Big Bend, Texas

Yep, can get crowded around the chili cookoff and spring break. A lot of fun, night sky is something to see.

The drive up to the basin isnt very Texas like.

 

I’m bone stock with Goodyear off-road tires. I’m sure the predator steps would be ripped to shreds in those spots haha

That would be awesome for a meet up. I’ve owned cars up until November last year so off-roading is foreign to me, yet I want to do it on occasion. My problem is I live in the south Texas furnace of the Rio Grande Valley which the highest elevation is a small hill crest of three feet. (Ok I’m over exaggerating but only just a little bit)

 

Depends on the weather, I did the river road and then up to Glenn Springs and the only time I engaged 4 WD was coming up out of the Glenn Springs wash and then just for low range. There were a few sand washes but smooth enough speed carried me through them. The next year half the trails were closed due to rain, and what wasnt closed was rough, rutted and muddy.

 

Well, I had to Google RVG to see where you are. I have a friend in New Braunfels, and we came through we looked for a place to take the trucks out. There is a off road park about 90 minuted north of New Braunfels. Not sure how far that is from you,, but it might be a good weekend trip. I also think they had some classes Anda ride along guide option. When I'm back at the computer I'll look it up, if I remember....

 

Ness is in the RGV, I'm in Dallas.

Honestly I havent taken the truck anywhere in years just to off road it. It's my exploring vehicle, it gets used to visit places of interest that might be suited to 4WD. Some can be pretty remote so stacking the deck in my favor with 4WD is nice. LOL

Big Bend in the late 80's early 90's was a lot different than now. There was always vacancies, either at camp sites or the lodge in the basin. No reservations required. One of the park rangers requested I give them a flight plan for driving the river road and back to Glenn Springs since they only patrolled it once a week. This was about the same time that Mexican Federales and American DEA swooped in to Santa Elena one night just across the river from Cottonwood camp mentioned in an above post and took out Pablo Acosta (drug lord). An acquaintance was camping there the night it went down woke to the sound of a full auto fire fight and said he tore his tent up trying to get out of it and find a ditch to hide in. No bullets hit near him but he said it sounded like they were in the next camp site. You can lay there at night and listen to cow bells on the Mexican side, so I understand why it would sound close.

 

Sorry about the confusion, I was on my phone without my glasses. Lucky I could see anything at all.

I would have probably had the same reaction if bullets sounded like they were that close. I don't blame him a bit.

Some of those camps are less than 100 yards from the border. The work I do is related to border security, and the thought I had about trying to remote camp there solo was that I probably wouldn't want to. I wouldn't expect a gun fight to break out, but you never know from the stuff I see at work. The terrain in the area isn't vert hospitable to moving people / drugs, money etc, when you compare it to terrain on either side of the park. Work may have colored my opinion, but personally would be comfortable that close to the border on a solo effort.

 

He said it worked much better than an alarm clock for getting you out of bed. I had a customer move to Terlingua and he said the smugglers want to stay as far away from any tourist they can. Nothing like killing a tourist to get the whole Texas border shut down. I used to camp at Cottonwood because it was close to the La Harmonia park store before it burned. Hit the showers and grab a snack before heading back to camp. Park service lodging is pretty close and the few times I camped there it was extremely quite with only one other camper being there.

 

That makes sense. Most criminals tend to avoid the lights of center stage. Work has just generated trust issues.

Some day I hope to be able to remote camp like that, but it's not on the wife's bucket list.

 

We camped at Cottonwood for a few nights. Quiet and peaceful. The only place we had mosquitos.

The campground was full. A few empty spots had people arrive at 10 PM, and depart before 6 AM. So they appeared empty during the day, avid hikers most likely. I met a nature photographer, who was driving a Prius. An avid hiker who had lots of great tips.

 

Hidden Falls Adventure Park. Marble Falls, Texas. About one hour from Austin.

https://www.hiddenfallsadventurepark.com/riding-at-hidden-falls/full-size-4x4/

Trails are rated one to five. I'd rate Black Gap Road in Big Bend as a three on that scale, so I'd recommend going out with friends to help spot out there first. Black Gap Road is called "Jeep Buster" by the National Park Service Ranger, which is appropriate but the key to slow and easy. Stop and walk the difficult section to plan. The Off Road with Automatics does have that crawl mode, we used it for steep downhill descents. My old FJ40, you have to think, but with the 2F tractor motor, I'd leave it in 1st gear and LO and idle down those sections.

 

Black Gap was fun, but not technical in my opinion. I don't think I engaged 4WD at all...

I agree though, take it slow and plan your route, shouldn't be too difficult for a novice.

 

I drive a 18 Manual Sport, so no crawl, no lockers. And I haven't done the 2WD LO mod, so I'm a little more generous with the 4WD. That said, so far I've kept up with the off roads around here and have done a couple of the harder trails in the area (Union Springs Road to Flagpole Knob and Big Levels 4x4 trail). I would really like to get back out there and do some of these longer drives as these are all a couple hours and done. Sometimes getting there is a longer drive.

 

New Braunfels is about four and a half hours away from me. So not out of the realm for a day trip. I’d be interested to see any decent beginner trails. I like the Hill country and any excuse to run up there is a good excuse. It’s just I live on a teacher salary and am the primary provider for my family, so I have to be selective.

 

Understood. Check the website, they should have a break down of the trails and a map. They may also offer some beginner classes. I will say this, if you're going to drive 4+ hours, take some time and decompress. Drive up after work, spend the morning and early afternoon in the park, head back and catch dinner with the family. Or two nights and get back for dinner. Thank you for taking that challenge of teaching. I almost went that way, wound up in retail after the military.

 

I got a good friend going out to Marble Falls in the morning for the 1st time, trying to pair him up with a few folks if anyone is going out, he's never been there..

 

Wish I could make it out there, but I can’t make it out there. I’m interested in where exactly he’s going and what there is to do in Marble Falls.

 

Marble Falls, couple breweries and the best pies ever, at Bluebonnet Cafe

 

Yes. I just went down pulling a trailer with my 2wd; it can reach most if you know what you're doing. I made it all the way to the solitario and back, even with the rains this week. It was white knuckle, but by golly the truck didn't even threaten to bog or slip.

Bring a way to patch and inflate tires. I never needed it for myself, but I did pull over and help a few people.

Oh, and bring a pack of hospital body wipes. Trust me. Sand gets everywhere.

I'm on my last night of a whirlwind tour of Ft Davis, BBRSP, BBNP, and of course the Terlingua chili festival. It was... epic. I'll be posting my own report soon.

Best decision of the trip: the first night we went to the observatory, and in their gift shop they had some nice toys. They had a monster telescope that would have taken half the truck bed, and for a mere $125 they had a decent pair of 10x50 binoculars. I waffled on it, walked to the parking lot, walked back to the gift shop, walked back to the truck, then walked back and bought the damn things. It wound up being the best vacation purchase ever. I saw wildlife that I otherwise would have missed, got to spy on high drama at the chili fest, but most importantly the skies. Oh, bring a good light gathering optic for the skies. And the starwalk app. Seriously.






Oh, and one last thing: watch for snakes!

 

BBRSP is a gem, feels like you’re really really out in the boonies - because you are. The long dirt road just to get to the entrance is so fitting, I hope that never changes.