Big Bend State Park – Sites and Hikes
One of the most scenic drives in the US is the 50 mile Texas drive on FM 170 from Lajitas to Presidio. This is a grand view of the Big Bend State Park in all its splendor.
The drive also has great views of the Rio Grande with Mexico on the other side.
Big Bend State Park is a very rustic park with very few paved roads. While the park is naturally beautiful with its majestic landscape and wildlife, its not very accessible for those of us without a 4X4. The man at the information center told us we would have no issues driving our VW Beetle on the roads. We drove 3 miles each way doing 5-10 mph down a rutted, bumpy, stony road in order to get to the trailheads.
Cinco Tinaja is an easy hike of about two miles. Cinco Tinaja refers to the five small interconnected ponds that are filled with water. This is a small oasis is middle of the Chisos dessert.
Closed Canyon is a neat hike that follows a narrow scenic canyon. There’s a sign at the trailhead advising you to check the weather north of here as flash floods are common in the canyon even when it’s not raining there. We took our chances. The hike is about 1.8 miles and it continues to go down, down, down until you can’t go any further. We stopped when we got to about a 12 foot drop down. Since we did not have climbing equipment there was no way we could have climbed back up.
Big Bend National Park
Big Bend National Park is located in Southern Texas, bordering Mexico. The national park covers 801,163 acres (larger than Rhode Island). For more than 1,000 miles, the Rio Grande, Rio Bravo forms the boundary between Mexico and the US, and Big Bend National Park administers approximately 118 miles along that boundary. The park was named after the area, which is bounded by a large bend in the river.
It is worth noting that the area around BBNP is very remote without a lot of commercial properties, restaurants, or medical facilities. The closest hospital is in Alpine over an hour away. The locals say that the past time of choice is drinking.
The Hikes
Click the pictures for a better view and see more information about our experiences below.
The Window – We watched the sunset from a short Window View hike and then hiked the Window Trail the next day. There was a stream that ran along much of the trail that we had to criss-cross back and forth. The hike out was mostly downhill making the hike back mostly uphill which wore us out by the end.
Lost Mine Trail – We hiked the Lost Mine Trail twice. The first time, clouds rolled in before we reached the top so our visibility was severely limited. A lady we met hiking the second time had a Fitbit and said that the hike registered as 109 flights of stairs. OMG!!
The Lost Mine Bear – This is a two year old adolescent Mexican Black Bear. We also saw another bear who turned out to be a momma bear with two cubs. She looked up at Scott, grunted and pounded her paws on the ground. We got the heck out of there and decided you could use your imagination in lieu of the picture.
Santa Elena Canyon – Due to heavier than normal rain in the area this normally dry stream bed was thigh high on me. I took off my hiking shoes and socks and waded across to get to the Santa Elena Canon. Of course, Scott had to take a picture.
Mule Ears – An iconic rock formation at Big Bend. Not a very interesting hike.
Hot Springs Canyon – This is a natural hot spring that stays a consistent 105 degrees. Behind the springs is the mighty Rio Grande River. The day was so hot we chose to hang our feet in the much cooler Rio Grande side. The hike was a grueling 6 mile roundtrip in the afternoon heat with no shade anywhere along the trail. After the 20 minute soak in the springs the return trip was brutal.
CatTail Falls – This was a hike not found in any of the hiking books. It’s not on any of the hiking maps either. Locals told us how to find the trailhead. The Falls are below The Window where the water drains over the cliffs.
Sotol Vista Overlook at sunset was a beautiful view of the park. A final and stunning good-bye to Big Bend National Park.
What Do You Mean We Have No A/C?
We broke camp in Fort Stockton for Lajitas (Lah-hee-tas), TX and Big Bend National and State Parks. The drive took us through the town of Alpine where we picked up 118 S. The road was well maintained and full of curves. There were also many hills to traverse which allowed me to practice utilizing the engine break. I’ll need to brush up on driving techniques for climbing steep hills in the RV as there were times when I had the pedal on the floor and we were doing a whopping 20mph ascent.
We arrived at Maverick RV Park around 3pm. The campground was sparsely populated with only a handful of rigs on our side of the park, the no cable TV side. We checked in for our month long stay and proceeded to our assigned spot. We drove around the park as I knew I would be backing in to our spot and wanted to make sure I had a good angle. On the way, there was a familiar looking RV that we had seen in Junction (2 spots down) and Fort Stockton (right next to us). It seems we were stalking another couple (Don and Mary) who on a whim had also decided to make the trip to Lajitas. They were very nice people and we had a few conversations with them the first week of our stay before they headed out (or tried to get a head start on us).
Upon arrival at our camp site, I unhooked the car and tow dolly and moved them off to the side. I was now ready for my first back in experience. Being my first back in with the RV, let’s just say it took me a few tries to get properly spaced and straight (and I use the terms loosely). We went through all the steps to get level, hook up the water, sewer, and electricity, and extend the slides. When I re-entered the coach the air conditioners weren’t running. Not a good thing in the desert. This happens sometimes when switching from generator to shore power so we took all the steps to shut down and reactivate the shore power (3 times). Still no luck. I checked the console and it looked to me that we were still running off the batteries and not shore power (batteries can’t handle the A/C load). Oh, and it was still 90F+ outside which heats up the inside of the RV very quickly (think TV dinner).
