First weekend of March 2007

[sleepy]

Jeff, glad you made it down.  I saw you in the parking lot of PJ just after your slide.  Your nonchalant demeanor could not have masked the epic (mis)adventure anymore.  Your pants, elbows and nose, however, told a different story.  Ya'll, when he said his pants were cut to ribbons, he was being generous.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo.  Seriously, glad you are o.k.

[SHANEA]

I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo.  Seriously, glad you are o.k.

A picture is worth a thousand words :!:   Too bad he wasn't shooting a video on the way down, he might be UTUBE famous.  8)

[badknees]

Sorry to hear about yr loss (GPS). I did the hike last Saturday and have a good GPS track if you are interested.

Attached is a picture of my 10 yr old daughter in the "bowl" behind the summit, last Saturday.

[RedBuffalo]

I want to echo Jeff's "adventure."  I've been wanting to post my own, but I did want to include photos; however, I've had several photo jobs since then that have placed my BB photos to the back seat.

It's been over a week since we reached the summit and I still have two GRAPEFRUIT sized bruises on my backside to prove my efforts to the peak of the great Big Bend icon.

Jeff, I'm calling it a "slide fall" and I had three of them.  That rock slide is a monster coming down, we went from sliding steps to surfing steps to x#)$ busting steps.  I came dangerously close to kissing a cacti only to be save by a, now seriously sore, left tricep.

I'll make an officail post when my photos finally catch up.  I've got a few nice ones of my cousin, Joey, going both up and down the rock slide.

I suggest to our own "CASA GRANDE" to consider grouping all the post referencing this hike to a single post.  I know there are now several within the bbchat.

In addition, I will soon post a report on my Mule Ear Peak "saddle" summit when those photos catch up.  A summit that I would not have made without the "experience" of the Casa Grande Peak hike the day before.  

I now strongly suggest doing Casa Grande Peak prior to a MEP saddle summit.  If not for CG I would have turned back from the MEP saddle about a 1/3 of the way up.

I must say that this seems to be the year of CASA GRANDE....

[Boojum1]

I guess that's one way to make a trip memorable.  Looking back with lessons learned, what would you do different on the descent if you had a do-over?  

Great pix and story...thanks for sharing.

[RedBuffalo]

Don't know if you were addressing the "do over" question to me or Jeff.  I really don't know how to answer that one...

Maybe these photos will put things in perspective.

Going Up.






Going Down.



I did use a trekking pole going up, which offered stability in the absense of a tree or root to grab on to.  Going down that rock slide is another story.  It's basically every hiker for himself - if it works do it, if it doesn't try something else.  Work gloves are a must.

I suppose just going down slower would have worked, but you can imagine how much pressure is riding on your calves at that angle.

WL2 and Shane talked us in to this one about a month ago at a get together in Nacogdoches.  WL2 said "everyone should do it once, and I mean once."  I'm knodding in agreement.

There is; however, only one way to get this photo and that's to just do it....



For anyone interested; here is the link to the Mule Ears Peak hike the following day.  http://www.bigbendchat.com/viewtopic.php?p=33002#33002

[jeffblaylock]

Sunday morning (the 4th) was a cold one, and I quickly found the heater in my vehicle and started down the road toward Rio Grande Village. The sun rose over the Sierra del Carmen and bathed the desert with a golden light.



I found several healthy stands of blooming bluebonnets near the tunnel.



It was around 7:30 a.m. when I pulled into the Boquillas trailhead parking lot, and I was the only vehicle in sight. I made the short trek into the canyon, which I had to myself. There was no one on either side of the river. I have been greeted by the sounds of children yelling, tourists being beckoned by people from the Mexican side, donkeys braying, and musica latina on my previous trips into the canyon.



The morning sun was hours from climbing above the walls at the entrance of Boquillas Canyon. The Rio Grande burbled and gurgled its way over rocks strewn about the threshold. The only sounds in the still canyon that morning was the river and the twitter of birds circling overhead. The signs of humans -- namely, crafts from the Mexican side and a can for donations -- were scattered about the trail, but there was no sign of their keepers.



