Here are all the details....
SATURDAY
After driving to Ozona on Friday, at 8am we were on the road again, arriving at Panther Junction at lunch. We decided on the drive that we would each have "Big Bend" names while on the trip. I would be Santiago (the name of a nearby mountain that my great-great grandfather owned), Mary Jo would be Mesquite (miss cute), and the boys would be Fire and Ghost (self-selected names). The boys loved being Fire and Ghost. We arrived at Persimmon Gap and got our map and park paper. I was thrilled to show the boys the three photos of me that appeared in the paper from my previous trips.
We got permits to the Slickrock backcountry zone and Terlingua Abajo the following night and drove out to an ancient volcanic dike a few miles past the turnoff to Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. I chose this spot on Google Earth while trying to find a location to go backpacking with the kids in the backcountry. Most hikes on regular trails are too long for the kids and I wanted a location that was fairly flat and did not have too much shrubbery to fight our way through. I also had to be able to access the starting point in our van. Many good spots are down dirt roads that are too dicey for low clearance two wheel drive vehicles. After I chose this spot I searched on the board and it so happens this is the same spot backnees and little good knees explored in August.
We ate lunch at the car and I gave the boys their "secret agent" gear. We told them we were here on a secret mission to find cool stuff and gave them some telescope/microscope/magnifying glass/compass gadgets to go with their mini camelbacks. It was easy going but the kids both had some encounters with cactus. They quickly learned what to avoid and were having too much fun to be bothered much. Our hike took us through a wonderland of "rainbow rock" as the kids called the hills of ancient volcanic ash. They found many "space rocks" that they inspected with their spy tools.
Fire climbed a small hill of ash and was standing on top looking around at distant wonders when he decided the easiest way down was to slide on his bottom. He was right. Ghost followed suit after I chased him to the top of the hill. After watching the two boys go down, I had no choice, I slid down the roller coaster ride in the desert.
We continued down the wash for about a mile of twisting and turning. We stopped to rest in some shade and while Mesquite did some yoga to stretch out, the boys snuck to the top of the ridge above her and started bombing her with dirt clots, disrupting her chi. After we had had enough hiking with the packs we scouted out a location for the tent that was up out of the wash. We found a spot with a grand view of the Chisos Mountains.
I had wanted to make it to a placed called Tinaja Spring and beyond to Rough Run creek, but we were not carrying the packs anymore. So we set camp and went for a hike to Tinaja Spring. It proved to be more fantastic than I had thought from scouting it out on satellite images. There was a narrow window that emptied to a 40 foot drop-off and a tinaja at the bottom. Looking into the distance leading away from the tinaja was a wash that still had water from recent rains. We started back towards to camp as the boys sang John Denver songs on the "secret agent" walkee talkees and corrected each other when they forgot each other's Big Bend names: Fire and Ghost.
The boys had recently been watching National Geographic dinosaur movies and were intrigued by archaeologists and bones (plus they were hoping to see a mountain lion). On our hike we found a hoof and two bones from a deer. This lead to much debate on how the deer had died, if the archeologists needed to see the bones and whether or not we should hide and wait for the mountain lion to return. Ghost had the bones in his hands and was ready to report the find. Ultimately it was decided to just take a photo and leave the bones.
Back at camp we cooked dinner as the boys played with the toy they chose to bring, two monster trucks each. The boys explored some more and at one point Mesquite sat in an ant bed. Not fire ants but large red ants. She then literally had ants-in-her-pants. Judging by how much she jumped around, it must have hurt. We ate dinner and cleaned up and somehow another ant found Mesquite. She screamed and jumped around claiming it felt like getting an epidural.
After some anti-sting lotion we settled down and watched the amazing sunset that unfolded in front of us. The first star appeared and the boys spontaneously started singing "twinkle twinkle little star". We saw a satellite that Fire thought was a shooting star and he wished for a purple rock.
SUNDAY
I woke up before dawn and marveled at the changing colors of the sunrise. Fire was next up. He quickly dressed and went exploring. He climbed up on the volcanic dike behind our tent and called everyone up to look. On the other side was a whole new wonderland of desert badlands and Santa Elena Canyon beyond. We took some playful photos and a family photo and explored the dike. The boys went to playing Fire’s game of tossing rocks off of the dike and saying “this is what would happen if I jumped off here” and watching the rocks tumble down the hill.
