What is Your Most Amazing Moment in Big Bend?

[01ACRViper]

Leaving the park some years back, I was on the straight stretch headed toward Marathon when I saw something ahead that I couldnt quite wrap my mind around, very large and getting larger. Eventually grasping the fact that it was a plane flat low on the deck,(now Very Large!) I was about to hit the brakes when it nosed straight up and disappeared as I realized it was a "Warthog" playing war games -with my jeep as target. shoot, I thought- I just got "all blowed up".


But.... the Leonids Meteor shower a few years ago was truly the most awesome ever. All lights out in the Basin Campground, as they swarmed in at over 200/min at the peak(the astronomy group from Dallas was counting!). Stayed up the entire night until they  faded out in the early dawn light. Every half hour or so there would be a huge boloid-some red, some green that would dissapear behind the mts looking like it impacted, and you couldnt help but wait and listen for an explosion that never came!!

my favorite military aircraft

the sound of the canon firing : :shock:  :twisted:

[txrounder]

...mine fav also. Pilot was lucky...Ma & Pa RV'er would probably have filed a complaint. (he was waaaaay below minimum flight level) I just thought it was waaaaay cool. By the time I pulled over and jumped out to get a look he was looong gone- but not forgotten!

[SHANEA]

Probably doing a recon like in the movie Andromeada Strain....

[sportsman500rse]

but I'm sure others in the Basin saw it.

It was about 1985 I believe, camping in the basin with me future wife, brother, and sister in law.

Before dusk a massive thunderstorm passed over the basin from west to east and forced us to take refuge in the tent. It was a whopper, but only last a short time.

As the rain let up, we began to peer out the tent and assess the situation. What we saw was the basin still in over cast light but clearing to the west just as the sun beginning to set. As you know this usually casts an incredible alpinglow upon Casa grande. Indeed Casa grande was lit up with a beautiful warm red light! Above Casa grande was full arching rainbow, framing the mountain perfectly from our vantage point.

As if that wasn't enough, while all four of us were transfixed on this grandiose view the thunderstorm behind Casa Grande arched a huge horizontal bolt of lighting whithin the Rainbow's arch!

To this day it was the most incredible sight I've seen in nature anywhere, not just in Big Bend. I've got a lot more stories from my 30 years spent exploring the trans pecos and Big Bend. I'll share those at a later date.

Sportsman500rse

[Casa Grande]

but I'm sure others in the Basin saw it.

It was about 1985 I believe, camping in the basin with me future wife, brother, and sister in law.

Before dusk a massive thunderstorm passed over the basin from west to east and forced us to take refuge in the tent. It was a whopper, but only last a short time.

As the rain let up, we began to peer out the tent and assess the situation. What we saw was the basin still in over cast light but clearing to the west just as the sun beginning to set. As you know this usually casts an incredible alpinglow upon Casa grande. Indeed Casa grande was lit up with a beautiful warm red light! Above Casa grande was full arching rainbow, framing the mountain perfectly from our vantage point.

As if that wasn't enough, while all four of us were transfixed on this grandiose view the thunderstorm behind Casa Grande arched a huge horizontal bolt of lighting whithin the Rainbow's arch!

To this day it was the most incredible sight I've seen in nature anywhere, not just in Big Bend. I've got a lot more stories from my 30 years spent exploring the trans pecos and Big Bend. I'll share those at a later date.


Sportsman500rse

sweet!  looking forward to more!  welcome aboard :!:

[siegfried]

Constantly amazed by the colors in the desert

[Buck]

Every time I go back to the Big Bend I look forward to some new magic moment.  I’m usually rewarded with one, though they are seldom alike.  It’s difficult to choose a favorite from among them.  In this regard I suppose those memories are like old loves.  Each one is special, but different – unique in its own way.  At this sitting, one in particular stands out in my mind.  

Around 1995 I had been in the habit for several years of making solo pilgrimages to the park, usually in the middle of summer, where I would vehicle camp along the Old Ore Road.  I just liked the heat and the solitude, the first usually resulting in the latter.  On this particular trip I arrived at the bluff overlooking McKinney Springs right around sundown.  If you're heading south, just before you drop down into the drainage where the campsites are located, there is a nice spot of gravel on the right where you can pull over to take in the view.  An isolated thunderstorm had parked itself north up towards Alpine, and periodic bolts of lightening illuminated the dark blue almost black bottoms of the clouds while the setting sun lit up the puffy tops.  It was a spectacular sight, especially looking from the bluff across the black peaks and Tornillo Creek drainage towards the distant Rosillos Mountains.  It was perfectly quiet, and not a light could be seen except for those produced by nature.  I crawled on top of my old Suburban and laid back to watch the glowing throbs of lightening replace the colored popcorn cloud tops before the sun completely disappeared below the western horizon.  At some point I sat up and looked over my shoulder just in time to see the Sierra del Carmen slowly give birth to a full, summer moon as the glow of lightening softly lit up the ground around me.  The moment was like a first kiss.

[Casa Grande]

Every time I go back to the Big Bend I look forward to some new magic moment.  I’m usually rewarded with one, though they are seldom alike.  It’s difficult to choose a favorite from among them.  In this regard I suppose those memories are like old loves.  Each one is special, but different – unique in its own way.  At this sitting, one in particular stands out in my mind.  

Around 1995 I had been in the habit for several years of making solo pilgrimages to the park, usually in the middle of summer, where I would vehicle camp along the Old Ore Road.  I just liked the heat and the solitude, the first usually resulting in the latter.  On this particular trip I arrived at the bluff overlooking McKinney Springs right around sundown.  If you're heading south, just before you drop down into the drainage where the campsites are located, there is a nice spot of gravel on the right where you can pull over to take in the view.  An isolated thunderstorm had parked itself north up towards Alpine, and periodic bolts of lightening illuminated the dark blue almost black bottoms of the clouds while the setting sun lit up the puffy tops.  It was a spectacular sight, especially looking from the bluff across the black peaks and Tornillo Creek drainage towards the distant Rosillos Mountains.  It was perfectly quiet, and not a light could be seen except for those produced by nature.  I crawled on top of my old Suburban and laid back to watch the glowing throbs of lightening replace the colored popcorn cloud tops before the sun completely disappeared below the western horizon.  At some point I sat up and looked over my shoulder just in time to see the Sierra del Carmen slowly give birth to a full, summer moon as the glow of lightening softly lit up the ground around me.  The moment was like a first kiss.

excellent, Buck!  I, too, have seen exactly what you have described and in the exact same spot. Just replace the t-storm to over the chisos.....one of my favorite spots in the park :D

[homerboy2u]

Sigfried....... I envy you. I have some shots of Sierra Del Carmen ,of my own to share. Will upload soon.

[Buck]

That's cool, David.  Here is a photo from that very site:

[Buck]

...and one of another moonrise from, I think, the same spot:

[Casa Grande]

...and one of another moonrise from, I think, the same spot:

that is fantabulous!   =D>

here's a pic of me and the chisos from that spot back in July 2003:

[Picacho]

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.

[randell]

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.

Your camera is probably with the roll of film I lost while coming down from  Emory Peak.  Had some great photos on that roll of film.

[BigBendHiker]

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