bakerla
Man, Myth, Legend
The wife and I took a trip out to Big Bend Ranch SP. This was the first test of our new Morris Mule off road trailer outfitted with our Tepui Kukeman RTT that was previously mounted to the truck over the bed. This trip was the motivator for a trailer as we wanted to use the truck to get around thre park without breaking down the RTT. The trailer also allows us to transport more gear in a cramped truck.
Day 1
We departed on Friday, stopping for lunch at Evett’s Bar Bq in Uvalde. Food was good and quick and there was parking for the truck and trailer. We tried to get gas in Comstock, but the single gas station had one inoperable pump and seemed run down. We had enough gas to push forward to Sanderson the next morning.
Evett’s Bar Bq parking
Our first stop was at Seminole Canyon SP. We were quite pleased with the campground and the showers were clean. We mountain biked out to the Panther Cave overlook down to the Rio Grande and then over the Presa Canyon Overlook. The views quite impressive. We ate some Mountain House freeze dried camping food. No complaints with that, quick and easy.
Canyon
Easy dinner
Day 2
We departed early Saturday morning, making coffee at camp and eating pre made sausage breakfast balls on the road. We ran through to Sanderson for gas and onto Presidio for lunch and fuel before heading to the park. We ate lunch at The Bean Cafe which seemed to be the spot for travelers. Food was good and parking was again suitable for a trailer. Managed to see an Earth Cruiser parked outside.
We rode out to the park and aired all 6 tires down once hitting the gravel. The ride to the Sauceda ranger station was about an hour. We checked in and then drove out to our campsite, Fresno Canyon, another hour from the ranger station. There were 3 campsites down in the Fresno Canyon and we never heard or saw our neighbors.
The ranger checking us in was hesitant about the trailer we had. I heard and saw him thinking...but the road down wasn’t an issue. Along the way we stopped at an archaeological site with some good hand print rock art.The Fresno Canyon campsite was quite nice with the west rim overlook on one side and the flatirons of the Solitario on the other. It had 2 fire rings and 2 tables with a nice cover. We arrived at camp around 430pm and immediately set up camp.
Fresno Canyon road
Rock art
Fresno Canyon site
We took a quick bike trip over to the other campsites (Rincon 1 and 2) and saw they were occupied and then went back to camp for dinner. Dinner was chicken tacos, beer marinated chicken thighs cooked over the campfire. We heated up tortillas over the foil covered gratenand grilled up onions and poblano over the camp stove.
Fire cooking
That night was the only night we had stars. We removed the rainfly from the RTT and opened up the sky lights to the tent, revealing a great view of the night sky. The next morning was Sunday and DST began.
Day 3
The sun rose close to 8am, making a late sunrise. We slept in anyways. Coffee and dutch oven biscuits (out of the can) with sausage made for a great breakfast.
After relaxing a bit after breakfast we hiked up to the west rim overlook. The trailhead, marked on the map was hard to find and we finally found some cairns marking the trail. The hike, though short in distance, was quite steep in elevation. Up top we used our Joby Gorillapod mounted to a fence post to take some pictures. Our campsite was visible from the overlook. We could see a great view of the canyon and flatirons. We hike back down for lunch, again eating freeze dried camp meals. They aren’t bad at all.
Trails marked with cairns
West Rim Overlook
After lunch we drove down to the Crawford Smith Ranch house with the intention of just hiking around the old ranch house ruins. We then set out south along the trail down towards the Fresno Cascades. Then we decided to hike over to the Madrid House. While at the Madrid House we stumbled across a couple of hikers relaxing in the house, laying down eating. Was quite odd, as we hadn’t seen anybody all day. I was surprised to see anybody.
Madrid House (I think)
The intent was to make a loop and come back to the Crawford Smith Ranch ruins. Well….trails weren’t marked that well. We had a paper map and the download maps to the Gaia GPS app, but no download routes. We got slightly “disoriented” and off trail at one point. I had to revert to some good old fashioned land navigation skills I learned both orienteering in high school and the Army. We finally found the trail and headed back. That hiked went a bit longer than planned and we both ran out of water in our hydration bladders.
Dinner was chicken and wild rice in the dutch oven. We’ve learned that we like cream of poblano vs the cream of mushroom that most people use. We had plenty of food that night and we ate a lot, since we earned it. With DST, the sun didn’t set until much later we’re used to, though the night sky was quite cloudy. No stars were visible.
