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    #31
    Originally posted by Legdog View Post
    Go to the basin. Hike about three miles to the Window. Stay and watch the sunset. Hike out with a flashlight.



    You will not regret it.


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    Have to make that hike on the next trip! Ill be toting your ole D7000 with me on both trips! Its still running strong!

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      #32
      When you leave Fresno Vista on the way to Guale you will pass Sauceda HQ and you can fill up your water can. Please report back on Guale. It is high on my to do list.

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        #33
        Originally posted by thegrouse View Post
        When you leave Fresno Vista on the way to Guale you will pass Sauceda HQ and you can fill up your water can. Please report back on Guale. It is high on my to do list.
        Will do!

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          #34
          Originally posted by thegrouse View Post
          When you leave Fresno Vista on the way to Guale you will pass Sauceda HQ and you can fill up your water can. Please report back on Guale. It is high on my to do list.
          Best campsite in the area but windy.

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            #35
            Originally posted by DesertDug View Post
            See ya down there. I will be in Terlingua for Easter! Look for TBH Sticker on back of truck
            Will do. I think we will arrive the day after Easter. Hope to see you there.

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              #36
              Take plenty of water.

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                #37
                Check out Boot Canyon. It only gets 5-6 hours of sunlight a day. It has maple trees and a creek running through it. You’d never know you’re in the desert.

                Also take your truck and do the Old Ore Trail. Very scenic drive though it may be more crowded than usual given the time of year you’re going.


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                  #38
                  If your down a little longer than a few days, on your way there or out, try to hit Balmorreah State Park, Marfa Lights, Ft. Davis....I crammed it all in a week. 2 nights in Alpine, 4 nights in Lajitas.

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                    #39
                    I hope you are going to spend at least a week out there, or you won't get to see much of any of one of the two places. We have been to Big Bend National park twice, spent a week the first time, then went back and spent about four days the second time. We have seen less than a 1/4 of Big Bend National park, have not seen any of Big Bend State Park. You have to go see Chisos Basin. take as many hiking trails a possible. Make sure you hike all the way to the end of the Old Mmine Trail, then go down to the window and hope it has rained a good bit before you go. I hear the spring time is the best time to go. We have only been in the summer. It's still beautiful.

                    On our first trip, I could not help myself, I went down just about every trail I could find. Most were listed as 4X4 only trails. I took our Taurus rental car down probably 30 miles of 4X4 trails, it never left us stranded. Probably a bit of luck. That was on our first trip out there. The bears seem to mostly hang out around the Chisos mountains. They seem to come down out of the mountains, late evening and at night and go out in the desert at night looking for food. They eat a lot of prickly pear pears, you will see sign everywhere, when you figure out where they are eating at.

                    There are mountain lions, black bears and some of the black bears are a lot bigger than you would think would live in the desert. The last black bear we saw out there, I thought was a half grown calf that was lost, but it was a black bear making it's way across the desert. It has just come down out of the Chisos Mountains. You likely won't see much of any wildlife during the middle of the day, but as the sun starts to go down, critters will pop up from everywhere. Lots of mule deer, quite a few whitetail, foxes, coyotes, jack rabbits. We saw many covey of quail, bobwhite, blues and we saw at least one covey of the Montezuma Quail.

                    There are bugs out there that are very cool looking, crickets that are bright yellow and black. Then lizards that are brightly colored. We saw a lot of bugs that were very different than anything I have ever seen in my life. One night, we had a whip scorpion in our camp, those things are huge. There is another name people call them. If you look them up, they are pretty interesting bugs. They live for something like 20 years, they are very big and look like they would do a lot of damage, but supposedly, they are mostly harmless.

                    There are many waterfalls all over the place. On our first trip out there, when I went down those 4X4 trails. We found many dry creeks, that had water falls. We would find that the rocks at the base of the water falls and the creek beds of each creek, were different pastel colors. Some had a pink tint, some had a yellow tint others had light blue tint. If the water is flowing, you probably will not notice this, but when the creeks dry up, it's pretty obvious that all of the rock, that the water has been flowing over, are stained one color. It seems to depend on what minerals the creek has flowing in it.

                    Going down to the Rio Grande is a must and you have to see Santa Elena Canyon, it's amazing. We were supposed to take a canoe trip down the river, but our trip got cut short. We are going back and will take the kayaks down the river and through Santa Elena Canyon.

