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Big Bend Trip

25K views 95 replies 18 participants last post by  RubiCajun 
#1 ·
Here are some pics from our trip to Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park in Texas. TexasKev and guest, Liquor and my son and I met up in San Antonio and drove straight thru. Brock (Liquor) and Kevin will post up some of the pics they took also. Enjoy. We did!
 

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#3 · (Edited)
and more ....the first pic is what we named Range Rover Ramp after a guy with a range rover who was evidently scared to go over a 1-1/2' drop took the time to build a ramp with rocks. its on u-tube. hilarious....we also named another one Hummer Hump.
 

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#8 · (Edited)
not a place holder.....:thefinger: Notice the dust in FRONT of Kevin's tires....he's backing out of that horribly deep 2 foot deep hole....scratches ya know....the pic of Brock and I at the Rio Grande Overlook is the highest driveable point in Texas. The next few pics are taken on the State Park which has some serious unmaintained 4x4 high clearance only roads....about 35 miles or more.
 

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#10 ·
a few more.....promise...after Kevin and Brock left Thurs. Me and son went and set up camp in the mountains to cool off. the temp in the desert was 103 thurs. afternoon and went up to 113 friday noon. :bawling:
 

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#12 · (Edited)
#13 ·
You can never post too many pictures of Big Bend imo. I really like the picture of balanced rock at Grapevine Hills and the sunset- looks like it was taken at the Basin looking towards Study Butte/ Terlingua.

:beer:
 
#14 ·
nice pics kev....looks like you really did go back to Mariscal.........we were thinking dirty thoughts i guess. lol. just finished cleaning the jeep today. that powder dust was everywhere. had to take my Mygig apart and blow it out.
 
#15 · (Edited)
We did go back to Mariscal... but for the record the dirty thoughts were justified, no one around that place:) The hike up almost killed me!

Heck, I'm still cleaning the thing out. Atomic 4x4 is using it in a vendor show this weekend so I have to have it looking pretty good. The first step that I did was to blow everything out with an airhose. Then wet microfiber rag to get the last layer of dust out. Tomorrow the carpets cleaned and wash the outside.

My pinion seal leak got really bad on the drive back. I added a quart of oil every 200 miles or so to the front diff (all the oil that we saw on the rear was coming from the seal leak at the front). Got that fixed and now I'm working on cleaning the raw oil out from under it.

Thanks for the HWY 90 tip. That was a nice drive with all the small towns. Saw a guy driving a stock CJ5 with no top pulling a trailer. We exchanged the clasic Jeep wave.

Had a lot of fun with you guys and look forward to wheeling with you and Chuck again!
 
#19 ·
Nice, now i have to go back soon:bounce:

anyone have anymore pics of the state park?

BTW, most of my permanent pinstriping came from the state park...:beer:
 
#20 · (Edited)
Yoda, Liquor, my son and I drove to the state park. Liquor has some pics to post and I'm sure some of them are at the state park. We decided to drive the Los Alamos Loop. we drove in from the main road to Jackson Pens and then continued on to the east side of the loop and then turned north. the trail turned into a creek bed and we drove up it for a couple of hundred yards. there are large bushes growing in the creek bed and we just drove over them. the trail hasn't been maintained for about the last 5 or 6 years. we eventually had to turn around because it just got too thick. we found that the map wasn't quite accurate, especially at the top of the loop at the ranger residence which isn't used anymore. The lady ranger we talked to when we registered regretfully didn't have a feel for distances or any other information that could have helped us. if i go back there, i plan on running the Casa Piedra system. just ballparking, it's about 30 miles of 4x4 high clearance unmaintained road. the most in one area in the park. i complained to the ranger that most people would be coming to the state park from big bend area and it would be nice not to have to drive so far to get there. i pointed out that there is a hiking trailhead in Lajitas and it would be nice to enter there. she said that they are working on that. you can get permits and pay entrance fee at the Warnock center in Lajitas. the main entrance road is approx. 67 miles from terlingua and then 27 to the park headquarters. there are some old ranch houses one can rent located in the park including one that will hold many people. i think its called the bunkhouse. go to their website and read the Roads to Nowhere document. it is a guide to the unmaintained 4x4 roads in the state park. I would definitely not drive these roads alone.
 