Day 4
Breakfast tacos! Tortillas warmed over the fire with eggs and sauteed onion and poblano. Good breakfast. We head out to the Sauceda ranger station to dump trash and refill water. The morning was biking and we did a quick loop just south of Ojo Escondido. The first trail was east was, according to the wife, hard. She isn’t used to mountain biking and even though she runs marathons, the uphills got to her. The south trail heading west along the power line was much easier. After the 2 ish hour ride we drove back to the ranger station because my dumbass forgot to bring lunch. We had snacks and supplemented some more snacks from the ranger station.
We then drove over to the Cinco Tinajas trailhead and set out on another hike. This time the trail was better marked and a bit more traveled. We ran into a few hikers, though I think most just wanted to see the archaeological site. We were really surprised that the archaeological sites are that open and not cordoned off and protected. We thought that maybe the average person does not travel to Big Bend Ranch and those that do will be respectful of the sites.
Almost like a theater
Story time
We preplanned our day (minus lunch) and brought our shower stuff. We had a show at camp, one of those 2 gallons shower bags and a shower tent. It did well and we could walk around camp naked and not worry about anybody seeing us, but we wanted a real shower. Shower felt good.
We then took off and drove out to the Road to Nowhere. We were pressed for time and even though the sun set close to 8, we still had to cook dinner and pack. Just past Tres Papalotes we crossed some hikers that told us a vehicle had gotten stuck on the road up to the uranium mine. They advised the hikers left the vehicle and already got a ride back to the ranger station. We continued on and drove up the Road to Nowhere. The wife was clearly stressed, even though we’d been on much narrower trails in Colorado. We went halfway and turned back, due to time. Slightly regretting that decision, but that’s now a goal for next time.
Back at camp we started the fire and prepped the steak and potato foil packets. What a good meal. We’ve got to tweaked the recipe a bit, but the garlic butter really flavored it up. We packed up everything to where we only needed to close up the RTT and eat breakfast. Still cloudy and no stars.
Day 5
We were awoken slightly before the alarm was set to go off at 0630 by coyotes, the 4 legged kind. They were yelping, yipping or barking, whatever it is they do pretty close to camp. So we got up and started breakfast. We had been impressed with all the other Mountain Home dehydrated meals, but the breakfast options with eggs were bad. At least we made good coffee.
We departed camp while it was still dark, about 0715. Sun didn’t rise until 0806, though it got a bit light 15-20 minutes before. It took an hour to get from camp to the ranger station where we did an external and internal cargo jettison and gave a courtesy check out. The rest of the trip home wasn’t fun. It was another hour to the main road and then a long 10 hours + of driving. After gas and food stops we got home close to 2200, ending a great trip. We intend on returning, though we may strategically position our final campsite closer to the park exit.
Day 1
We departed on Friday, stopping for lunch at Evett’s Bar Bq in Uvalde. Food was good and quick and there was parking for the truck and trailer. We tried to get gas in Comstock, but the single gas station had one inoperable pump and seemed run down. We had enough gas to push forward to Sanderson the next morning.
Evett’s Bar Bq parking
Our first stop was at Seminole Canyon SP. We were quite pleased with the campground and the showers were clean. We mountain biked out to the Panther Cave overlook down to the Rio Grande and then over the Presa Canyon Overlook. The views quite impressive. We ate some Mountain House freeze dried camping food. No complaints with that, quick and easy.
Canyon
Easy dinner
Day 2
We departed early Saturday morning, making coffee at camp and eating pre made sausage breakfast balls on the road. We ran through to Sanderson for gas and onto Presidio for lunch and fuel before heading to the park. We ate lunch at The Bean Cafe which seemed to be the spot for travelers. Food was good and parking was again suitable for a trailer. Managed to see an Earth Cruiser parked outside.
We rode out to the park and aired all 6 tires down once hitting the gravel. The ride to the Sauceda ranger station was about an hour. We checked in and then drove out to our campsite, Fresno Canyon, another hour from the ranger station. There were 3 campsites down in the Fresno Canyon and we never heard or saw our neighbors.
The ranger checking us in was hesitant about the trailer we had. I heard and saw him thinking...but the road down wasn’t an issue. Along the way we stopped at an archaeological site with some good hand print rock art.The Fresno Canyon campsite was quite nice with the west rim overlook on one side and the flatirons of the Solitario on the other. It had 2 fire rings and 2 tables with a nice cover. We arrived at camp around 430pm and immediately set up camp.
Fresno Canyon road
Rock art
Fresno Canyon site
We took a quick bike trip over to the other campsites (Rincon 1 and 2) and saw they were occupied and then went back to camp for dinner. Dinner was chicken tacos, beer marinated chicken thighs cooked over the campfire. We heated up tortillas over the foil covered gratenand grilled up onions and poblano over the camp stove.
Fire cooking
That night was the only night we had stars. We removed the rainfly from the RTT and opened up the sky lights to the tent, revealing a great view of the night sky. The next morning was Sunday and DST began.
