Big Bend National Park - Outer Mountain Loop (Pic heavy!)

Finally made it!

Big Bend – Outer Mountain Loop

Texas is home to 2 National Parks. Big Bend is one of them, and “Big” is an understatement. Unfortunately this beautiful slice of heaven is very isolated. Lying 4.5 hours from El Paso and 6 hours from San Antonio, it makes Big Bend challenging to come by… but worth every second. Remember how Big Bend is huge, it is larger than the entire state of Rhode Island and once you enter the park, it is still another 30 or so miles until the Visitor Center. If you would like to learn more about Big Bend, visit the National Park’s web page (http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm).  Below will be a recap of my adventure to Big Bend with 3 other buddies. Our endurance/health levels varied, but generally our camping was minimal.

Here is what I packed for the trip 

OML without the South Rim Detour

Trip Recap:

May 22, 2014

Leave San Antonio around 10 pm in hopes of making it to the park by sunrise. Aside from almost running out of gas, we just kept each other awake on the drive. We made a stop in Fort Stockton to grab a bite to eat figuring there would be nothing else open along the way. I got a foot long subway to eat once we got closer to the park.

Heading down to cache ou

May 23, 2014

We got to the Park around 7 am as the sun was rising. During our drive in we started to feel how massive and majestic this area was. During the night ride we were oblivious to the giant rock formations jetting out of the ground. The sun’s reflection was giving off a vibrant red glow that was photographic view, even from a distance. We already knew that hiking the Outer Mountain Loop was impossible without caching water. We headed to the Homer Wilson Blue Creek cache point. All four of us placed 1 gallon each. CACHE 2 GALLONS. I cannot stress this enough. It is no difference hauling 2 gallons from your car on the side of the road, down 400m to the cache box. We saw other jugs in the box dated in April, some with “Emergency water”. We heard doing the OML was suicidal in the summer months, but we were experiencing a rather cool May. We returned back to Chisos Basin Park Center (can leave car here) to buy our park pass ($20/vehicle) and get our backpacking permit ($10). The park ranger issues these and was strongly trying to discourage our plans. In the end, our research and knowledge from it convinced him to give us a shot. He did mention that OML has a 10% success rate… scare tactic or truth?

Getting ready to take off!

The water alone I was carrying weighed almost 20 pounds. After adding in everything else, I was somewhere between 25 & 30. My preparation for this trip? Walking around Freer, TX with 35 pounds in my bag for 2 hours one day and 4 hours another. We all chugged about half a gallon of water and began our adventure at 10 am. We began with the Pinnacles Trail. This was an immediate uphill hike. We got into the grove by allowing each person to lead the group for 15 mins, and then drop to the end and continue until one cycle. We would then stop and rest for 15 mins then continue. This gave each person the chance to go at

Maps help!

their own pace and include plenty of rest. We continued this method for 3.5 miles where we came across Emory Peak Trail. I hear great things about this view, but we heard better things about South Rim, so we trekked on for about 1.3 miles (passing the Colina Trail). We took a breather here. There is a nice dried out creek. We headed to the right towards South Rim, but only for a short, maybe half mile, we were forced to continue right on the West route due to falcon mating season. After a mile we came up on the most breath taking views. We were again restricted by the falcon mating season and forced to turn right. We took lots of photos. One of the guys in our group was deathly afraid of heights, to the point where us being close to the edge made him queasy. We spent a solid 30 mins admiring the great views and taking photos. Our vantage point allowed us to see for miles and

Enjoying South Rim

Group Shot!

consequently, where we would be walking the next day. We headed back to our turn off point (~3 mile side trip in all) and got onto Juniper Canyon Trail. We all thought the steep ascend was bad… the steep descend was possibly worse! We were still covered by trees and the heat wasn’t too back despite temperatures reaching into the upper 80’s. After descending from 7,000’ to 3,000’ we made it to Upper Juniper Springs. Soon after this point is where back packing camping begins. This must occur 50’ off the trail (there are clearly marked spots). We estimated that we were 1.5-2 miles from the Dodson Trail turn off. We set up the tent and got ready for bed as the sun was setting. Due to our lack of sleep we were able to sleep pretty easy despite the thunder clouds rolling in.

Take BREAKS!

Our sleep spot

Total distance covered: 14 miles

Lunch: 1 apple, couple beef jerky pieces, and cliff bar

Snack: 1 orange

Dinner: Tuna package, jerky pieces, twizzlers and washed down with half coconut water

May 24, 2014

Rattlesnakes blend in well... Be careful!

We woke around 6 and began to get ready. We were on our way by 6:45 with the sun barely peaking over the mountains. Within 30 minutes of leaving we became INCHES from a rattlesnake. Just sitting in the middle of the trail was a 4’ rattlesnake. We took no chance and walked way around. Another 30 minutes we were at the cache station for Dodson Trail. We took a look and found some emergency water. We took some and filled our jugs. We did not take full advantage ago, and we wish we would have! Never pass on water!

Day 2!

There was a single rain cloud on the mountain where South Rim view was. It was a great shot, so we took a couple photos before taking off. We had roughly 11 miles til the Homer Wilson Blue Creek Ranch point. This part was very brutal and intense. It involved very rigorous up downs causing us to take multiple breaks. There was no shade from the sun. The immediate contact wore on us greatly. The only positive is your shoulders become use to the weight and the load is lessening with time, but be sure you save water! After the intersection of Smokey Creek Trail, the terrain becomes more tame. The heat however is climbing rapidly. We started a 20 mins on, 5 mins off campaign and that 5 mins had to be spent in whatever form of shade we could find. We knew the cache station was coming up after we ascended and

Cairns will save you!

took a turn and saw we had a big descend. Take this descent lightly, then follow the creek bed and finally the cache station is in view! The heat was making it quite miserable but the scenery is amazing. We sat at the cache station for an hour chugging water and eating what we could. Half our crew decided that was enough and hitched a ride back to the park center. We continued up the creek bed for another 2.5 hours passing the red rocks (looks like something out of Utah!). We made camp and passed out!

The red rocks

Total distance covered: 13 miles

Breakfast: Cliff bar and rest of coconut water

Lunch: 1 apple, couple beef jerky pieces, peanut butter and honey sandwich

Snack: 1 orange

Dinner: Tuna package, jerky pieces, twizzlers

May 25, 2014

We woke up early to beat the heat. We had to use our head lights for the first 30 mins or so but it was worth it. The steep mountains that surrounded us made it feel like we were closer than we really were. We had one last ascend where at the top the sign indicated we were 3.5 miles away from the park center. Hope! This involved a lot of switch backs that were hard on the joints and blisters on top of blisters. We could see a glimpse of the park but it was misleading as the switch backs were killer. We did start seeing people walking towards us wearing fresh clothes and smiles while I am sure we looked like something from the Walking Dead. We finally reached the park center and immediately went to the park store to buy any kind of foods. Burger and ice cream? Sounds great! Finished up with about 36 miles in all 

FINISHED!