Roadside park lat/long needed

[optique]

There is a roadside park on 385 N of Marathon about 10mi, I think. I need lat/long.

There is a historical marker there too.

Anyone know about this one?

(I had no luck on the online maps)

Interesting site because there was a herd of Bison there, as well as being in the middle of a miles long prairie dog colony.

thanks.
steve.

[Sotol Vista]

I think this is it. I stopped here to take a nap leaving the bend one time and had Border Patrol stop and check me out. Darn guys woke me up from a perfectly good nap



30.327810° -103.102147°

James

[Terlingua50337]

Probably the Bruce Ranch buffs. Did they look anything like these?

[optique]

@James, I recall the terrain to the west of the rest stop looking differently. Plus, didn't the stop have a covered picnic structure there, along with a historical marker? I don't see that in the map.

@Terlingua, those could be the buffs. I will have to google the ranch; maybe that will give me a clue as to the lat long of the rest stop.

Thanks to all for you efforts. I just may be "forced" to make another trip!

[fartymarty]

optique,

 I agree that the spot James (SV) lat/longed isn't it, as Google seems to have street viewed the whole highway. I looked (see attachment) and there is nothing there (Sorry about your nap SV. ). I found a roadside pullover (trash can but no marker) about 1.5 miles north of the hwy intersection and a real roadside park 26 miles up the road in the Glass Mountains with a loop road.

 optique could you give as many details as you can remember? Was this on the east/southeast side of th hwy or the west/northwest side? Was it just a wide shoulder with a marker along a fence where the bison happened to be or where they confined there in a smaller enclosure.

 I've looked here but I can find no markers along the Hwy in either Brewster or Pecos counties. The website isn't the fastest or easiest to navigate through so I might have missed it.

Like I said it appears that Google has photographed the whole section of hwy between Marathon and Fort Stockton so tedious patience may be the key. (It might also help if I knew what a miles long prairie dog colony looked like in a satellite view. )
Thanks for the puzzle.

[catz]

There is an historical marker located on 385, 12 miles from Marathon, "in a roadside park area".  But it's south of town, not north.  Could that be it?

The marker is for "Los Caballos", a highly deformed band of rocks.

[catz]

Anyway, in case this is it, these are the coordinates (I think):

UTM Zone: 13
UTM Easting: 666349
UTM Northing: 3327198

[RichardM]

Anyway, in case this is it, these are the coordinates (I think):

UTM Zone: 13
UTM Easting: 666349
UTM Northing: 3327198

And here's the

[Robert]

I only remember two roadside parks between Ft. Stockton and the park. The bigger one up on the "mountain" before Marathon and the smaller one south of Marathon. I agree that it sounds like the smaller one.

[Terlingua50337]

I came up on the roadside park Richard is talking about early one morning in April 2007 heading into the Bend. There was a little car, a Volkswagon if I remember right, with 4 people standing on the road looking at the steam still coming out from under the hood and a dead mule deer. Being the Good Sam I stopped and loaded them and their gear in the bed of my truck. I took them to Panther Junction and that was the last I saw of them. When I came out two days later the car and deer were gone. I remember a couple of the kids being from Austin and one from Minnesota.

[optique]

optique,

 I agree that the spot James (SV) lat/longed isn't it, as Google seems to have street viewed the whole highway. I looked (see attachment) and there is nothing there (Sorry about your nap SV. ). I found a roadside pullover (trash can but no marker) about 1.5 miles north of the hwy intersection and a real roadside park 26 miles up the road in the Glass Mountains with a loop road.

 optique could you give as many details as you can remember? Was this on the east/southeast side of th hwy or the west/northwest side? Was it just a wide shoulder with a marker along a fence where the bison happened to be or where they confined there in a smaller enclosure.

 I've looked here but I can find no markers along the Hwy in either Brewster or Pecos counties. The website isn't the fastest or easiest to navigate through so I might have missed it.

Like I said it appears that Google has photographed the whole section of hwy between Marathon and Fort Stockton so tedious patience may be the key. (It might also help if I knew what a miles long prairie dog colony looked like in a satellite view. )
Thanks for the puzzle.

Farty,

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the lateness of my response.

As I recall, the roadside park was on the West side of 385N. I recall a nice wide parking area, well off the road. The bison were on the West side of the road also and were not in a pen. Funny you mention that because I thought Bison, like Long Horns, could jump an ordinary barb wire fence.

 I appreciate your help on this, but no worry since I WILL RETURN.

Here are my notes from the visit, excuse my grammer!

I parked near a historic marker  and crossed a barb wire fence onto private land and crossed rough slightly rolling heavily vegetated land, and climbed up a low ridge, that was once on the bottom of deep ocean. The ridge was topped by gleaming white Novaculite, the same stuff that Arkansas grind stones are made from. [I collected samples of Novaculite and other rocks of greenish color, very pretty!]

When I returned to my car to recover from the 100 degree hike, I noticed some animals on the road. They turned out to be prairie dogs. In fact, I was on the edge of a colony that stretched miles to the South. Overhead I spotted a raptor or two, hovering/patrolling over the colony. To make this place even more bizzare, I saw large black animals maybe 500 yards off the road. I thought they were cows, but as I watched, a group walked towards me, and I realized they were American Bison!

End of notes.

[fartymarty]

optique,

Right now I'm thinking that it is the one in the glass mountains about 26 miles north of Marathon. I'm headed that way shortly so I'll keep an eye out and take pictures. I'll report back in about 10 days or so.

[optique]

Hi,

Here is a photo of the site I was trying to get lat long on. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2542/3988674519_eac18a1c67_b.jpg

Been trying to post a url link to a flickr photo but plagued with problems.

Thanks to all.
Steve.

[fartymarty]

optique,

Right now I'm thinking that it is the one in the glass mountains about 26 miles north of Marathon. I'm headed that way shortly so I'll keep an eye out and take pictures. I'll report back in about 10 days or so.

Well that was wrong!

I recently stopped by both of these roadsides to get to the bottom of this. The one north of Marathon in the glass mountains is called Warnock Park. A very nice little park, however it's not the one you're looking for.

From your picture it appears that catscats and RichardM have located the park that you seek. lat. 30.066613 long. -103.274315

The photo (optique, you are such a trespasser ) as approximated in Google Earth seems to be about here: lat. 30.068057 long. -103.279837







I went to the other side of the road, there were no Bison around and I couldn't find any evidence of prairie dogs either. Perhaps the the rancher poisons them when he isn't out shooting trespassers?

[optique]

Marty

You are quite the detective.

I think you have the location right. I remember seeing dirt roads that roughly paralleled 385 on the West side of the road, and sure enough, those roads are visible in the satellite images. Seems like the distance between the park and ridge is somewhere around 2500ft, but it seemed further.

About tresspassing, I got punished for it. I was foolish enough to wear short pants on my hike. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. Stupid, I know. ) After being scratched and impaled a hundred times, my legs were literally dripping with blood. When I got back to the Basin lodge, they "stared" at me!  Months afterward, I still have scabs.

Now I am wondering if I saw the prairie dogs and bison at a different location. I admit doing my notes after I got back.

Thanks so much for your effort. I can't wait to return. This time I have a new Garmin 60csx, and i will definitely take better notes. I am a film photographer, but geotagging digi photos seems like a handy thing. I am curious about the Delorme PN-40 also, for its mapping ability.

What I thought would be cool, would be Points of Interest (POI file) in the Big Bend on the GPSr. Something like all roadside parks, historical markers, peaks over 5k. I know there could be hundreds of POI's possible.

Have a good day
Steve.