Big Bend - 11/28 - 12/1 2011

[SA Bill]

It was a rather short trip but it was definitely nice to get back to BB after my 2 year absence! I'll have a write up of the experiences in a day or two.

For now, some pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49833808@N00/sets/72157628263935345
   Bill

[SA Bill]

Here's the trip report:

After not making a trip to BB for two years, I managed to get back for a few days this week. No real agenda other than to recharge the body and soul in such a wonderful place. Off the cuff plans were  1. Check out the hike to and past Mules Ears spring in preparation for a possible backpack trip to Black Rock Canyon next spring and  2. A climb Emory just for old times sake before my knees give out. Results: Check off number 1. Keep number 2 on the list.

Sunday 11/27/11  Spent the day finding, organizing and packing.

Monday 11/28/11  Drove to BB via Highway 90 from San Antonio. Arrived in the Basin campground to find that the site I thought I had booked (41) has changed to 21 in the new camp site layout. So instead of the nice site at the top of a hill with lots of room and a shade cover, I'm actually booked in a site further down the hill with lots less room and no cover. Bummer. I talked to the Camp Host and arranged to stay 3 nights in the site I wanted since the next reservation for the site called for the campers to arrive on 12/1. Camp was established, dinner was eaten and when the sun went down, stars were observed. I attempted lots of star pictures that night because it was so clear and there was no wind. I finally went to sleep way after midnight.

Tuesday 11/29/11  Stayed in the two sleeping bags as long as I could trying to stay warm. Finally got up about 8:15am and set about repairing the folding chair I had brought. One of the rivets that holds the back of the chair to the arm had somehow broken making the chair wobbly and dangerous to sit in. I managed a repair using a tent stake as a replacement for the broken rivet. After that, I headed out to reconnoiter out past Mule Ears spring. On the way down from the Basin, the Check Engine Light came on. Uh oh. Not what you want to see when driving an 8+ year old vehicle with 108,000+ miles on it 400 miles from home and an expensive tow away from any dealer. A quick Google check showed it to probably be a sensor problem. Not critical but worth keeping an eye on. I went on out to the Mule Ears Overlook and proceeded to hike on out to the spring. There was a decent amount of water flowing which is pretty cool to see out in the desert. I had read that there is a good overlook area about a mile past the springs so after a cursory check of the spring I continued on. I reached the overlook area after just over 3 miles of hiking. GPS put the elevation gain at 1027'. It is a very nice area and I would add it to the list of good hikes for a lunch trip. I spent some time taking in the scenery and taking pictures before heading back. All told, I spent about 4 hours on the hike. I was pleasantly surprised how well my body handled this hike. I had done very little in the way of actual conditioning for this trip but I wasn't even sore this day...or the next. By 5pm I was back in camp preparing for another cold (for me...39°) night. While having a snack of low-fat Nilla Wafers around 10pm, a fox came trotting by to see what I was doing. This guy was obviously used to being fed by humans. He went over to the side of the camp site and just sat there looking at me. I had on my red headlamp so I could see him and his eyes glowed bright red when he looked at me. He stayed there for at least 10 minutes. At that point, to check my theory that he was waiting for food, I tossed a small piece of a toothpick out into the space between us. Sure enough, he rushed out to get his "treat". He wasn't thrilled about my offering and quickly ventured off to see if somebody else would be more forthcoming with food. Other than this fox, I saw no other wildlife to speak of. No skunks. No bears. Not even any pecarries. I did have a roadrunner pose for me which was pretty nice. All in all a very quiet trip animal-wise.

Wednesday 11/30/11  I managed to sleep in a little and was greeted by a helicopter circling the S end of the Basin before heading off into the direction of Mexico. Kinda strange. I lazed around most of the day reading a good book I had brought. I had thought about hiking up Emory Thursday but the car situation, and troublesome sleeping in the cold, made me reconsider. I figured I'd head home a day early in case the car acted up in any way. That way I'd have a week day to deal with it if anything did happen. Soooo...I decided to hike out to Balanced Rock at sunset to see if there were any photo ops as the light changed. With that decided, I wussed out and went up to the Lodge and got a room for the night. Figured a shower and a good night's sleep would be good after the Grapevine Hills hike. No problem getting a room; there weren't that many folks in the park. Rate was $111.00/ night last time I got a room. $130.00 this time. Not cheap but after the last two fitful nights sleep, I figured it was worth it. At 4pm I headed out to go to Grapevine Hills, all the while keeping an eye on the car and hoping it did okay. By 4:45pm I was hiking in. Spent an hour taking lots of pictures before returning to the car to drive the unimproved road out in the dark. Thankfully, no car issues. Made it back to the Basin by 7:15pm and treated myself to dinner at the Lodge...Tortellini with meatballs in marinara sauce. It was pretty good...or I was very hungry...probably both. After dinner I checked out the sky one more time before settling in to read (the book was getting good) before going to sleep in the room.

Thursday 12/1/11  After a decent nights sleep, I packed everything in the car, gassed up at Panther Junction and headed for home. I was home by 4pm.

All in all, not a bad return even though I only had two full days in the park. Hopefully next spring I'll be able to spend 4-5 days in BB and do an overnight backpack trip to Black Rock Canyon. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do that with no problem if I put in some hours on the treadmill between now and March.

Anyway, not much of a trip report but it is what it is. Thanks for reading! Link to pics in the first post of this thread.
  Bill

[TexasAggieHiker]

Sounds like an excellent recharge.
 

[Sotol Vista]

fun times!!!! that fox story is pretty funny, I bet its the same one that was snooping around our camp site in October.