                    Then a trip down the Old Maverick Trail is something you should do also. Check out Luna's Jacal. Keep your eyes out for snakes. There are all types of snakes out there you won't see in the rest of the state. I found a pink coachwhip, I have heard they come in many colors, but pink was a surprise.

                    There are multiple old ranch houses out there, that were built at various points in history, they are worth the trips to go check out, as many as you can. I don't remember which ones we went and looked at, but they were interesting. There was one out there, that I would love to live in. I would love to live out there, very interesting place.

                    There are also some old mercury mines and I think some other mines out there. I wanted to go check those out on our last trip, but it got cut short.

                    The restaurant at the Chisos Mt. Resort, is pretty good, worth going there to eat at least once.

                    If you are going out there you should go see Terlingua, check out the ghost town and the cemetery. Read as much on each as you can before you go out there. So you have a better understanding of what you are looking at. The cemetery is very interesting. The ghost town I liked more, before the hippies really got moved in. They have been there for a long time, but there seem to be multiple squatters that have decided to occupy multiple of the old buildings and then they restore or fix them up however they choose, some more original that others.

                    There is lot more to see, just in Big Bend National park, I don't know much about the state park, but I have been seeing pictures lately, that look very interesting.


                    Make sure you have at least one good spare tire, plenty of water, good jack and a shovel, if you do take off down many of the 4X4 trails. We so far have not had any problems but each trail is different.
                    Last edited by RifleBowPistol; 02-23-2018, 09:40 PM.

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                      #40
                      Originally posted by Bonesplitter View Post
                      Great info!! I have my LTC, no worries there, scratches dont scare me, I have to get a rim and full size spare though. Ill take an extra 10 gallons of gas, some firewood and fatwood to get it started. Water, food, etc. Sounds like the remoteness of the state park is where its at. I appreciate all the info. Just myself and my boy for a few days with no phones, games, people, etc is gonna be real nice!

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                      The State Ranch Park is awesome. But, the trail back to the campsite was more the width of an atv trail. So just FYI, I had some pretty major pinstriping from brush and cactus.

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                        #41
                        Read this before you go


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                          #42
                          Good choice on the state park ranch. While driving into the head quarters make the stops at the pictographs. Some real amazing ones. Also head out toward the left hand shut up in the solitariro. This is an amazing GEO structure, ring of mountains, a collapsed volcano. You can over night there at the solitaro bar, a piece of private property in the park where the owner has a camp area that welcomes people to stay. I have land out the north side of the park and this is one of my favorite places to hike into to park and stay at.

                          Like other said make sure your jack is in good working condition and is a high lift type. Jack board a must. Leave at least a gallon of water in the truck at all times! Never know when you have to walk out. Broke cv joints and flat tires are not unheard of and can change the beauty into the brutal reality of the desert.

                          For such stories, read above mentioned death in big bend to get a sense of how quickly things can go south on ya.

                          Enjoy. It is a magical place.

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                            #43
                            Originally posted by MisplacedTexan View Post
                            If your down a little longer than a few days, on your way there or out, try to hit Balmorreah State Park, Marfa Lights, Ft. Davis....I crammed it all in a week. 2 nights in Alpine, 4 nights in Lajitas.

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                            Did you see anyone scuba diving at Balmorhea?

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                              #44
                              Bamorhea, is a cool place to go, usually it is packed and there is a line to get in. The times we have gone, we had to wait in line for quite a while. The last time we went, we got in much quicker because there was a storm coming and they made everybody get out of the water, many left. That allowed us to get in, the storm did not last long, like a lot of storms out there. Very cool place, fed by natural springs, there are lots of catfish and other fish in the pool.

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                                #45
                                I was wrong, it is the Lost Mine Trail and not the Old Mine trail, that is a very cool trail to take. Many of these photos were from the Lost Mine trail, with my wife and daughter, from our last trip out there. The first trip out there, it was just my wife and I. There are some pictures from our first trip in there also. I probably have 900 pictures from both trips.

                                My wife, daughter and I climbed to the top of the mountain that the Lost Mine Trail goes up, very beautiful view. While we were up there, there was a small storm that blew in, we got to watch the rain going across the mountains, then the lightning from up on top of that mountain sounded very cool. We got rained on a little, but no big deal. Then there is some from The Window, from the first trip and the second trip. Then some from the Old Maverick Trail, Luna's Jacal, Chisos Mountains, Santa Elena Canyon. Then some critters.
                                Last edited by RifleBowPistol; 03-02-2018, 06:58 PM.

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