Road to Hell (or Big Bend in the summer)

I made it out of Austin Tuesday morning around 8 and headed for Luling, TX. Their City market was another one of those places that was mentioned as the best for barbecue in TX. Thankfully they don't have any time cutoffs and I got there around 10:30 so it was nice and quiet. Inside they have a big eating area and then in a separate room in the back is the BBQ. First thing you do is go back and order the BBQ then you can come back and get the sides and drinks at the front counter. I asked them if they had some sort of sampler so they gave me what he called a 2-2-2 which was 2 ribs, 2 brisket slices and 1 whole sausage. Man, it was soooo good. The ribs were my favorite and had a crispy exterior with a hot juicy interior. The meat was so tender and the textures really made it special. I'm sort of drooling right now just thinking about it. My next favorite was probably the brisket with their mustard sauce on it. It was also hot and tender and had a great smokey flavor throughout the meat. I couldn't finish both slices so I wrapped one up in some bread to have later. I hadn't had this kind of sausage in a long time but it was pretty good too. It's super greasy so I'm sure you don't want to have it on a regular basis but the flavor took me back to when I was younger. I couldn't finish that either so I struck out of there with half a piece of sausage and that strip of brisket. Best air freshener I've ever had! The car smelled amazing when I got back into it after grabbing some gas.

I was thinking I would take I-10 down to Big Bend but Betty took me down the highway along the Texas/Mexico border so I passed through a number of border towns (and immigration checkpoints). There wasn't much of note out there...it's pretty dry and desert like and it just goes on forever. Amistad reservoir was pretty neat outside of Del Rio. In the middle of the desert is this big blue body of water. I'm sure it sees a lot of use year round.





I finally made it into Big Bend around 5 p.m., just in time to catch the rangers at the entrance station (which is forever into the park). She recommended I go camp in the mountains where it was at least 70 at night as opposed to the riverside campgrounds that got down to 80 if you were lucky. Since most of the parks I've been to are further north I am used to summer being the busiest time of year and the winter being the low time. Well, not at Big Bend. Seems like people don't really want to go hiking and camping outside when it's 112!!! Guess I should have read up on that :) On the plus side it wasn't crowded at all and I had no problems getting a site. The ranger said that their busiest season is the winter when people come down to escape the cold.

Once I set up camp I figured I'd try to get in one of the hikes nearby. On the road into the campsite I noticed a trail with a parking lot called the 'Lost Mine'. Since I love exploring old mineworks I figured that trail would be really cool so I drove up there and got ready to head up the mountain. It's a 4.6 mile round trip and I figured the elevation gain wouldn't be too bad so I headed up around 7:30 p.m. They had a nice trail guide to explain the vegetation along the way and the hike offered some pretty nice vantage points. Unfortunately the heat produced a lot of haze and most of the lookouts were west facing so taking pictures of anything but sunsets and clouds was not going to happen. I'm sure it'd be a really nice trail to take early in the morning and catch the sunrise. Anywho, I made it to the top in pretty good time and took a bunch of pictures and explored a bit and started going down as the sun was. Half of the trip was in that late evening dark but it was still pretty easy to see everything and the weather was nice so it didn't bother me. Along the way I met an older gentleman who had started his climb a little too late and was going to try and make it up the next morning. My only disappointment with the trail is it had nothing to do with any mine! Oh well. If you're interested in seeing more while I was googling the trail I came upon this virtual hike that is pretty well done.


There's no mine up here, just me!

I figured I'd try to catch up on my picture organizing and blogging so I setup my laptop on the picnic table and worked while I was eating. A little bit later on I heard this scurrying sound nearby and figured there was a mouse or bird or something in the pavilion. When I looked down I saw a freaking skunk! Now I'm not usually very timid with wild animals but I did NOT want to get sprayed and have to try and get de-funked so I tried to stay very still until it left. I also figured that it was probably time to go to bed in case the thing came back so I headed off to the bathroom to brush my teeth. There was another guy in there doing the same so I mentioned the skunk to him. Turns out that skunk makes the rounds in the campground and you just have to stomp your feet to make him go away as he doesn't seem to be prone to spraying humans. I'm surprised the park service hasn't got that bugger and either put him out and moved him far away. It's not safe to have animals that are habitualized to humans.

I pretty much slept naked because it was so hot (and very windy). In the morning it was about 70 when I got in the car so I guess it had cooled down a little. The wind in the little canyon I where the campground is really picks up in the morning so I had to collapse the tent and weigh it down with rocks so it wouldn't blow away





Big Bend Pics