I naturally assumed there must be an issue with the pedestal providing the power from the park. Couldn’t be us as everything worked fine in the morning before we left Fort Stockton. So I strolled over to the office and asked them to send somebody over to check the pedestal. Apparently I didn’t ask correctly as Catharine had to go over and ask again at which time they sent somebody immediately. This was 2 hours after my original request. Anyway, the maintenance man hooked up his “thingamajig” (technical RV/electrical term) and showed that there was proper current from the pedestal and it must be an issue with the RV. Great!!!! Our first trip and I’ve already broken the RV. Good thing we bought the extended warranty with the onsite repair option.
Made the call to report our issue and start the process of getting a repair person sent our way. It took some time for them to figure out where exactly Lajitas, TX is and even longer to find a nearby repair shop. Being out in the middle of nowhere will do that. Only found one viable shop close by so the plan was for us to call them, arrange for the work, and the repair shop would then bill the warranty company. Called the repair shop and left a message with our information (it was close to 6pm by this time). We then started to search on our own for other possible repair shops. The closest we found was 90 miles away and we would have to drive there as they would not send somebody. It was during this search that I found that the original repair shop we called was seasonal and their season didn’t start until November. Nobody was coming to help. What to do, what to do. Keep in mind that temperatures are still in the low 90’s and will be until the sun sets.
The thought of driving back 90 miles and possibly having to wait several days for a repair was not appealing. I decided to see if there was anything obvious that I might be able to fix, you know with my extensive background in electrical work (ok, I’ll pause while you regain your composure from laughing). Anyhow, I noticed that when the plug was in the pedestal, the green light on the plug indicated it was getting power. I then looked at the Autoformer (something I installed to protect against surges and low amperage) and saw the lights indicated there was no issue. The issue must be where the power then feeds in to the RV.
I grabbed my tools and ducked into the electric bay. Had to remove the power cord spool so that I could then check the connections (and yes, I disconnected the power before doing this). Didn’t see anything obvious so I thought I’d remove and reseat the 3 wire connections (4 if you count the ground wire but that was pretty securely connected). Black wire first, seemed fine. Next was the red wire. Noticed that when I pulled it out that some of the copper hadn’t made it in to the connector and was bent over. Smoothed it all out and made sure it was all in this time. Finally, the white wire. Looked OK. I figured with the panel open now, I’d switch the power on and see if there were any additional clues that might help troubleshoot. Flipped the breaker on the pedestal and low and behold the RV now had power.
I ducked in to the coach and the A/C was now running. I told Catharine don’t get excited yet, I still have to put everything back the way it was and make sure everything still worked. Killed power once again, put everything back, flipped it back on and all was good. Must have been something to that copper from the red wire not being seated properly. In any event, saved us from having to make the drive to the repair shop and missing days at Big Bend.
Yes, I was the one who installed the Autoformer and didn’t properly seat the wiring in the first place. I prefer to stay focused on the fact that I saved the day and appeared handy 😉 We are back in A/C comfort. I love camping!!! Think I need a nap.
Our Adventure Begins
We have had the RV parked in Spring Branch, TX (near our home in Canyon Lake) since we purchased it in early August. During August and September we have been busy with moving into the RV, getting our house ready for sale, and reading the many manuals that come with the RV.
We begin our new life as full-time RV’ers on October 1, 2016. We leave in the morning for our ultimate destination of Big Bend National Park. Because the journey is a long one, we will make two stops: Junction, TX and Fort Stockton, TX. We go through our departure check list and make our way to the highway. The feeling of anxious excitement is indescribable.
It is about twenty minutes into our journey that we have our first oops. A lady in a car beside us begins gesticulating wildly at us indicating something wrong with our RV. We looked in the mirrors but could not see anything. We had not cut her off, but she continue to motion to us and pointing at the rig. We waved back and pulled over into an open parking lot. Scott got out and circled the coach. He discovered one of the cargo doors had swung open while we were driving. Fortunately, nothing had fallen out of the bay. We couldn’t see the open door in the mirrors as it is the door right under the driver’s seat. We added checking all bay doors to our departure check list.
We continued our journey and pulled into our campground, Junction North Llano RV Park. What a great park!! From the picture above, you can see the covered picnic table with rocking chairs for relaxing. Scott watched TV outside and enjoyed an adult beverage. I preferred to stay inside with a book to wind down.
Day two of our trip found us leaving for Fort Stockton and our second oops. Sudden loud noises in the RV are bad. This is what happened to us as we were driving. I went to the rear of the coach to explore the noise and found the refrigerator and freezer doors hanging wide open and an ice explosion on the floor. Although, locking the appliance doors is on the checklist, it is now something that I double check before we buckle up.
Quite a start to our adventure.