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| no partners | | Last spring I decided to finally hike to Guadalupe Peak and then visit the Davis Mountains of West Texas, where I hadn't been since 1986. That turned out to be a wonderful trip, so this year my plan was to make it to Big Bend (also last visited in May, 1986). Knowing how my friend Paul likes old west history, including military forts, I decided to invite him along. He had never been off the interstate when crossing West Texas, so this would be all new for him. I wasn't sure if he would want to go, since he isn't a big fan of Texas, but I figured a visit to Fort Davis might be enough of an enticement.  It worked and he decided it was time to finally see this area (had he not gone, I would have limited my trip just to Big Bend). The plan was to drive to Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park on Sunday. I planned on stopping for lunch at L & J Cafe in El Paso, which just happens to be right next to Concordia Cemetery, which has a Buffalo Soldier Memorial as well as being known as "El Paso's Boot Hill." But because we were there on Easter, the cafe was closed, so we just kept on trucking (thought we might hit it on the way back). My friend is VERY frugal and even though there is a perfectly fine campground at Davis Mountains State Park, I was determined to stay in Indian Lodge. He agreed to that (which somewhat surprised me) and we split the cost of the $100 dollar room.  
On day two following breakfast at the lodge we toured Fort Davis, before driving to Alpine for gas, ice, beer, and lunch. Wanted to stock up there, as there isn't much to choose from when you head to Big Bend NP. One of the things I also wanted to do at Alpine was visit the Museum of the Big Bend on Sul Ross University campus, since I didn't get there last year. Wouldn't you know it, the one day it is closed is Monday. Oh well. After Alpine, we drove east to Marathon, then south to the main park entrance at Panther Junction via US385. After getting our orientation and visitor pass, we headed up to Chisos Basin with the intent of camping two nights.
One of the things that caused some stress for this trip was the weather forecast. In the week leading up to our departure it went through some changes, as one would expect. Initially it was supposed to get really cold on Tuesday (the day we planned on hiking), but no rain was forecast. I was a little concerned as we would be camping at 5000 feet. By the time we left on Sunday the forecast had changed to not as cold, but with a 30 to 50 percent chance of rain on our hike day. When we got to Panther Junction Monday afternoon it was very humid and warm (probably about 90 degrees) with thunderheads building up. We were actually glad we were heading up to the basin where it would be cooler! The other thing that could have been a problem was how full would the campground be? We didn't make reservations, but as it turned out we were able to secure a site with a shade ramada, so all was well. The campground was almost full however. While setting up our tents it was thundering, but we were happy for the cloud cover and cool breeze. After we got set up we drove over to the main area by the lodge and store and noted where the trailhead was for the next day. When I visited the park with my Mom in 1986, we stayed at the lodge. One of the things we could see from the lodge was sundown through the Window. This time Paul and I walked over to the viewpoint from camp. Almost all the clouds were gone by that time, so it wasn't as dramatic as it could have been. Still cool though.  Back at camp it got real windy and it persisted through the night. Made for interrupted sleep, but at least it wasn't cold.
Day three dawned clear and breezy. Still very humid in the tropical airmass, so we wanted to start our hike around sunrise to beat the heat and avoid possible midday thunderstorms. The wind subsided as we headed for Emory Peak, but it was pretty warm in exposed areas on our way back down. We had all afternoon free, so we did the loop drive down to Castolon and Santa Elena on Ross Maxwell, before returning to the main road on Old Maverick Road (knew that was very scenic from my 1986 visit). Very warm and humid down in the lowlands/river area. Paul didn't like it, but I was grooving on the "PMS" weather (Pre Monsoon Syndrome)!  We were surprised how light the flow was when we finally reached the Rio Grande near the Cottonwood Campground. We made it to the Santa Elena Overlook area at the wrong time of day for any good pictures. Anyone going to Big Bend NP should do this loop drive at a minimum to see some really wild volcanic geology.
When I was there in 1986 I also drove down to Rio Grande Village/Boquillas in the eastern part of the park, but we skipped that this time. My favorite memory of being down by the river there was a Mexican coming out of the bushes to sell tourists chunks of amethyst (Mom bought some)! While we were out driving around we could see another round of thunderboomers over the Chisos and north toward Alpine. Made a great backdrop for photos! By the time we got back to camp, they had either dissipated of moved off to the northeast. It was a very pleasant evening with light wind. Shortly after retiring to the tent the wind picked up again, though not as bad as the previous night. That meant we got better sleep!
Day four dawned pretty windy and much cooler. Since we weren't hiking, I stayed in the tent longer. It was in the mid 40s with a real wind chill going.  The advertised cold front had finally arrived. Still very humid (about 90 percent) with low clouds spilling into the basin on the strong low level northeast wind. Paul and I decided to change the original trip plan the previous evening, and now the chilly weather made us glad we did. We had intended to drive down to Lajitas, then west along the river toward Presidio and camp somewhere down lower in the Big Bend Ranch State Park section, before heading home Thursday. I had done that drive back in 1986 with Mom and knew it was also very scenic. But since we had already done most of the "must see" stuff, our new plan was to drive back up to Alpine (that way we could make it to the museum that was closed Monday), then west to Marfa and on to Van Horn on US90. Back home a day earlier. We rather hastily packed up our gear and wet tents and headed out of Chisos Basin.
When we dropped down to the lower elevation we got to look back and see our former mountain home sort of socked in.  On our way to Alpine, we took a short detour over to Terlingua to have a brief look. As we got closer to Alpine and the Davis Mountains the entire area was covered in low clouds. It was getting to be midday and the temperature was still in the 40s with a very brisk breeze. Brrrr! We went to the museum, fueled up, and got lunch, then it was on to Marfa. By that time the low clouds had burned off and it was more pleasant. Stopped for a look at the beautiful courthouse and Paisano Hotel. Driving through El Paso is always a bit intense, and since we were getting there around rush hour, we decided against a stop at Concordia. Fueled up again at Anthony and stopped at Taco Bell in Deming (Irma's is a really good Mexican restaurant there, but I didn't want to make Paul spend too much money  ). I treated him to a beer at the Mimbres Valley Brewery, then it was home to Tucson.
The trip was a success and the weather didn't mess with us very much (outside of a couple windy nights). Paul said he was impressed with the stuff we saw, but he probably wouldn't go back (distance and all). But I likely will go back again, especially to the part we cut out from Lajitas to Presidio.
http://www.concordiacemetery.org/ |
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