James

[stingrey]

Awesome trip report! Sounds like it was a bit chilly, glad you took two bags at least or it may have been REALLY cold! Were you on a cot in the tent? Did you use a pad of any sort, and if you did, did it at least make the ground seem warm to you?

On the fox... I bet it was! I didn't see the super long tailed fox this last time we were there, but we did see the regular tailed fox. It was definitely cruisin' for cookies. AND the skunks managed to get into no less than two tents while we were there. In one case we KNOW the skunk succeeded in grabbing a quick bite (a cliff bar) from inside the unsuspecting camper's zipped backpack after unzipping the tent itself!

[SA Bill]

Sounds like an excellent recharge.
 

It was, TAH!
  Bill

[SA Bill]

fun times!!!! that fox story is pretty funny, I bet its the same one that was snooping around our camp site in October.

James

That fox was obviously used to getting food from humans. I'll bet it prowls the camp ground every night.
  Bill

[mule ears]

Sounds like a good but short trip.  I think you will really like the backpack out to Black Rock canyon next spring.  Glad you made it back.

[Homer67]

Great photos!  I love the Mule Ears area!  There is a very nice camp spot about a half mile past the spring.  There is a large retangluar cairn marking the trail that leads about 70 yds from the main trail.  I call it "The Spot," the first place I camped in big Bend:

Mule Ears Spot Pano by SuperHomer67, on Flickr

We usually hit Mule Ears on each trip, and I regret that we didn't on our most recent.

Your photos of the Milky way are very cool!
Great Report!

Homer

[SA Bill]

Awesome trip report! Sounds like it was a bit chilly, glad you took two bags at least or it may have been REALLY cold! Were you on a cot in the tent? Did you use a pad of any sort, and if you did, did it at least make the ground seem warm to you?

On the fox... I bet it was! I didn't see the super long tailed fox this last time we were there, but we did see the regular tailed fox. It was definitely cruisin' for cookies. AND the skunks managed to get into no less than two tents while we were there. In one case we KNOW the skunk succeeded in grabbing a quick bite (a cliff bar) from inside the unsuspecting camper's zipped backpack after unzipping the tent itself!

I was on an aerobed blow up mattress which definitely does not help with staying warm. But...I put an insulating pad under the aerobed (might have helped a little) and I also put a 3rd, doubled up, lightweight sleeping bag on top of the aerobed (under the two bags I was in) which probably helped more than the pad. I also wore a heavy fleece hoody as a mid layer with a very heavy down parka as my outer layer as I slept inside the two sleeping bags. Had thick fleece sweat pants on the second night. All in all, kinda uncomfortable with all of the clothes on inside two bags. And still barely warm enough for me. I survived...that's what counts!

I didn't see any skunks but I could smell one around my camp. I've had one walk through my tent when I got out "for a minute" and didn't zip the door up. I knew enough to not have any food in the tent so he walked through and left pretty quickly. A Ranger had told us about the skunks opening tent zippers so I always zip to the top of the door. Gotta keep the wildlife wild!
  Bill

[elhombre]

Glad you had a nice trip out there.  I would suggest that anyone who goes on car trips off the beaten path buy one of these:  http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP9125-PocketScan-Code-Reader/dp/B0007LEG2K.  It will tell you why the car has set the "Check Engine Light" so that you know how immidiate the problem needs to be dealt with.  It could have been as simple as the gas cap not being tighten down all the way. 

[SA Bill]

Glad you had a nice trip out there.  I would suggest that anyone who goes on car trips off the beaten path buy one of these:  http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP9125-PocketScan-Code-Reader/dp/B0007LEG2K.  It will tell you why the car has set the "Check Engine Light" so that you know how immidiate the problem needs to be dealt with.  It could have been as simple as the gas cap not being tighten down all the way.

Thanks elhombre!
The PT Cruiser will call up the codes for you by cycling the key through the off/on positions. Using the number it showed, I was able to Google and see that it was a fuel mixture error. Further Googling found that the most likely cause is a dirty/failing O2 sensor. Soooo...I was pretty sure it wasn't a major issue. I know what you mean about the gas cap! I had one go bad a couple of years ago. Tried several other things unsuccessfully before I replaced the gas cap to fix the problem for good. It's the little things that sometimes mean a lot!
   Bill

[homerboy2u]

I was on an aerobed blow up mattress which definitely does not help with staying warm. But...I put an insulating pad under the aerobed (might have helped a little) and I also put a 3rd, doubled up, lightweight sleeping bag on top of the aerobed (under the two bags I was in) which probably helped more than the pad. I also wore a heavy fleece hoody as a mid layer with a very heavy down parka as my outer layer as I slept inside the two sleeping bags. Had thick fleece sweat pants on the second night. All in all, kinda uncomfortable with all of the clothes on inside two bags. And still barely warm enough for me. I survived...that's what counts!
  Bill

  What impresses me, is the fact that you piled up all these gear and you were still BARELY WARM?...... .  You never went for the warm water inside of the Coke Bottle technique. We picked that up here....

  And you like to stay in Holiday Inn's.....

[stingrey]

If you can't stop the cold from coming up from the ground level, the whole setup will be colder than normal. That's what I think anyway, and that's why I was curious about the setup. I think the last few times I've gotten the formula right 'cause I'm using the right pad. Even against the ground, the insulated pads are key to staying warm. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think staying warm starts from the ground up! :)

[Robert]

If you can't stop the cold from coming up from the ground level, the whole setup will be colder than normal.

The few times I've slept on one of those inflatable mattresses in the cold, it felt like I was sleeping on a block of ice. I was wondering how you could be so cold at 39 degrees with 2 bags. I think we found the reason. Unless you were in a summer bag you should have been plenty warm in just one bag.