ski3pin]

Ah, to be retired, or footloose and fancy free........................................

Have a great get together!

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Ah, to be retired, or footloose and fancy free........................................

Have a great get together!

Thanks, 3pin.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

I'll probably end up through there before that, but if timing works out...!

I've been to BB twice before so if you need any recommendations on CGs or trails, just ask. I hope we can cross paths sometime.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Be sure to check out the official Border Crossing near RGV. A $5 fare gets you rowed across the river in a jonboat and another $5 buys a ride up the hill (on either a burro or in the bed of a pickup) to the delightful Mexican village of Boquillas. Fine food at Jose' Falcon's and a modest guide fee ($10?) gets you to a very nice hot spring about 3/4 mile outside of town. Bring your passports!

Foy

Yes, Foy, that was our plan. I have been there twice before (once with four WtW guys) when the crossing was closed. All I could do was shout in Spanish back and forth across the river with the Mexicans on the other side. They were illegally crossing on horseback to sell trinkets, wire scorpions and spiders, to Gringo tourists, much to the chagrin of the park rangers.

 

[Foy]

Yes, Foy, that was our plan. I have been there twice before (once with four WtW guys) when the crossing was closed. All I could do was shout in Spanish back and forth across the river with the Mexicans on the other side. They were illegally crossing on horseback to sell trinkets, wire scorpions and spiders, to Gringo tourists, much to the chagrin of the park rangers.

Stew,

Before cancelling our plans back in May, my wife and I were planning to attend the CASI cook-off last weekend in Terlingua. With that in mind, I did a bunch of reading up on Big Bend country, including the almost Death Valley-quality geology. Boquillas and the new crossing stands out as something with some permanence.

If you like hot springs, consider Chinati HS north of Presidio and southwest of Marfa. The most direct route from Marfa is a WTW-worthy 50 mile run across some plateau and into canyon country (FM 2810), and the Springs and the modest development there look heavenly. From Chinati to Study Butte/Terlingua would be between 2.5-4.0 hours depending on how often you'd want to stop along FM 170.

I'm looking forward to following along!

Foy

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Stew,

Before cancelling our plans back in May, my wife and I were planning to attend the CASI cook-off last weekend in Terlingua. With that in mind, I did a bunch of reading up on Big Bend country, including the almost Death Valley-quality geology. Boquillas and the new crossing stands out as something with some permanence.

If you like hot springs, consider Chinati HS north of Presidio and southwest of Marfa. The most direct route from Marfa is a WTW-worthy 50 mile run across some plateau and into canyon country (FM 2810), and the Springs and the modest development there look heavenly. From Chinati to Study Butte/Terlingua would be between 2.5-4.0 hours depending on how often you'd want to stop along FM 170.

I'm looking forward to following along!

Foy

I will definitely look into the hot springs! Thanks, Foy.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Foy, are the hot springs just north of the Chinati Mountains? My maps show many springs in that area but none are noted as being hot.

 

[Foy]

Stew,

I think that's correct--North-northwest of the Chinati Mountains--almost due northwest of Chinati Peak.

They're on the Interwebs at www.chinatihotsprings.net. Their "getting here" link/map is a Google Maps base and zoomed in it also shows the spring itself by an older name "Ruidosa Hot Springs".

The "non WTW" route to reach Chinati HS is south on US 67 from Marfa to Presidio, thence a sharp hook back to the northwest on FM 170 to Ruidosa, thence 7-8 miles on gravel Hot Springs Rd to the "resort" (which perhaps I should not put in quotes since it is indeed a nice, if rustic and elementary, place to visit).

But the manly (or womanly--Hoyden) route from Marfa is southwest right out of town down FM 2810 (Pinto Canyon Rd), paved across the plateau for a ways, then turning to gravel and descending into the Pinto Canyon. It runs the canyon to a point close to Ruidosa, then another road branches north-northwest to the Springs. You can easily find YouTube videos of folks riding Pinto Canyon Rd on dual-sport bikes or in trucks or SUVs.

I'd had a nice chat with one of the Chinati caretakers who said most any reasonably high clearance vehicle can handle the Pinto Canyon route from Marfa and further said she runs it regularly in her 2WD Tacoma. Heavy rains cancel all bets, not due to mud, but instead due to the several normally dry washes crossed by the road which have no bridges. Other intel indicates Pinto Canyon Rd is heavily watched by the Border Patrol. One look at the maps shows the paucity of other routes out of the river bottom canyons so one can readily see why Pinto Canyon Rd would be favored for illicit human and other cargo.

The same individual spoke glowingly of some of the short canyon hikes accessed from the resort, including the "Art Canyon".

