Big Bend - Alpine - Marfa - Fort Davis

[stc 1462]

19 minutes ago, texashorne said:

This picture is from the Window overlook, right? The trail that goes off to the right?

yep, oak springs trail. 

[Your Mom 4806]

I was wondering that too. That wasn’t the Window view I’m used to. I’ve probably hiked to the Window 5 or 6 times and have never taken the overlook trail. Probably should. 

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

On 3/25/2023 at 7:54 AM, Al_4_ISU said:

Yeah, I think I’m gonna do south rim after the recs here and looking it up.  According to AllTrails it’s 12 miles and roughly 3K of gain.  The longest single hike I’ve ever done was 24 miles w/5K of gain, in the same shape I’m in now.

 

You could do the south rim and Emory Peak. The south rim is a loop, with the peak being a spur off the loop. The peak adds a couple or three miles and maybe another 1K (?) of altitude gain. The final push to the top of the peak is an actual climb requiring hands and feet. Your ass will be hanging out over a 2K drop at one point. Not that dangerous or anything, but if you are afraid of heights it can be a little vertiginous.

 

 

[stc 1462]

i will say the 2nd half of the south rim hike was hot as fuck, so be prepared. very little shade and even mid 80's feels quite intense up there. we completed the loop in about 6 hours and i drank every bit of the 4 liters of water i took with me. 

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

2 minutes ago, stc said:

i will say the 2nd half of the south rim hike was hot as fuck, so be prepared. very little shade and even mid 80's feels quite intense up there. we completed the loop in about 6 hours and i drank every bit of the 4 liters of water i took with me. 

 

Did you do the loop clockwise or counterclockwise? I prefer clockwise, as it puts the steeper part at the beginning during the ascent as opposed to at the end during the decent. Easier on the old knees that way.

[stc 1462]

7 minutes ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Did you do the loop clockwise or counterclockwise? I prefer clockwise, as it puts the steeper part at the beginning during the ascent as opposed to at the end during the decent. Easier on the old knees that way.

clockwise, also because of knees. 

[DaysOff 7951]

La Kiva facebook page just went live. Still not open, but it's happening.

[stc 1462]

31 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

La Kiva facebook page just went live. Still not open, but it's happening.

they were actively hiring when we were in town a couple weeks ago. locals seemed to think it would be open before the end of the month. 

[utee94 15834]

On 3/18/2023 at 10:47 PM, RollLeft said:

I here the area got 6 inches of snow this week.  Anybody out there?

 

On 3/24/2023 at 1:03 PM, Hank Scorpio said:

Only stuck on the ground for about a day   
 

 

 

 

We were there over Spring Break and got to deal with this.  It was pretty, but a pain in the ass, and rooked us out of some of our hiking.  After doing the Window Trail at 34 degrees and drizzling, there's no way the kids were going out the next day when it was actually snowing down at our RV park in Terlingua.  So then after that the next day we hit Santa Elena and it was a little warmer at ~40, but also drizzling.    

Still had a great time with the family, but hoping for better weather the next time.

[HRSchenker 2271]

Just got back from Marfa and wow, what a difference a year makes. Some restaurants have closed down, some coffee shops have closed down, and Convenience West gave me some of the worst pork ribs I've ever had. My airbnb host called me on my drive into town and freaked me out into thinking someone was trying to impersonate a member of my party. I cut my trip a few days early.

But on the positive side, I took a different route to get there and went from the northern part of Jeff Davis County through Balmorhea. Beautiful area! It will be my focus the next time I make a trip out to West Texas. 

[thrillhammer 684]

6 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

Just got back from Marfa and wow, what a difference a year makes. Some restaurants have closed down, some coffee shops have closed down, and Convenience West gave me some of the worst pork ribs I've ever had. My airbnb host called me on my drive into town and freaked me out into thinking someone was trying to impersonate a member of my party. I cut my trip a few days early.

But on the positive side, I took a different route to get there and went from the northern part of Jeff Davis County through Balmorhea. Beautiful area! It will be my focus the next time I make a trip out to West Texas. 

great drive from balmorhea to ft davis.  i agree with your take on marfa.  last time i was there did not get a warm feeling.  seems like its lost its way.  