Finally when the sun was well above the Chisos Mountains, we returned to camp to eat breakfast and pack up. The boys job was to make the campsite look like we had never been there because, after all, we were on a “secret mission”.
Rather than retracing our steps through the wash where there were a lot of distractions for the kids, we stuck to the top of the dike to make a quick exit. We had more exploring to do!
After reaching the car we went to the gas station near Panther Junction for some cold drinks and more ice for the cooler. We drove down to the Hot Springs hoping to soak in the water but it was overflowed by the Rio Grande due to the water release from dams in Mexico. I had thought this would happen but decided to go check it out anyway. The boys really got a kick out of playing fort in the stone ruins at the Hot Springs.
We headed into the Basin and ate a picnic lunch while enjoying the views of Casa Grande and the Window. While examining the mountain lion replica in the ranger station we spied a roadrunner that came up to about four feet from the window and stood on a rock while the boys marveled at him.
We drove down to Santa Elena Canyon and found that Terlingua Creek was so high that nobody was able to make it to the opposite shore to take the trail up into the canyon. One couple in sandals eventually made it and a small group of onlookers cheered as they climbed up on the opposite shore. Our boys, being boys, decided it was time for a mud fight and set about covering themselves in mud and having a grand time while doing so. Tourists coming to see the canyon took pictures of the boys’ muddy escapades. Mesquite took a few steps and her feet sunk about six inches in the soft mud that felt like warm pudding – no wonder the boys liked it so much. We had hoped to get a good family photo but the sun was right behind the canyon so we would have to try again in the morning.
After cleaning the boys up we drove to the Terlingua Abajo camp. It was easy going in the van except for one spot that where we had to take it slow. We set up camp and the boys made an ant house out of rock. Next we followed Fire as he led us on an exploration to the top of the hill behind our campsite and beyond. We found a great view of a flowing Terlingua Creek and the Mesa de Anguilla as the sun set.
MONDAY
Sometime in the night a few drop of rain fell. I put the rain fly on the tent and put anything away in camp that might be harmed by water and went back to bed. We saw some distant lightning but nothing ever came of it. Shortly after dawn we were up eating breakfast. As I was packing up the tent our neighbors from the next campsite over came and requested a jump - the battery in their truck was dead. They were both grandfathers and had been coming to Big Bend together yearly since being roommates in college. We got their truck started and went for another exploration. We played by Terlingua Creek for a while and visited the Terlingua Abajo ruins before returning to the van to start our drive. We stopped by Santa Elena Canyon and got a better family photo but the clouds were not cooperating with me so it was not the photo I had in my head. Five minutes down the road the sun broke through the clouds and it was perfect – but I was not turning around and wrangling the boys again.
We drove to Study Butte and stopped for gas, ice, and lunch, then continued down the road. It had been surprisingly cool all morning and the clouds kept it cool. As we headed into Alpine the temperature dropped from the 50s in Study Butte to 38 in Alpine. Our plans to spend the evening swimming at Balmorhea State Park were not looking good. We stopped in Fort Davis at the reptile house to look at the snakes then continued to Balmorhea.
It was 41 when we arrived in Balmorhea. We were very disappointed. I had been wanting to visit this park for years and now that we finally got here it was too cold. We walked out to the bank and put our hand in to test the water. It was surprisingly warm. Mesquite and I looked at each other. We knew we had to do it. The enormous 20 foot deep pool of crystal clear water filled with fish was too good to pass up. A few minutes
later we were changed into our trunks. Mesquite was the first off of the diving board followed by Fire (in his fire trunks). We snorkled and swam around for about 30 minutes before we got too cold to endure it any longer. It was worth it, though. Looking under the water in a mask made you feel like you were in the Caribbean (at least what I would imagine it to be).
After putting on warm clothes we decided we would not spend the night as we had planned. We would not be swimming again and it was so early we could get some serious miles behind us and reduce our drive tomorrow. So we hit the road and made it all the way to San Antonio. Another trip for the family history books.
Just in case anyone missed it, the larger version of the video is
here and it is worth the wait to stream.
More photos to come soon...
