Just got back from the bend today after having arrived in the park on 5/3, and let me start out by saying that it was TOO SHORT of a trip!!! It was more expensive for me than it normally is, so that was a negative. Not the park's fault, it was my own stupidity. Let's start at the beginning:
3:30 a.m. 5/3... Wake up early to go in to work early to possibly leave @ the same time as I normally do since I would be taking an extended lunch that day to take my Accounting II final... Going through the motions @ work, work queue was actually low, asked for a 1/2 day so I could just go to "lunch" to take my final and then take off from there to the bend... Approved...
Go to take final, final was difficult and took about 1 hour more than I thought it would, so I don't hit the road 'till about 12:30. Leave directly from UTSA's parking garage to I10 to 410 and then to 90 (shorter and the last stretch is 80 mph or so and at my earlier calculations, I would make it just before 6 p.m. if I "tried" where going on I10 alone I would fall short on time.
I don't want to go into detail, but no animals were harmed or killed during the journey, except for some bugs... My wallet was hurt, however, when I was zapped somewhere before Del Rio for going 100 in an 80. Long story short is that I ended up making it to PJ at EXACTLY 6 p.m. to secure my camping permit after being ticketed and THEN told by the officer to "be careful making it to the visitor center on time". Second part of this paragraph is to request anyone who can pull any strings in the ticket department to contact me via PM. :)
I know I deserve what I got, so don't scold me, please! Plus I didn't endanger anyone but myself for the majority of my stupid actions. In fact, I slowed to the speed limit and then passed people at a reasonable speed when necessary. Anyway, I parked in the basin, basically changed shirts in the parking lot real quick, and took my already prepared gear (extra thanks to UTSA for the free use of an overnighter backpack), and I took off up Pinnacles.
Got to my first stop pretty uneventfully and set up my new tent for the first time in a few moments, but didn't stake it down as well as I should have the first night so it flapped every now and then and made me wonder what was outside. I was kinda jumpy all night since I'd never slept up there in a tent, and I kept having the feeling that I'd have a bear encounter... Anyway, there are a ton of pics of the tent in action because I love the tent. It was perfect! I can't say enough good things about it. Staked properly, it was rock solid even in pretty windy ominous conditions the following night when it did rain on me.
Next day did Emory Peak and found that my cell phone works up there (later found that Sprint now works in Terlingua, too, although both are "roaming" type connections), and I also found out that squirrels are as large as small house cats on Emory Peak. Put my company jersey shirt on and took some self portraits (none included in below link but I may put some up since they are super funny), relaxed, and went back down to the bear box to get my bag and some water which I'd failed to carry along for my 1.4 mile hike up EP in favor of carrying my lenses and tripod.
Ran into some super cool guys doing a documentary on the Colima Warbler. They had REAL recording equipment. They had cameras that would be used in studios. SUPER big, SUPER heavy cameras. There is a picture of a pack on the trail. Use your imagination. To fill in the blanks, though, the pack was later claimed by these individuals, but it was temporarily shelved where I'd photographed it due to hike-nical difficulties.
Cinco de Mayo I left the BC4 campsite and headed back down the same way I went up. I was going to do South Rim, but the earlier rain and threat of additional rain and also something in my gut told me to go back the way I went. I saw a whiptail snake on the way down, and that was cool since it was heard first, spotted later. It rattled its tail at me in the fallen leaf debris! I'd never had that happen before, so I was really impressed. Took pics, then whipped out the camcorder as a jay flew up ahead of the snake. Filming the jay, whiptail whips right by the bird, bird looks mildly confused, and leaves after snake flies by... All on film. I'll make a youtube and post it as soon as I can figure out how to do so.
Get back after a break where I killed off the last drops of water on the bench at the 1 mile mark from the basin. Walk down thinking it would be easy enough to get a room for the night, but I was wrong. Drive to Terlingua's Motor Inn and stayed there. Aside from the scorpion on the bathroom and the 1/2 inch gap along the bottom of the door beckoning for more scorpions to come in, the room was perfect. Plus I went to Starlight w/some friends, and then hit Kiva afterward w/them, so staying in Terlingua was not such a bad thing to do after all.
Last night was different, though. I wanted to stay in the basin 'cause of all the bear sightings. I had a feeling I would have a bear encounter... I went to get my room, found out I got the very last room... A stone cottage... That was close! Went to take a long animal seeking drive, but took a detour almost immediately into the campground. I'd talked to a ranger earlier in the day (Rob Dean, thank you Rock 'n Roll Rob!) who gave me some clearer instructions on how to get to "sewage lagoon".
Turns out that place is pretty awesome! I can't imagine it would be a pleasant area to be around during the summer for obvious reasons, but it was cool, misting, and therefore relatively pleasant. The walk was great, especially being paved and relatively level after having come down from South Rim's beating... I had barely approached the sewage facility itself when I decided to stop and look at my cam to make sure the settings were good to go... then... up pops a LARGE black head not more than 50 feet away from me!
I got some bear pictures, and just like that it was gone. Went back to the lodge's restaurant and despite my stiffness I HAD to walk back to the car to grab my cam and switch to my smaller "normal" lens. The sunset was STUNNING. My pics will not even begin to do it justice. Here's a link to all of the pics:
http://web.mac.com/stingrey/Enjoy!
P.S. Found out while I was @ BB Motor Inn that I'd passed my final with a high enough score to pass accounting w/a C!!! That means it was good enough to not have to reimburse my company for it! Long story short, now I can pay the ticket that I also earned! :) I only wish I could've taken a picture of the trooper's face when I tried to argue "But officer I COULDN'T have been doing 100... I set the cruise control on 99!" :) We both laughed, but he still gave me the ticket. Guess it wasn't as good of a joke as I thought it was.