[MalibuSheriff 1090]

4 hours ago, thrillhammer said:

great drive from balmorhea to ft davis.  i agree with your take on marfa.  last time i was there did not get a warm feeling.  seems like its lost its way.  

In all my west Texas trips, I’d offer the following advice - Marathon, Balmorhea, Alpine, Fort Davis, and Terlingua (of course Big Bend, BBRSP, Davis Mountains) are where you should spend your time.

My one visit to Marfa left the following impression - an enigma wrapped in pretentious wannabe East Coast cock swabs.  I could be wrong but that was the vibe…

[thrillhammer 684]

8 hours ago, MalibuSheriff said:

In all my west Texas trips, I’d offer the following advice - Marathon, Balmorhea, Alpine, Fort Davis, and Terlingua (of course Big Bend, BBRSP, Davis Mountains) are where you should spend your time.

My one visit to Marfa left the following impression - an enigma wrapped in pretentious wannabe East Coast cock swabs.  I could be wrong but that was the vibe…

it felt special once.  i'm sure it is to some people still.  the courthouse is cool, the marfa lights are still a mystery a hundred years running, the paesano is worthy, but all those were there when the town was founded.  nothing new has improved the place.  maybe planet marfa, but thats all that comes to mind.  the st george is out of place.  would fit in better in downtown austin or nyc.

[tomahawk dunk 339]

2 hours ago, thrillhammer said:

it felt special once.  i'm sure it is to some people still.  the courthouse is cool, the marfa lights are still a mystery a hundred years running, the paesano is worthy, but all those were there when the town was founded.  nothing new has improved the place.  maybe planet marfa, but thats all that comes to mind.  the st george is out of place.  would fit in better in downtown austin or nyc.

Yeah, Marfa now reminds me of Al Swearengen in Deadwood. "Yes Wu, cocksuckers."

[Jersey Man10 3538]

Currently in Fort Davis and will drive back home Sunday. some pics:

[Biff Tannen 45691]

Cross posting from the Blastfurnace thread.  Don't fuck with the heat.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/25/us/big-bend-national-park-deaths/index.html

Quote

A man and his stepson die after hiking in Big Bend National Park in 119-degree heat

 

[Bozo_Casanova 26492]

I was thinking about doing an Marfa-Balmorrhea weekend this weekend with the kids but no

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

On 6/17/2023 at 7:39 AM, thrillhammer said:

it felt special once.  i'm sure it is to some people still.  the courthouse is cool, the marfa lights are still a mystery a hundred years running, the paesano is worthy, but all those were there when the town was founded.  nothing new has improved the place.  maybe planet marfa, but thats all that comes to mind.  the st george is out of place.  would fit in better in downtown austin or nyc.

Sorry to ruin it but the marfa lights are not a mystery. People have been able to create them with car headlights when atmospheric conditions are right.

[GreenspointTexas 9651]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Sorry to ruin it but the marfa lights are not a mystery. People have been able to create them with car headlights when atmospheric conditions are right.

They had cars in the 1800s?

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

3 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

They had cars in the 1800s?

The guy, who allegedly first reported the marfa lights in the 1880s never mentioned the lights in his extensive journals. Guess it didn’t leave an impression on him. The first real reports of the lights occurred after highway 67 was built at some point in the 1900s. Only then did the 1880s guy’s family recall him talking about it. 

I get why Marfa plays up the legend and apparently it’s a great optical illusion. I would like to see it.

[gmr548 16580]

4 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Cross posting from the Blastfurnace thread.  Don't fuck with the heat.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/25/us/big-bend-national-park-deaths/index.html

 

I also mentioned this in the blastfurnace thread but I cannot fathom what would make someone want to attempt Marufo Vega in even normal summer heat, let alone in the midst of this heat wave event. I am devastated for the kid that survived.

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

Cajun's grandmother's first sighting was on the north side of the del Carmens east of Persimmon Gap in approximately 1917.

What would eventually become US67 is not visible from anywhere along what is today FM2627 making Hallie Stillwell's first sighting impossible to ascribe to automotive headlights.

My best sighting was in May of 1989 from the viewing turnout when it was just a parking lot to the west of the entrance to the MAF.   When we were the last car remaining the lights got going, like sparklers they would rise behind or somewhere within the Cuesta del Burros, different colors, you could see their glow on the terrain to the west of their location, they would rise and then "burn out".  They also moved in synchronization to music including REM and U2.