Day 3
The sun rose close to 8am, making a late sunrise. We slept in anyways. Coffee and dutch oven biscuits (out of the can) with sausage made for a great breakfast.
After relaxing a bit after breakfast we hiked up to the west rim overlook. The trailhead, marked on the map was hard to find and we finally found some cairns marking the trail. The hike, though short in distance, was quite steep in elevation. Up top we used our Joby Gorillapod mounted to a fence post to take some pictures. Our campsite was visible from the overlook. We could see a great view of the canyon and flatirons. We hike back down for lunch, again eating freeze dried camp meals. They aren’t bad at all.
Trails marked with cairns
West Rim Overlook
After lunch we drove down to the Crawford Smith Ranch house with the intention of just hiking around the old ranch house ruins. We then set out south along the trail down towards the Fresno Cascades. Then we decided to hike over to the Madrid House. While at the Madrid House we stumbled across a couple of hikers relaxing in the house, laying down eating. Was quite odd, as we hadn’t seen anybody all day. I was surprised to see anybody.
Madrid House (I think)
The intent was to make a loop and come back to the Crawford Smith Ranch ruins. Well….trails weren’t marked that well. We had a paper map and the download maps to the Gaia GPS app, but no download routes. We got slightly “disoriented” and off trail at one point. I had to revert to some good old fashioned land navigation skills I learned both orienteering in high school and the Army. We finally found the trail and headed back. That hiked went a bit longer than planned and we both ran out of water in our hydration bladders.
Dinner was chicken and wild rice in the dutch oven. We’ve learned that we like cream of poblano vs the cream of mushroom that most people use. We had plenty of food that night and we ate a lot, since we earned it. With DST, the sun didn’t set until much later we’re used to, though the night sky was quite cloudy. No stars were visible.
Day 4
Breakfast tacos! Tortillas warmed over the fire with eggs and sauteed onion and poblano. Good breakfast. We head out to the Sauceda ranger station to dump trash and refill water. The morning was biking and we did a quick loop just south of Ojo Escondido. The first trail was east was, according to the wife, hard. She isn’t used to mountain biking and even though she runs marathons, the uphills got to her. The south trail heading west along the power line was much easier. After the 2 ish hour ride we drove back to the ranger station because my dumbass forgot to bring lunch. We had snacks and supplemented some more snacks from the ranger station.
We then drove over to the Cinco Tinajas trailhead and set out on another hike. This time the trail was better marked and a bit more traveled. We ran into a few hikers, though I think most just wanted to see the archaeological site. We were really surprised that the archaeological sites are that open and not cordoned off and protected. We thought that maybe the average person does not travel to Big Bend Ranch and those that do will be respectful of the sites.
Almost like a theater
Story time
We preplanned our day (minus lunch) and brought our shower stuff. We had a show at camp, one of those 2 gallons shower bags and a shower tent. It did well and we could walk around camp naked and not worry about anybody seeing us, but we wanted a real shower. Shower felt good.
We then took off and drove out to the Road to Nowhere. We were pressed for time and even though the sun set close to 8, we still had to cook dinner and pack. Just past Tres Papalotes we crossed some hikers that told us a vehicle had gotten stuck on the road up to the uranium mine. They advised the hikers left the vehicle and already got a ride back to the ranger station. We continued on and drove up the Road to Nowhere. The wife was clearly stressed, even though we’d been on much narrower trails in Colorado. We went halfway and turned back, due to time. Slightly regretting that decision, but that’s now a goal for next time.
Back at camp we started the fire and prepped the steak and potato foil packets. What a good meal. We’ve got to tweaked the recipe a bit, but the garlic butter really flavored it up. We packed up everything to where we only needed to close up the RTT and eat breakfast. Still cloudy and no stars.
Day 5
We were awoken slightly before the alarm was set to go off at 0630 by coyotes, the 4 legged kind. They were yelping, yipping or barking, whatever it is they do pretty close to camp. So we got up and started breakfast. We had been impressed with all the other Mountain Home dehydrated meals, but the breakfast options with eggs were bad. At least we made good coffee.
We departed camp while it was still dark, about 0715. Sun didn’t rise until 0806, though it got a bit light 15-20 minutes before. It took an hour to get from camp to the ranger station where we did an external and internal cargo jettison and gave a courtesy check out. The rest of the trip home wasn’t fun. It was another hour to the main road and then a long 10 hours + of driving. After gas and food stops we got home close to 2200, ending a great trip. We intend on returning, though we may strategically position our final campsite closer to the park exit.
I typically use Backpackers Pantry and Packitgourmet for lunch/dinner with m9ohntainhouse for breakfast
