Carlsbad Caverns

Posted by hankster |0 comments

This morning I headed out to Carlsbad Caverns. The morning was cool, damp and foggy. It took about 45 minutes to get there as I am currently just north of Carlsbad. Plus there is construction on the road to the caverns south of Carlsbad where they are adding two more lanes to the two lane highway.

When I got to the caverns I decided just to do the self guided tours. The first one take you into the natural opening of the cave using a steep winding paved walkway. In some places it is a 20 degree angle you are walking down. This part took about 1 1/2 hours to walk and you end up in the big room of the cavern 750 feet below the surface.

The bathrooms were closed in the rest area so I had to take the elevator up to wizz then go back down the elevator to take the big room self guided tour. While I was up top I stopped in the restaurant for a bite to eat. Back down I went to finish the big room tour.

The big room tour is a lot easier as the walkway is fairly flat. But it is more interesting then the main opening tour as there are many more stalactites and stalagmites. This walk also took about 1 1/2 hours. When I was done I was beat, my legs were sore and my feet were tired. I was ready to head back to the RV.

One thing I noticed is that there could be all kinds of phallic jokes looking at the stalagmites. But during my walk through the caverns I did see a boobie shape. Somehow that was strangely satisfying.

See more photos of Carlsbad Caverns.

ATVing Big Bend National Park

Posted by hankster |2 comments

I went on my ATV trip today. It really wasn't in Big Bend but just a few miles outside on the Terlingua Ranch. Terlingua Ranch comprises about 22,000 acres and is owned by Carroll Shelby (yes, THE Carroll Shelby) and David Witt. We were told it is being split up into 20 parcels and is being sold.

When I got to Far Flung Outdoor Center the outfitted with helmets and then gave us quick driving and safety instructions. I was a bit disappointed to hear we wouldn't be going over 20 mph. There were a total of 5 of us in our party, the other four guys all were together so I was a bit of an outsider.... at least for the first couple of minutes. The ATVs were Can-Am 400s. The one I was riding was brand new and only ad 22 miles on it. After riding it a bit and getting used to it, it could have been a bit more powerful. I suppose it is a good 4-wheeler for a rental unit but if I owned one it would have to have more juice.

As we left FFOC we followed a path behind the main building that had a few dips and loose sand. I guess that was to help us get used to riding them. Once we crossed into Terlingua Ranch we went on a dirt road for a couple of miles before we dropped down into a dry river bed that was filled with rocks, then loose sand, gully and wash outs got up and over the river bank and back onto another road.

As our guide Tony seen that we were handling the ATVs fine he picked up the pace. There were places on the smoother dirt roads where I hit 45 mph. I wasn't the fastest, one of the guys hit 49.

We stopped 3 times during the trip. Once at a old windmill, once at the base of Christmas Mountain and one last time to to water the rocks. What I found interesting was that miles from the main road that there would be a trailer plopped in the middle of nowhere. Some would have an awning on the side that had a rain gutter then emptied into a large (1000 gal?) container for water. No one was in any of them but Tony said that they are used during hunting season or just for vacation spots. That's roughing it.

The trip was great fun and it was cool being back into places that very few people get to see. I'm glad I stayed around a couple extra days to do this.

See more photos of my ATV adventure.

The Road to Presidio

Posted by hankster |0 comments

Instead of visiting Big Bend today I went and took a drive to Presidio, a town about 70 miles west. I have already driven every paved road in the park and the dirt roads were not in good enough condition from rain over the past two days that I wanted to take that chance. I had heard the drive to Presidio was nice and figured it would be a good way to see something different.

I headed out late in the morning and the first "town" about 5 miles on FM170 is the Terlingua Ghost Town. I didn't stop, figured I stop on the way back. On trips like this where I plan on back tracking I'll drive straight through to the end point, checking out places to stop, and then stop at those places on the way back as time permits.

Another 12 miles puts you in Lajitas. This is a bit of an interesting place as it has been built up with a real fancy motel and RV park. Problem is that it's location 25 miles from the entrance to Big Bend means it just doesn't get the traffic or guests that the investors hoped. I have heard it is in financial trouble. I almost chose to stay at the RV park here so I drove through. The park is really nice and fancy. Big stone entrance, lots of landscaping on the access road and large grassy RV lots, but only about 6 rigs were there.

I headed on west to and the road quickly narrowed to a normal paved country road, fairly narrow with little to no shoulder. It also quickly started to get into the mountains. The road ended up being very curvy with many hills and large drop offs on one side with solid stone walls towering on the other. The speed limit said 50mph but I was lucky to do 40 in most places. One part of the road is a 15% grade, both going up and going down! Even though I dropped the tranny down to first gear and started at 10mph, I reached 35mph by the time I hit the bottom of the hill (not using my brakes). Thinking I would have wore off 10,000 miles of brake pad if I didn't down shift.

The 70 miles trip ended up taking close to 2 hours to complete. Then I had to turn around and drive the same road back. I only drove into Presidio for a little bit, just far enough to find gas station so I could releave myself, dewater Spud and grab a G. There didn't seem to be much interesting there and since I got a later start I wanted to head back. On the way back I stopped a number of places to take pictures and enjoy the scenery. I will have to say that this is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done, even better then any drive within Big Bend National Park. The road puts you right in the middle of the mountains and there are many different rock types and formations to experience. It's a drive no one should miss.

Here are a few photos that I took.

Big Bend National Park Day 2 & 3

Posted by hankster |0 comments

I didn't update yesterday so I'll just put two days of info in one update.