The location I am describing is slightly north of due west from the point where US67 makes the slight-left and slight-right ascent of the Cuesta del Burros.  It is known as Cleveland Flat on the south end of Wild Horse Draw.   The area that glowed before the "sparklers" rose above the Cuesta del Burros was the area just to the northwest of Cleveland Peak and due south of El Macho.  All of this was clearly visible through binoculars with basically unlimited visibility.   If you never traveled in the US West before about 1995 you are unlikely to know what unlimited visibility means due to the continental haze from the particulate matter exhuasted by not-green coal-fired electric plants in Coahuila and Arizona.

In any event, what puts paid to the "car lights" nonsense is that we could see car lights at the same time we could see the "lights".  Multiple cars going both directions and multiple "lights" up on Cleveland Flat with no correlation between the behavior of the lights and the location, speed or direction of travel of the vehicles on US67.

In addition, there have been multiple reports of the lights in dozens of locations many miles away from the US67 ascent of the Cuesta del Burros, in flat ground, over the area of the MAAF, on US67 near Paisano Pass, etc.

Also, for the disbelievers, I give you:

Silver Cliff Colorado Cemetery

the Hornet Light in far Northeast Oklahoma, most easily accessed from Hornet, Missouri, southwest of Joplin (fantastic side-trip when we play pig)

the Maco Light in Brunswick County, NC

Aleya (Ghost light), Bengal

Brown Mountain Lights (NC)

Chir Batti, Gujarat

Cohoke Light (VA)

Hessdalen light (Norway)

Longdendale lights (Peak District)

Min Min light (Australia)

Naga fireball along 150 miles of the Mekong river between laos & thailand

Paulding Light (Michigan)

better than UFOs or tornado chasing, the earthlight phenomenon is always in the same place so you don't have to search for it

 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Currently in Fort Davis and will drive back home Sunday. some pics:

I know your guide (the kid in the hat under the telescope). He used to live in Austin. Know him through photography…kind of a listless guy until he got a job at the observatory. Glad to see he is doing ok. /csb

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

8 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Cajun's grandmother's first sighting was on the north side of the del Carmens east of Persimmon Gap in approximately 1917.

What would eventually become US67 is not visible from anywhere along what is today FM2627 making Hallie Stillwell's first sighting impossible to ascribe to automotive headlights.

My best sighting was in May of 1989 from the viewing turnout when it was just a parking lot to the west of the entrance to the MAF.   When we were the last car remaining the lights got going, like sparklers they would rise behind or somewhere within the Cuesta del Burros, different colors, you could see their glow on the terrain to the west of their location, they would rise and then "burn out".  They also moved in synchronization to music including REM and U2.

The location I am describing is slightly north of due west from the point where US67 makes the slight-left and slight-right ascent of the Cuesta del Burros.  It is known as Cleveland Flat on the south end of Wild Horse Draw.   The area that glowed before the "sparklers" rose above the Cuesta del Burros was the area just to the northwest of Cleveland Peak and due south of El Macho.  All of this was clearly visible through binoculars with basically unlimited visibility.   If you never traveled in the US West before about 1995 you are unlikely to know what unlimited visibility means due to the continental haze from the particulate matter exhuasted by not-green coal-fired electric plants in Coahuila and Arizona.

In any event, what puts paid to the "car lights" nonsense is that we could see car lights at the same time we could see the "lights".  Multiple cars going both directions and multiple "lights" up on Cleveland Flat with no correlation between the behavior of the lights and the location, speed or direction of travel of the vehicles on US67.

In addition, there have been multiple reports of the lights in dozens of locations many miles away from the US67 ascent of the Cuesta del Burros, in flat ground, over the area of the MAAF, on US67 near Paisano Pass, etc.

Also, for the disbelievers, I give you:

Silver Cliff Colorado Cemetery

the Hornet Light in far Northeast Oklahoma, most easily accessed from Hornet, Missouri, southwest of Joplin (fantastic side-trip when we play pig)

the Maco Light in Brunswick County, NC

Aleya (Ghost light), Bengal

Brown Mountain Lights (NC)

Chir Batti, Gujarat

Cohoke Light (VA)

Hessdalen light (Norway)

Longdendale lights (Peak District)

Min Min light (Australia)

Naga fireball along 150 miles of the Mekong river between laos & thailand

Paulding Light (Michigan)

better than UFOs or tornado chasing, the earthlight phenomenon is always in the same place so you don't have to search for it

 

Believe what you want, the marfa lights are car headlights. If someone has a fire or a flashlight, the same effect would occur.  And as far as highway 67 not being visible, isn’t that the optical illusion of bending the light? Same thing why people take pictures of boats at the horizon that appear to be flying.

