OFF ROAD IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS

We like the West for several reasons....milder and dryer climate is one of them....another is the "big sky" you get out here.  Not many trees to get in the way of what the Malaysians call "saujana"....as far as the eye can see!!

We departed the mountains of Fort Davis for very southern Texas and Big Bend country just after Christmas.   Our plan was to be here for 5 weeks....and we have been here 3 1/2 so far.  We have enjoyed the 50 mile drive from Lajitas to Presidio....ranked in the top 5 scenic drives in the country by National Geographic...simply gorgeous.

The FM (farm road) 170 drive is like most of this region...offering views of mountains in every direction.   The drive to Presidio also puts you right beside the Rio Grande river...in many places it is less than 100 yards to nearby Mexico...and for those of you who are curious about it, there are no border fences along the way!

Throughout the region the rock formations in the mountains are many and varied....and many, like this one, show gravity defying balance of rocks atop one another.   Another amazing thing is the strata of the rocks....oftentimes offering up multiple layers of color.

The Big Bend Region is like a magnet to us....the National Park is just under 1 million acres and is very wild and beautiful; the State Park, formerly a 265,000 acre private ranch, is in some ways even more remote; and the roads that cut through the former Terlingua Ranch are awe inspiring at every turn.

These mountains are part of the Chisos Range in the National Park...and the light reflected from their rocky surfaces changes dramatically as the light of the day changes.  This happens to be an early to mid afternoon view.

This formation is known as the Mule Ears and is also in the National Park.  

Also in the National Park, this is looking into one of the most photo- graphed scenes in the Park.....Santa Elena Canyon.   The Rio Grande, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, carved this Canyon....in the beginning the river flowed along the top of the canyon walls you see here.  Just amazing what nature can do!!

To really get "off road" and see the splendor of the back country you need to have the right vehicle....and this is where our Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk comes in.   We have taken the Jeep tens of miles back into canyons on some very rough roads indeed...one of our journeys took us 27 miles into Big Bend Ranch State Park and the roads were such that it took us an hour and a half each way!!  The rewards along the way are many....views many people never get to see...

This photo shows the dirt road (it turns into a trail a couple miles further in) heading into one of the many canyons in the State Park.

Here is a view down through "smuggler's canyon"...the mountain in the background is in Mexico.   The Jeep trail here is actually in a dry river wash..rough going with lots of rocks to watch out for....and a place you certainly don't want to be if the heavens open up with rain.

Here we are coming up out of one of those dry river "washes"...the rutted hill incline was no match for the Cherokee's Select-train 4WD system.  

We pulled off at a remote campsite on the Rio Grande to let the doggies stretch their legs....You can just see Chica in the left back ground...and Ali is her ever watchful self.  At this stop we saw a section of trees with a yellow and an orange balloon hanging from them....this was several miles from the main road and right alongside the Rio Grande....a route for the Mexicans to come across....??  hmmmm.

This sign greeted us near the West end of the River Road...a 40 mile rough stretch that takes 5 hours to travel West to East!

GPS comes in handy...as do a map and compass...when traveling these back roads...and mountains like these help with orientation too.
The bottom line for us is that we love coming to this remote area of Texas to explore...and when we do we normally use the Maverick RV Ranch in Lajitas as our base....

The Lajitas resort is way off the beaten path....note that Big Bend NP is by far the largest of the country's National Parks...yet because of it's remote-ness, it is the least visited.   Next week we move from the comforts of the Maverick Ranch to the Easternmost  end of the Park and a campsite with no hookups.  For a week we will rely on our generator and our solar panels....with no TV....no internet...and very sketchy cell service.   More back roads beckon....will report on those in a later blog......all the best from remote SW Texas!!!