The weather was cloudy and hazy all day, not the best weather for picture taking. The main focus of yesterdays outing was to visit the Castolon area along with Santa Elena Canyon. To me this is the most interesting part of Big Bend with some of the most scenic areas. The drive was great with many steep curvy roads, huge mountain cliffs and deep gorges. There are a large number of paved side roads to scenic overlooks and short hikes to interesting features that I just had to do.

The round trip may have been maybe 100 miles but it took me 6 hours to do everything that was "easy" to do. I still have not done any of the dirt road routes and it looks like I may not get to do that now.... more on that later. I can't say enough about this drive and if you only have a day or two to spend in Big Bend, take the drive to Castolon, Santa Elena Canyon and Chisos Basin. While the rest of the park is interesting, it pales in comparion.

It rained all last night and today was still very cloudy with a lot of very low clouds. Just because the weather is cloudy is no reason not to go to the park as it can give a very different look to the park. Today I took the long drive to Persimmon Gap and the North Entrance to the park. This is a long drive and is mostly through the lower desert plains. What saved today's drive was the low hanging clouds that shrouded the mountains. Most times they would wrap around them letting the peaks poke their way out of the top. You could just sit there and watch as the clouds swirled over the edges of the mountain sides changing shape and form as they moved. If you enjoyed seeing animals in cloiud formations when you were a kid, you would have loved this.

I got back to the campground around 3pm. On my drive back it looked like a storm was brewing so I wasn't disappointed that I was leaving Big Bend early. About 30 minutes after I got back, those storm clouds roared overhead. The winds picked up and the rain poured down so hard I couldn't hardly see the RV parked only 20 feet away. Me and Spudy sat there, rock and rolling in the wind as the rain pounding on the RV was so loud I gave up listening to the TV. About 10 minutes later it all passed and the sun came out with a rainbow to the east. That also means this nice desert campground is a muddy mess. I took Spud for a walk afterwards and had to carry him to the shower to wash off his feet.

About 15 minutes after the storm passed, the electric went out. It was out for miles around. No electric, no water, no cell service, nothing. Then the water came back on, then the cell service, but still no electric. My RV has battery backup so I had lights, water and heat but that would only last through the night if the electric didn't come back on. About 7pm the electric can back on so we are all set.... except for the muddy campground. I'll live with it, that's the adventure of camping. At least I'm dry and not in a tent!

See pictures of Day 2 and Day 3 of my trip into Big Bend.

Big Bend National Park Day 1

Posted by hankster |0 comments

On Monday headed in the Big Bend NP about 9:30am. It was nice sunny day, a few clouds and just a bit hazy. I fun going into a place and not really knowing where you are going to go and what to expect. Stopped at the entrance gate, paid the $20 for a 7 day pass, took the map and decided to hit the main HQ at Panther Junction which about 20 miles away and is sort of in the middle of the park.

Once there I got a few ideas of what to see from the rangers and figured I would just do the main paved roads first, see the main sights and then maybe dig a bit deeper into the less traveled dirt roads. I could see that I would not be able to travel all of the paved roads in one day so it was off the the far southeast part of the park to Rio Grande Village where there is an overlook to the Rio Grande River. Rio Grande Village also has the only spot in the park where you can camp in an RV with hookups. It's not much of a camping area as it is just a parking lot that they added hookups to, but it would be a cool place to stay just because it is in the park. I didn't drive through the RV camping area but it appeared they were close to full.

It isn't the destination that is so great but the drive to get to them. On one side of the road you see the mountains and other side desert for miles. It seems every few miles the scenery changes and there is a serprise you I didn't expect. Even though there were bear and mountain lion warning signs, all I ever seen was a roadrunner or two.

While driving down to the Rio Grande Village I noticed a dirt road named Hot Springs. This got my curiosity up so I just had to go down it on when leaving the Village. While the dirt road is far from smooth, it is passable with a car. Once you get down the road for a mile or so you come on a small parking are with signs that warn no trailers or even dual wheel trucks beyond this point. I'm adventurous and even though my quad cab long bed truck can be a pain to maneuver I figured I'd give it try. Much the road is one lane with walls one one side and a 20' cliff drop on the other. I made it though the mile road but it was tight and I I almost got a scrape on the side of the truck bed a coupe of times.

A 1/2 mile walk gets you back to the Hot Spring which is right on the Rio Grande River and has been built up so you can easily get in and have a nice hot soak. I'd didn't bring any bathing gear so I just sat a bit and enjoyed to river. Along the path to the hot spring you find trinkets for sale. It appears they are made by some of Mexico's native population that cross the Rio Grande to place them there for visitors to purchase. If you look across the river where the trinkets are you'll see a couple of them sitting next to the river watching. It was an enjoyable side trip and I was glad I took the time to visit.

I then headed to Chisos Basin which is up in the mountains a bit. It is a steep curvy drive with a number of sharp 180 degree turns. They recommend no trailers over 20' or RVs over 24' on this road and I would agree. This is a great drive that cuts through the mountains and leads to a primitive camping area and a developed resort area that has a restaurant, store and motel style rooms. Another great drive that you can't miss.

From there it was time to head back to the RV. I had already spent over 6 hours in Big Bend NP and I was bushed. I got back to the RV, puled out the awning and me a Spud just sat in the shade to enjoy the rest of the evening. Temps were in the low 60's and it was nice just to sit and relax.

More pictures of my first day in Big Bend NP.