[shadow_operative2.0 16006]

Dude, Hagbard can barely see himself in the mirror. 

He can’t spell sane. 

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

have either of you been out there?

go, and report back

[Jersey Man10 3538]

I know your guide (the kid in the hat under the telescope). He used to live in Austin. Know him through photography…kind of a listless guy until he got a job at the observatory. Glad to see he is doing ok. /csb

He was a cool dude. Said he lived in Fort Davis so would commute everyday to the observatory.

[4th and 5 4914]

Marufo Vega, a 13.5 mile 2,660 foot climb, in record temps is incredibly dumb.

[stc 1462]

28 minutes ago, 4th and 5 said:

Marufo Vega, a 13.5 mile 2,660 foot climb, in record temps is incredibly dumb.

I'd like to know how far they made it. I've done that hike in the winter and it was hot as shit even in January. 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13515]

2 hours ago, stc said:

I'd like to know how far they made it. I've done that hike in the winter and it was hot as shit even in January. 

Sounds like this happened fast.  Started the trail at 6pm.  Soon the 14 year old experienced problems. Park rangers and border patrol got there by 7:30p when the boy was dead.  They found the deceased stepfather in a one car accident by 8.  Odd timeline of tragic events and the Chronicle story isn't clear how authorities were quickly notified.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/big-bend-park-teen-stepdad-dead-hiking-heat-18171325.php

Quote

The 31-year-old man had gone hiking around 6 p.m. Friday on the Marufo hiking trail with his two stepsons, ages 14 and 21, in temperatures park rangers would later say peaked at 119 degrees. When his 14-year-old stepson lost consciousness, the man headed back to his vehicle in an attempt to drive off in search of help, while the older brother attempted to carry the boy back to the trailhead.

Park rangers and border patrol reached the scene around 7:30 p.m. and found the young boy deceased along the trail. Officials then initiated a search for the stepfather. His car was found, crashed, about 30 minutes later on the embankment at the Boquillas Overlook. The 31-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Feels like there are missing elements to this story. Hope the 21 year old can clear it up. Or maybe its just a weird combo of 2 tragic events that occurred back to back.  Not many 31 years old men have 21 year old stepsons.

[Cajun 11714]

On 6/26/2023 at 10:23 AM, Hagbard Celine said:

have either of you been out there?

go, and report back

At the request of HC, I’ll post this up from a PM conversation we had after he asked about any experiences I had with ghost lights in Brewster County…

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Cajun

[Cajun 11714]

By the way, there was no sound through that entire experience.  Well, except for my friends screaming “Start the Jeep!” like 4 year old girls in a Freddie Krueger flick.

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

this thread has now been graced by the presence of the grandson of one of the top 10 legendary characters of the entire state, who also happens to be a surly horn.  anyone who has not been out there, shut the fuck up, or get your ass out there, see for yourself, and report back.

cajun, i love you man.  thank you.

i knew you probably had some kind of lights experience but i could never have dreamed it would have been that good - it mirrors many other reports down through the years.

for the benefit of the bitchass lollipop league with no knowledge of transpecos geography, the location of cajun's experience is more than 70 miles southeast of the place where us67 begins it's curving ascent of the cuesta del burros, with 2 intervening mountain ranges in between.

cajun and i both witnessed some type of earthlight phenomena that moved 300-1000 feet vertically, and both witnessed the same phenomena simply disappear at the height of it's ascent.

according to acmemapper these locations are 81 miles apart.

can you see car lights on us67? you bet you can.

but those car lights are not the phenomena under discussion here.  sorry, consensus-reality-biased folks.

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

On 6/26/2023 at 8:05 AM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Dude, Hagbard can barely see himself in the mirror. 