The trail split into several branches, most of which end up at this spot, a vantage point above the Rio Grande as it bends its way into Boquillas Canyon. Social paths continue to the left, but the wall closes in on it quickly. Just below this point sat an old bleach bottle with a note, partially in English and Spanish, asking for donations to buy food for the village of Boquillas. Since the informal border crossing was closed four and a half years ago, the economy there has sunk and, ironically yet predictably, illegal activity has increased.

Once I left the canyon, I went back up the main road to check out that stand of bluebonnets I saw near the Tornillo Creek bridge. A nearby arroyo was full of them!







For the finale, I trekked across the desert near Tornillo Flat searching for a unique geologic feature. Unfortunately, its precise location was stored in my GPS unit, and it was left for dead under a rock pile on the slopes of Casa Grande. I wandered around for awhile, enjoying the solitude and views of the desert mountains, but I failed to find what I was looking for. Oddly, I found something immensely smaller: a USGS marker in the middle of nowhere.



This sweeping view of the desert flats would be my last glimpse of the Chisos Mountains and will have to tide me over ... until next time.

[jeffblaylock]

]Ya'll, when he said his pants were cut to ribbons, he was being generous. I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo.

Well, here they are, moments before being cremated in a quiet, solemn ceremony where all my lost gear was mourned, whether with me or in absentia.

My sore shoulder is about the only remnant of the incident -- well, that, and my parents are still FREAKED out about it, but that's why I don't tell them in advance when I head off anywhere to hike, climb, or camp -- but man those views from up there are unforgettable .....

[chisos_muse]

:chug:    The pants are dead......Long live the pants!

I'm tellin ya someone would have purchased those things on Ebay....but I understand the ritual and respect it. :D

I'm just glad that you're ok, despite the shoulder, and really enjoyed the dinner. :D

[homerboy2u]

Best use of shorts i have ever seen on the net =D>

[SHANEA]

parents are still FREAKED out about it,

When people, parents, friends, etc. tell me I'm crazy, etc. - I tell them that I'd rather die on an Adventure having a good time rather than having a massive heart attack at my desk at work or dying a slow death in a nursing home.

[BigBendHiker]

Whoa!  Those were ripped up pretty good.  :shock:


Agree with your comments, Shanea.  Far better to leave this world hiking or exploring in BIBE than to exit while wasting away in a nursing home or at one's desk at work...

 

BBH

[Casa Grande]

wow, I can't believe I missed this post....well, I'm glad you only lost your GPS and coordinates....a real blessing if you ask me. I know exactly where you fell and HOW you fell.  It is very easy to do.  I took a bit of a tumble myself and luckily managed to stop myself pretty quickly so it was a non-event.

Glad to see you made it back alive Jeff.  That could have been a very bad situation.

[jeffblaylock]

I guess that's one way to make a trip memorable.  Looking back with lessons learned, what would you do different on the descent if you had a do-over? 

Great pix and story...thanks for sharing.

I pulled this thread up so I could link to it from elsewhere, and I realized I hadn't ever addressed Boojum's question.

I'd definitely stay as far to the right of the scree slope (as you're looking down it) as possible. It is so difficult to keep visual perspective because of the angles involved (and only RedBuffalo's 2nd photo even comes close to depicting the steepness of the slope) that it becomes easy to get off track. I was pretty much on my hands and knees coming up so I didn't pay close enough attention to little landmarks that I could see from above. Anyway, that's one.

Two is, I'd take larger steps on the descent. This seems counter-intuitive, but the tentative short steps I took only seemed to encourage the rocks to shift underneath me, since my weight remained on top of them. Stepping more briskly would've kept my weight going forward. At least, that's what the moutaineers I've talked to since say.

Three is, I'd take someone else with me. This is really not a trip for soloists, and I don't recommend anyone do this alone. Too many things can go wrong, and there's no one coming to help you since so few folks go up and down this peak.

Four is, I'd get an even earlier start or make sure I had no other plans for later in the afternoon. I was not able to explore the summit bowl fully, which is clear from the photo set. Picture me looking at them and saying, "Why the hell didn't you climb up to that point and shoot from there?" and doing that several times.

And finally five is, I now clip my GPS to my shoulder harness. Since it's always right below my chin, the chances of accidental separation are much less.