#23 ·
the old buildings are on Mariscal Mountain and they are whats left of the old Mariscal Mine. This mine was used for mining Cinnabar, which was refined into Mercury. This mine back in it's hey day was one of the main suppliers of mercury in the US. a couple of the roads that we wheeled were the original wagon trails on which the mercury was transported to Terlingua and then on to rail. in the 1800's locals would take the tailings from the mine and make bricks from them to build houses. these houses are still standing minus the roofs and nobody messes with them because they are contaminated with mercury.
 
#29 ·
Great pics, really enjoyed the show. I think I have a place to take the motorhome and Lucy in December or March. Don't think I want to challenge the 100+ temps.

Any problems with "illegals"? We stayed at Fort Davis State park a few years ago and they had warnings posted for Big Bend at that time.
 
#30 ·
Any problems with "illegals"? We stayed at Fort Davis State park a few years ago and they had warnings posted for Big Bend at that time.
We didn't have any issues and I didn't see any warnings posted at this time. But I'd always take some sort of protection when going to a place like that.

Good call on the not going during the 100+ temp! That wouldn't be much fun.
 
#31 ·
Good to hear that. I do carry a weapon for protection and fortunately for us I can do this perfectly legally just about everywhere but my home state of Illinois. Damn Chicago!

I think I've found my wheeling vacation destination for next year.

If I grew a goatee, Rubi Cajun and I could be twins. I had the pics up on the computer here at work and the nurses thought they were mine. They just did not recognize the young man as my son. Hard to believe there are two such fine examples of manhood out there!:grinpimp:

I'm not Cajun but we gig our own frogs and eat our own crawfish. Good enough?
 
#32 ·
Damn Doc, you admit you're as ugly as me on the internet? LOL. Yeah, about two years ago the park had a warning up on their website for illegals, drug mules and theives. Everybody that was on this trip was armed. I just didn't break out my AK and the claymores in front of Kev. Didn't want to alarm him. lol. It's a good thing to arm yourself, especially in that area of Texas. It is desolate. Liquor, my son and I drove one day to Big Bend Ranch State Park near Presidio. We started seeing Border Patrol everytime there was a low area on the Mexican side of the border that extended into the US side. The illegals evidently use the bush for cover. We counted 14 vehicles on the way there and back within about a 15 mile stretch. After talking to some jeepers before we left we were told that April is the latest time to go in the spring and October was the earliest time to go in the winter. Hey man, anyone who pinches tails and sucks heads (crawfish) is alright in my book. Let me know when you head out there and I fill you in on where to go wheeling and sightseeing. :D:beer:
 
#33 ·
I will take you up on that offer.

My folks used to Winter in Harlingen and usually made a trip to Big Bend each year. They always talked about how beautiful it was. We made it to Fort Davis a few years ago but ran out of time and did not get to Big Bend. Never thought of Texas having 8000 foot mountains.
 
#34 ·
Most people don't think of that...its a pleasant shock to the system the first time you see it...and it never gets old...:)
 
#35 · (Edited)
#36 ·
i had a blast there. would like to do it again if we can get a few more Jeeps with us. rent out the entire pink condo. LoL cook out and party after a day of trail riding.
QUOTE]

Hey Brock, I'm in. The pink condo had three other rooms in it if i remember right. I did tell you about the other place that my son and I found to wheel a couple of miles from study butte didn't I. The pics I saw show it to be real rock trails similar to Moab and it's even got a small version of the Lions Back. The guy I talked to said they would be back there in October and then again next April. I'll keep in touch with him and let ya'll know exactly when it's going to happen. Good wheelin' with you dude.:beer:
 
#39 ·
Yeah it is a long drive from SA. That's where we all met up. But something about 3 trail rigs buzzing along on the hwy made it go by fast. The long solo drive back home seemed to take forever!
 
#40 ·
Aint that the troof.....

I am going to have to make the next one...

Fall???

I will be working three months of 7/12s starting in August and ending (hopefully) in November - will be free for the rest of the year. Spending some time in the woods working on a big gut pile...

Lets get something working once you get settled in from the trip.
 
#41 ·
im grabbing all the pics now and taking a few to put into a vid. right now its at 12 mins. LoL

ill have it up on youtube late tonight
 
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