What is Your Most Amazing Moment in Big Bend?

[01ACRViper]

I think I had mentioned in an earlier reply of the moon coming in through the window....so bright I thought it was a spotlight.

Earlier that week, my son and I had observed the most amazing thing.  I had been raining on and off on our trip from Del Rio to Big Bend and so, there was an abundance of clouds and moisture.  We arrived on Monday and on Tuesday morning headed to the lodge restaurant for breakfast about 7AM.  As we were sitting there, up through the Window came these clouds (fog?) entering the basin.  It was the most surreal thing I had ever seen.


BBH

much like this :lol:







taken from the slopes of pulliam, the last one showing how it was creeping up on us   :oops:

[Vince T]

It's so hard to pick one "best" moment in the Bend...but we were camping at the park - I think it was Nov. 2001 - on the night the the Leonids Meteor shower was supposed to be at it's height.

We went to bed early, and I rememer waking up in the tent (we were at Croton) and thinking that the desert was on fire.  I got up and unzipped only to see my friend standing in his underwear outside of his tent, looking at the sky saying, "This is amazing!"  It was cold that night, but for the next hour we witnessed one of the most amazing meteor showers many will ever see.  

Now...the next 4-5 could easily be #1 too...I just can't get the image of the sky all lit up - continuously - out of my mind.

If anyone was out there when that was going on, please confirm how unreal that was...

[Roger, Roger]

Like many of you, I have a hard time picking just one.  

But I would go with my senior trip in high school, one portion of which was floating Mariscal Canyon.  It was May of 1996, and on a cool night there were 4 of us (including my future wife) that found a nice sandy spot to throw down our sleeping bags.  As we lay on our backs under the stars, in the most remote corner of one of the most remote places I have ever been, on a perfectly calm night, we talked about the future.

Technically, we were sleeping on the Mexico side, so I guess that isn't really a Big Bend story.  But I'll count it anyway.

[Roger, Roger]

My most amazing moment in Big Bend was followed by one of the most stupid moments.  Back in August of 1979 I was on a Boy Scout Trip camped in The Basin.  We almost didn't even plan on Big Bend because we thought it was going to be hot.  We only brought shorts and practically froze the first couple of nights because of thunderstorms and high winds.  Finally after the weather cleared up, the entire group went on a hike of the Window Trail while me and one other decided to go on a side hike.  Or bushwhack I should say.

We climbed up a gully that he had been part way up a few years before that ascended up between Vernon Bailey and Pulliam.  Unfortunately for us we had left The Basin at 4 p.m.  We dilly dallied around and finally topped out on the ridge at probably Pt. 6755 or close by.  We sat on the summit and watch the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen and have seen till this day.  

I took pics and we headed down.  We idiotically decided to go down a different way.  Next thing you know we were in darkness with no flashlight trying to make our way down the cliffs back to The Basin.  The lights seemed like a long way away.  Somehow after fights with cactus and cliff encounters we made it back.  The only thing we could do to determine if we had come up upon a cliff was to throw a rock and see how long it took to land.  Unfortunately I lost my camera on the way down with the pics.  I am sure it is still up there somewhere.  Maybe I'll go back one day and try and retrace my steps.

I was just reading back through this thread, and this reminded me of the time my Dad, brother, and myself did the exact same thing on Mitre Peak North of ALpine.  Only we actualy did get stuck on the top of a cliff, and ended up on the cover of the Alpine paper the next week after some Sul Ross students helped rapell us off the cliff.

[Slowhand]

Mine happened on August 20, 1997.  I was to turn 40 the next day, and I had decided I was going to do my first primitive camp out at SW4.  It was during the week and I had the South Rim to myself.  I got alittle buzz and sat there on the edge and watched a small, isolated shower drifting along the Rio Grande near Castalon.  After sitting there engrossed for about 30 minutes, I got up to go back to the campsite and was shocked to find a thunderstorm approaching from behind.  It was just the other side of Elephant Tusk and closing in fast.  I walked back along the rim about 150 yards and stood in amazement.  To watch an approaching thunderstorm from that high, with the lightning and churning cloud formations was just incredible.  I rode out the storm easy enough, but it turned the campsite at SW4 into a mud pit.  I wasn't prepared for that, and I decided to hike back to the basin that evening.  It was a good thing because the next day I discovered one of my radiator hoses had sprung a leak and I had time to fix it before heading back.

