Day 1 in Big Bend- The West Side of the Park

[iCe]

I got a late start when I left on Thursday so I didn't get to the Basin until around 1am on Friday. That set the tone for the entire trip as I didn't rush to get up. My mission was to empty my brain of bits, bytes, words, integers, reals, normally open, normally closed, ifs and thens so I had no agenda but to be a tourist and take photos. August and September are the best kept secret of Big Bend. The park is virtually empty. I was able to get SC100 with no problems. In fact just about anything could be had in the way of lodging. SC100 is my favorite and I highly recommend it.

I decided to go west on the first day and east on day two. Day three was initially undecided but I ultimately opted to beat myself and my truck to death on the Old Ore Road.

This is essentially a photo-trip report

From Ross Maxwell Drive






Sotol Vista






This one was shot later the same evening


Near Tuff Canyon




Cottonwood campground


Santa Elena Canyon


These were growing alongside the road leading up to the Mule Ears viewpoint.


Chimney's Trailhead


Somewhere between Mule Ears vista and the Chimneys trail (I think)


Burro Mesa Pour Off


Homer Wilson's Cabin

[TXhummer2]

Terrific start!

[Patticake]

Awesome........

Patti

[iCe]

Thanks ya'll. I had a very good time. Mission accomplished but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to go back for a week... or more. But... there's all that adult responsibility nonsense to deal with so it might be a while.

[Bob Williams]

Beautiful photos. It looks like a really amazing place to say the least. I hope to one day be able to take landscape photos at least half as good as these.

Bob

[jfoureyes]

I love it when you go on road trips out there you always get some very interesting photos and I enjoy seeing all of them.

[iCe]

Thanks Jim. I enjoy taking them. One of these days I'm going to concentrate on the Chisos Basin. I've only done that one time and that was on my first trip there.

Bob- I'm sure you can. I aspire to be orders of magnitude better. I probably always will. I look at images from people like Galen Rowell and I think "someday... maybe". One of the nice things about digital is that it doesn't cost anything to shoot images and the gear doesn't matter.

[houtex01]

Very nice series Michael...my fav is #7...love the different color levels...green, blue and purplish...looking forward to day 2 and 3...

Ron

[lhdvies]

Great stuff Michael!! Love nbr 6 a lot!

[iCe]

Thanks Leon. I think I shot 98% of this trip with a 17mm T-S lens. That thing is the bomb!

[AndrewR69]

Really enjoying those photos. I'm making my first trip out to Big Bend in late Sept/Oct. My wife agreed to let me go for an entire week. I'm not sure how I pulled that off. But like you, it's a photo trip to get as far away from servers, subnets and AD.

[iCe]

There's a few of us on TPF that have been to BiBe numerous times that can probably help out with planning. Some of them have been going there forever. Another great resource is BigBendChat.com I put my latest trip reports there too but they are in the members section. I would have placed them in the normal trip report area but another website pulls the images that are posted there via the RSS feeds.

Big Bend is HUGE. Fuel and food are expensive. If you have a big cooler load it up with ice and water. For three days I took: A case of water (not cooled), 2 gallons of water in the cooler (didn't touch those because I bought a couple of liters every morning just to give the store in the basin some business), a stick of summer sausage, 1 pound of turkey jerky (picked the jerky and sausage up at Buckey's), 2 boxes of granola bars, coffee, and creamer I always got back to the cabin too late to go to the restaurant. If you haven't made reservations, even though it's the off season, you might consider making them early. October starts to get back into the busy time. August / Sept is pretty good. It was pretty empty when I was there during the day but by the weekend it started to fill up. It = The Chisos Basin lodging. If you don't have a camelbak you might consider getting one. It's a nice way to carry a few hours worth of water and some snack type food.

Did I mention that Big Bend is HUGE. Go here and check out the various folders. Places like the River Road and The Old Ore Road are all day events if you hurry and should probably be multiple day events. It takes a few hours to get from the Basin to Santa Elena Canyon. The Basin to Sotol Vista is about an hour. Speed limit in the park is 45 and I've been flashed a few times by park rangers so I set the cruise on 45 now. Glenn Springs Road to the Mariscal Mine isn't a full day but it's a long haul. Mule Ears Springs is a nice hike. Burro Mesa Pour Off is nice (and short). The Chimneys Trail to the Chimneys and back is only 6 miles round trip (much longer, 11 miles if I remember right, if you go to Lunas Jacal on the Old Maverick Road). I haven't even mentioned the stuff in the Basin. The Basin is a lot cooler than the desert. The place is a wonderland...

[corralup]

Big Bend was a topic that was discussed today with a friend of mine. I'm planning a trip for next year! Thanks, Mike! This is impressive.

[ttusa]

Ooooooh you have some most incredible scenics here, Michael!

[iCe]

Thanks Sandy. Bear in mind the "off" season is late July through mid to late September. After that getting a reservation at any location in the Basin is tough. On my first trip there I slept in my truck the night before heading up to SW4

Thanks Therese. That's a good way to describe BiBe. Incredible scenics.