Monday at Big Bend Ranch State Park

March 15, 2021

Monday was The Big Day. We were going to drive to Big Bend Ranch and see if day use passes were available--in spite of what the Texas State Parks website proclaimed. And even if they weren't, most likely we could take the scenic drive. FM 170 was a public road, so even it it crossed into the borders of a state park, it didn't seem possible that they could restrict driving on it. [map]

Here we go:

Getting closer:

So off we went down our old familiar SH 118, down to Terlingua. It was a nice and slightly scenic drive. At Terlingua we picked up FM 170 and went on to the Big Bend Ranch Visitor Center in Lajitas.

 

It was crowded. Well...for south Texas it was crowded. The inside of the building was closed, but a ranger sat behind a little window and issued passes through the space. There were maybe four or five other groups getting passes. I waited behind a single person and asked the ranger my hundred dollar question....

Of course there were day passes available. She didn't know why the web site said they were booked. No, we didn't need a pass just to drive the highway, only if we wanted to hike any of the trails. All we needed was the license plate number and state parks pass, and we were home free. With a huge sigh of relief, I handed over the goods and we were off.

So the trip was safely on the revised schedule. Not a big deal, but a relief.

And now I will have to let the pictures tell the story of the scenic drive. We stopped a lot to take pictures, stare at cliffsides looking for Bighorn Sheep, and once, to let a wild pig cross the road. It might have been a javelina but I'm not sure.

Closer:

One scenic stop told us that "4-wheel drive required to go to the boat launch". What ho! We had 4-wheel drive!  So Ed slipped the Jeep into 4-wheel low gear and off we went. 

I did get a good look at a Say's Phoebe hanging out in the clearing by the river.

It was pretty down there, in the low willows overlooking the Rio Grand. But 4-wheel drive was not necessary, either to go down or to come back up. Maybe if it had been muddy.

Rio Grand, of course:

 

Later we stopped to hike part way up a fabulous slot canyon. But there were lots and lots of people hiking, many with dogs, and we had both Zack and Molly. Zack is too old to hike very far and too heavy to carry very far. Molly has to be restrained severely when she encounters other dogs on leashes, so typically we just back her off to the side and make her 'sit' while the other dogs go by.

With those handicaps, hiking very far would have been a joykiller. Besides, we were having too much fun just driving and rubbernecking. Like the old people we are.

When we exited the park, necks sore from twisting about, we had the choice to turn around and go back through or keep on to Presidio and then head north back to Alpine. (Back home, there are always lots of ways to get from where you are to where you want to be. Here, not so much.)

But the route through Presidio would take us to the ghost town of Shafter. Ghost town! Sounded exiting...

Wasn't. Just a few ruins behind an unclimbable fence. 

We weren't all that disappointed. It had been a great drive.