[Al]

I would have to say it's the first time we drove out there from Houston.  I had never been in topography like there is in and around the park.  Being able to see for miles and miles.  Being able to hear a car coming for what seems like forever before it gets to where you are.  The vast distances and grand views are among the reasons I keep coming back.  I guess the one word would be - Grandeur.

Al

[txrounder]

I have to agree with Vince.The Leonids in 2001 was the most spectacular night show I have ever witnessed. Camped in the Basin, I stayed up all night till the dawn finally faded them out. It was cold and damp, but awsomely clear and visble well into the dawn. A starwatchers club from Dallas was nearby and they sectioned off the sky and counted with hand clickers - over 200/min at the peak. They filled the sky like the Star trek scene when they jump to Warp, with occasional red or green Boloids that looked like they were going to wipe us out. The starwatchers took lots of photos but by the time I had slept off the missed hours they had packed and gone. I wish I knew how to contact them to see some photos, it is hard to make anyone believe just how awesome it was.

[Michael]

My most amazing moment @ Big Bend would have to be waking up on top of the Chisos, campsite # 2, walking to the rim, looking out & having all of southwest Texas & Northern Coahuila, Mexico exposed before you. The twist & tuns of the Rio Grande were visable, Mule Ears, everything. Sunsets were also special from this vantage point.

[Casa Grande]

... campsite # 2.....

 :?: which #2 are you referring to?

[Vince T]

I wish I knew how to contact them to see some photos, it is hard to make anyone believe just how awesome it was.

I feel the same way...I try to describe that to people and they just kind of go "uh huh"...but if you were there you would be going "WHOA"  "DANG" "OOOH"...it was truly amazing.

200 per minute at the max...wow...it was really something to see.
Just count to 200 in 60 seconds and you'll get an idea of how many that is!

I don't remember the dampness...but I sure do remember the cold.
Vince

[txrounder]

I don't remember the dampness

towards dawn, I laid out in my sleeping bag and got pretty wet, but wouldn have missed it for the world!

Maybe someone out there has pictures...

[Vince T]

Maybe someone out there has pictures...

Only if we're as lucky as we were that night, I bet.

Vince

[sleepy]

For me, it was driving down Glenn Springs Road with my friends (Team Stinky) after we had dropped our water near Dodson Trail for our Outer Mountain Loop hike.  We were being chased by a thunderstorm but got caught.  Hail hit the roof so hard our screams of joy and fear were drowned out.  The whole desert was covered in white and a rainbow tailed out of the clouds.  It was my friends first introduction to the park.  I told them the place was magical.

[Michael]

David asked which # 2 was I referring to. I believe it was SW # 2. It's the rim that is NOT closed due to perigrine falcon nesting at certain times of the year. I believe the one that closes is SE rim. I was on the other & if my memory serves me right that is the SW & it was site # 2.  A beutiful view, amazing.

[MJ]

late November / early December 2001 - did the Outer Mountain loop via the South Rim with my wife - we got snowed in after coming down from the South Rim and camping at the bottom of JC near the start of the Dodson - it developed in to a white out of blowing snow and about 4 inches on the ground - couldn't see more than 200 yards so I did not want to try navigating - we were mostly tent bound for 36 hours (late afternoon through the next day and night) - plenty of food and water, good gear, some books so no danger other than getting lost by trying to continue the hike in bad conditions - large tracks, what I thought were mountain lion, circled (about 100-200 yards out) the camp area - bonus is that it was my wife's first serious backcountry experience and she didn't divorce me!! - we were well and truly isolated already - the extreme conditions only heightened the sense of isolation and self-reliance - the snow was not in the forecast when we left on the hike - friends and family saw the reports and were eager to hear our story upon our return - on the way back to DFW we hit ice on the highway in Odessa - the safety and warmth of Motel 6 was never so luxurious