All in all, Chinati HS seems like it would be a fine place to visit, and a "no hookups" camping area is among their advertised accomodations. We were intrigued by one of the modest cabins with its own large stock tank fed by the HS waters.

Let me know if you can't locate it.

Foy

 

[ski3pin]

Copy and paste into Google Earth -
30°02'18.44"N 104°35'55.85"W

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Stew,

I think that's correct--North-northwest of the Chinati Mountains--almost due northwest of Chinati Peak.

They're on the Interwebs at www.chinatihotsprings.net. Their "getting here" link/map is a Google Maps base and zoomed in it also shows the spring itself by an older name "Ruidosa Hot Springs".

The "non WTW" route to reach Chinati HS is south on US 67 from Marfa to Presidio, thence a sharp hook back to the northwest on FM 170 to Ruidosa, thence 7-8 miles on gravel Hot Springs Rd to the "resort" (which perhaps I should not put in quotes since it is indeed a nice, if rustic and elementary, place to visit).

But the manly (or womanly--Hoyden) route from Marfa is southwest right out of town down FM 2810 (Pinto Canyon Rd), paved across the plateau for a ways, then turning to gravel and descending into the Pinto Canyon. It runs the canyon to a point close to Ruidosa, then another road branches north-northwest to the Springs. You can easily find YouTube videos of folks riding Pinto Canyon Rd on dual-sport bikes or in trucks or SUVs.

I'd had a nice chat with one of the Chinati caretakers who said most any reasonably high clearance vehicle can handle the Pinto Canyon route from Marfa and further said she runs it regularly in her 2WD Tacoma. Heavy rains cancel all bets, not due to mud, but instead due to the several normally dry washes crossed by the road which have no bridges. Other intel indicates Pinto Canyon Rd is heavily watched by the Border Patrol. One look at the maps shows the paucity of other routes out of the river bottom canyons so one can readily see why Pinto Canyon Rd would be favored for illicit human and other cargo.

The same individual spoke glowingly of some of the short canyon hikes accessed from the resort, including the "Art Canyon".

All in all, Chinati HS seems like it would be a fine place to visit, and a "no hookups" camping area is among their advertised accomodations. We were intrigued by one of the modest cabins with its own large stock tank fed by the HS waters.

Let me know if you can't locate it.

Foy

I found Chinati Hot Springs under its USGS name Ruidosa HS on my topo maps. Looks really remote. One wonders how a "resort" can survive way out there. But it does look like a WtW sort of place. Thanks Foy.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Copy and paste into Google Earth -
30°02'18.44"N 104°35'55.85"W

Thanks 3pin!

 

[Foy]

Oh heck yeah, it's really out there alright. But it looks clean, nicely kept, and very quiet. A cool pool is atop a small knoll above the group of cabins laid out along the canyon floor. Two or three of the cabins have private soaking tubs--some stone/stucco and at least one is a galvanized stock tank. A sizable communal kitchen is provided for BYO meal preparation. "No phone, no lights, no motor-cars", only it actually has all 3.

Looks like a place to catch up on soaking, catnapping, light hiking, and stargazing. And now there's a general store as close as Ruidosa--with Wifi?

Have fun planning and getting down to Big Bend country. I seriously looked at grad school up in Alpine back in the mid 1970s but chose immediate employment in the mining business instead. Are you guys going to Big Bend Ranch State Park, too?

Foy

 

[MarkBC]

... Are you guys going to Big Bend Ranch State Park, too?

Foy

I'll weigh in on this:
Yes, we've mentioned BBRSP as part of a plan -- not that we have a real itinerary.

Besides Big Bend, I plan to be out wandering for up to 2 months -- 6 weeks at least. Big Bend is so far from Bend that I figured I might as well make the most of my gas $$, so I'll be visiting various points between there and here -- mostly after the BB part of the trip.

Thanks for the ideas, Foy, and others.

 

[MarkBC]

...Besides Big Bend, I plan to be out wandering for up to 2 months -- 6 weeks at least. Big Bend is so far from Bend that I figured I might as well make the most of my gas $$, so I'll be visiting various points between there and here -- mostly after the BB part of the trip...

...And the one state "between there and here" that I'll definitely be passing through but know very little about is New Mexico, so I'm open to suggestions for the Land of Enchantment.

(forgive me, Dubhg, for this little non-BB hijack)

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

...And the one state "between there and here" that I'll definitely be passing through but know very little about is New Mexico, so I'm open to suggestions for the Land of Enchantment.

(forgive me, Dubhg, for this little non-BB hijack)

In winter I would suggest the Salinas Pueblos and White Sands. Plus NM state parks are plentiful and cheap.