He can’t spell sane. 

you're young, you've got your health, when are you going to get your ass out there?  I will even script the play-by-play, just let me know if you have off-road capability

[Cajun 11714]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

this thread has now been graced by the presence of the grandson of one of the top 10 legendary characters of the entire state, who also happens to be a surly horn.  anyone who has not been out there, shut the fuck up, or get your ass out there, see for yourself, and report back.

cajun, i love you man.  thank you.

i knew you probably had some kind of lights experience but i could never have dreamed it would have been that good - it mirrors many other reports down through the years.

for the benefit of the bitchass lollipop league with no knowledge of transpecos geography, the location of cajun's experience is more than 70 miles southeast of the place where us67 begins it's curving ascent of the cuesta del burros, with 2 intervening mountain ranges in between.

cajun and i both witnessed some type of earthlight phenomena that moved 300-1000 feet vertically, and both witnessed the same phenomena simply disappear at the height of it's ascent.

according to acmemapper these locations are 81 miles apart.

can you see car lights on us67? you bet you can.

but those car lights are not the phenomena under discussion here.  sorry, consensus-reality-biased folks.

Great grandson.  I’m not that old bro.

[Cajun 11714]

For context, I just stumbled across this pic of the Jeep we were in.  Different trip out there, but roughly the same era.  
 

Also for context, that’s Lat22 in the white tshirt…

[Cajun 11714]

Oh, and when I asked Hallie about it she was sitting in that crappy plastic chair to the far left in this pic (half cut off).  You know, for context…

Edited June 27, 2023 by Cajun

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

13 minutes ago, Cajun said:

Great grandson.  I’m not that old bro.

we're the same age

i live in polychronic time

my apologies

you're still descended from a legend, so you've got that going for you, which is nice

[Cajun 11714]

I will admit that I harbored a lot of the “car lights”esque opinions when my only experience with ghost lights was a couple of sightings from the rest observation area on hwy 90 between Alpine & Marfa.  I mean they’re kinda way out there from that vantage point.

That all changed when those f’n things damn near probed our anuses that night on Stillwell Ranch.

I still laugh every time I think of my friend Paul (The one who clicked off his safety) checking his watch closely when we got back to our bunkhouse because he thought maybe we had been sucked up into a spaceship and time had stopped while they did butt stuff to us.

[Steel Shank 9428]

shit’s getting intense

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

4 hours ago, Cajun said:

For context, I just stumbled across this pic of the Jeep we were in.  Different trip out there, but roughly the same era.  
 

Also for context, that’s Lat22 in the white tshirt…

is that a sawed-off .306 ?

[Carl Spackler 3486]

Interesting thread has taken an interesting turn.

[Cajun 11714]

51 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

is that a sawed-off .306 ?

M1 Carbine.

[tx 3 putt 77084]

6 hours ago, Cajun said:

I will admit that I harbored a lot of the “car lights”esque opinions when my only experience with ghost lights was a couple of sightings from the rest observation area on hwy 90 between Alpine & Marfa.  I mean they’re kinda way out there from that vantage point.

That all changed when those f’n things damn near probed our anuses that night on Stillwell Ranch.

I still laugh every time I think of my friend Paul (The one who clicked off his safety) checking his watch closely when we got back to our bunkhouse because he thought maybe we had been sucked up into a spaceship and time had stopped while they did butt stuff to us.

[Cajun 11714]

[Lat22 4015]

On 6/27/2023 at 11:39 PM, Hagbard Celine said:

is that a sawed-off .306 ?

We were especially hard on the little things.  The helpless and the gentle creatures.

 

[Cajun 11714]

^^^
For context, his tshirt reads - “Wildlife Rescue Austin, Texas”.

[Cajun 11714]

Another pic of Lat22 (passenger seat), me (helmet w/Lucky Strikes), and a pal of ours in the same Jeep out on a rabbit eradication OP…

[Hagbard Celine 10871]

la kiva reopened on friday

[VonZipper 50]

Looking at a week long trip to BBNP in mid October with the wife.  Wondering about the temps and the crowds.  We're both early 60s and are in relatively good shape, but not looking to hike everyday the entire week.  Our limit would probably be 15 miles for a single hike.  Thoughts and comments on where we should concentrate our efforts.  Probably looking at a VRBO as we're not much into camping. I've read most of this thread and have looked at the site: https://bigbendchat.com  Lots of information to digest.  TIA