Big Bend Ranch 15 & 16

Phenomenal! One of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and completely empty. I was the only one in the 300,000 acre park. Didn't make it all the way to Big Bend, actually I took an extra turn, ended up at Big Bend Ranch State Park, learned I could camp there for free and was sold.

Desert. Everywhere desert. Never have I been anywhere more wild, untamed, unaltered in my life. There wasn't anyone within a 7 mile radius of me. Its not a place sane people go in the summer time. It was 108 degrees in the shade- and there was not shade except maybe a solitary cotton wood or overhanging canyon wall every half mile or so. The first day I hiked in about 4 or 5 miles down a creek bed- this was not an actual trail, just a creek bed the rangers said would be really nice- so I went. And guess what?!? Water! A tiny stream about a foot wide would gurgle up intermittently from the ground and pour down over smooth rock and form tiny waterfalls and clear pools. The canyon walls were beautiful, red and jagged- close together where the water was so at points I could almost touch both sides at once. I don't know how to describe the rugged beauty of the area or the miraculous appearance of water in this barren land. The hike was a scramble the whole way- over boulders and silty creek beds- at several points I sunk up to my knee in silt. Luckily- my hiking boots are awesome and were up for the challenge. I got to my turn around point by 5pm- it was a wax factory from the 1920's-they used the candelilla plant to make wax that was very important for water proofing military equipment. It was only 5 o'clock- so hot and still five hours of blazing sun to go- thank you summer solstice. there was no shade- so i set up camp and hung out in my tent- sweating profusely. It was the darkest night sky I think i've ever seen. Thousands of brilliant stars that came together in shapes in my head. Desert sounds at night, starry skies over head and it was finally cool enough to really enjoy- the hours from 3am to 6am were my favorites from the whole trip.

That day was so very very hot, I wanted to avoid hiking that late again the next day, so at the first sign of light I was up and getting ready for my journey. It was so nice outside, pleasantly warm, the outline of the mountains on the horizon slowly coming into focus. My pack was probably 10 pounds lighter from all the water I drank the day before and I made good time at the beginning of my hike- I stopped by an abandoned quicksilver mine- mercury. It was eerie, very eerie. Abandoned dilapidated buildings and dangerous looking, rusting machinery with lots of places for snakes to hide. I was very careful, but still- I was in rattle snake country big time- they are very common out there. I climbed up some run down stairs to where the actual mine shaft was- a few widely spaced bars covered a gigantic, cavernous pit to which there was no bottom to be seen. It was exhilarating and scary to peer over the edge into that chasm and think about the brave workers who would have gone down into those depths in search of treasure. Quicksilver was extremely prized and expensive- yet the workers all suffered mercury poisoning looking for this liquid gold- their teeth feel out and they died early deaths.

By 9:30 am there was no shade at it was 100 degrees out. For a while the trail winded its way between small mountains and threw canyons. I saw more lizards than I could count and like 7 giant yellow and brown millipedes. I watch some aoudad climb up a very steep mountain- audad are rams imported from the deserts of northern africa . Even the babies climbed stright up bare cliff faces like it was nothing. By 11:30 it was very hot and my pack was rubbing raw bruises on my hips. The trail became less like a trail and more like scattered stacks of rock every 100m or so across flat desert. I knew approximately where I was and in what direction I needed to be going. A few times I lost the trail, but kept going in the right direction and eventually met up with it again. Also at the end of my journey I didn't see the turn off to the road and kept going down a creek bed. Eventually I realized this and just decided to keep going and run into the road some where else. I was on my last nalgeen bottle after a while and was sore and hot so I hiked straight up the side of a mountain in order to get a good view of my surroundings and find the way to the car. I didn't find the car, but I found the road and took it up for about a mile to the car. Talk about an adventure- I had accidentally turned my 5 mile hike into a 9 mile hike. There are no words for how thankful I was to see my car and sit in the cool air-conditioning. I had survived 24 hours of desert.