big bend of the rio grande - apache canyon
after a one year absence, we finally made a return trip to the big bend of the rio grande.
this trip was hard to plan for from the start. our list of companions was ever evolving and devolving until the day before departure. with varying capabilities among the potential travelers, the itinerary for the week also continued to change. i say week, when really we were only there for a very short three days.
ultimately, the guest list included me, jackson ,dad, neil, david and zac. david and zac were already in alpine,so the plan was for us to meet up at campsite number 53 in the basin before heading off for a hike into cattail falls.
first things first, we stopped at panther junction to garner a zone camping permit for the area just west of burro mesa. this was a lot more time consuming than i thought was necessary. after haggling for 10 minutes over why my drivers license wasn't acceptable for a permit that might include the use of my father's car, and then over why it was that my father couldn't just tell them his information- the actual document had to be shown, over-zealous-ranger finally produced a convincing argument that inspired my father to walk out to the car to retrieve his driver's license from the car.
i then made the mistake of inquiring how the eastern boundary of the zone was defined. it isn't obvious from the map that the park provides and i wanted to make sure that we didn't camp in violation. the guy wasn't too sure, so he called over a young woman ranger whose face turned several colors of red when man-ranger mistakenly told her we were going to be camping in apache canyon. just prior to her head exploding, he was able to explain the situation and she was reduced to a slow simmer. after what seemed an eternity of one sided discussion on their part and low, disinterested grunting on our part, the desired papers were in our hands and we rushed out the the basin.
site 53 in the basin has pluses and minuses. on the plus side the site is near the end of the loop, is completely surrounded by trees, and is in the "no generator" zone. on the other hand, the site is very small with little to no room for tents. since david had not yet shown and wasn't planning to go to cattail with us, we dropped our stuff at the site and headed out. just out of the drive, we meet david and zac and confirmed their desire to stay behind.
we arrived to find two other cars at the cattail "parking lot." a short little hike up the trail and we found ourselves descending into cooler air as we moved into the shadows and approached the pour-off. there was very little water falling over the cliff, but still this is a wonderful place to spend a few minutes. we spent a little while hanging out by the water and talking before we decided we'd better get going in order to beat the falling sun. we lost, but were rewarded with our first big bend sunset of the trip.
back at camp we set out our bags and then enjoyed a dinner of steak and fried potatoes and cocoa. i got into my bag and turned on my ipod. as i lay there by my son, staring at the stars, sinatra sang "but whenever I have an evening to spend. just give me one like this. this is a lovely way to spend an evening. cant think of anything Id rather do." it was a perfect way to end the day.
the morning came early and we dressed quickly and made our way to the restaurant for an over-priced breakfast buffet. whatever. it was better than the oatmeal i had waiting for wednesday and WAY better than the mountain house eggs and bacon jackson had brought for the next morning. still, we have always eaten in the basin at least once, and this was our chance.
after breakfast we headed out 118 to a spot just past the ross waxwell scenic drive intersection to drop david's van. we packed into dad's new suv and headed down ross maxwell to the trailhead to apache canyon. the hike up the trail is well defined and not difficult. there are some surprising valleys that open up from time to time. we followed the old wagon ruts for a little over three miles to the old stone corral and ruins of a home. just before the approach into the corral, jackson and i hiked up to a spot overlooking the old water tank. it is a depression in the desert that was as dry as i expected. we ate our lunch at the corral and posed for a group picture in front of the old ruins.
after a good rest we were ready for the real challenge. if we only knew... heading north out of the corral area we followed a trail for a third mile or so. it then petered out in the middle of nothing. approaching the canyon was strange because although we knew where the canyon was, we couldn't see a thing until we were right up on it. as such, we inadvertently over shot our best entrance into the canyon. we went too far east and found a wash that looked very manageable. we followed it just long enough to find the place that it dead-ended into a 200 foot pour-off. we traversed around the head of the canyon very concerned about finding a way down that would be negotiable by an 8 year-old, and an autistic nephew. we looked over several plans that were unacceptable until we decided on one that would give us our best opportunity that didn't involve backtracking to the car. in pairs, we descended a 300 ft+ canyon wall of talus, boulders, cactus, and grass. it wasn't a true scree-slide, but it wasn't walking either. the last third we all rode down on our butts. with a lot of trepidation, nerves and gumption (and probably a little luck) we all made it safely to the wash in the canyon bottom.
the canyon is unbelievably rugged and harsh. i haven't been all over the park like many others, but this was surely the most forbidding area in the park that i have yet seen. forbidding, yes, but perhaps that is one aspect that makes it so very beautiful. with little rest, we began the remaining hike out of the canyon and into the cactus riddled flat lands which stretch out for 2 1/2 miles from the canyon mouth to highway 118. we were ever so pleased to see david's van waiting for us just where we expected it.
after some mountain house's and more cocoa, we fell into our bags and finally fully relaxed our bodies. the closest thing appropriate for the day's activities that frank had to offer that night was "luck be a lady tonight." i felt a little lucky that night that nothing untoward had happened to any of our group in our adventure in apache canyon.
as morning broke we loaded up on oatmeal and pop tarts and whatever else we could find for breakfast (including the aforementioned vomitable eggs.) we packed up our camp, stowed away all of our belongings and made the trek out of the basin for the last time. until later...
david wasn't feeling 100 % so he decided not to hike with us that morning as he and zac would head straight for alpine and the rest of their family. before he left us, he pointed us to a spot in the road where we stopped. after a short hike into the desert, we came upon some very cool rock formations. we all decided that walking in creek beds is wonderful for the beautiful stone available to observe. especially when in the desert, the handiwork of water is beautiful to behold.
we hiked back to the car and made a short drive over to indian head. it was the first time in our trip to really see many other people. we had a great time looking for petroglyphs and metates. we saw what must have been stoves of some sort and made our way to the spring at the end of the trail. we saw several groups of people measuring and documenting rock art found in the area. all in all it was a cool way to end the trip.
we had spent the majority of our trip hiking trails not advertised by the park rangers and visited areas viewed to be too precious and sensitive for the average park guest. while i see the point of protecting special places, forgive me if i disagree. as a taxpayer, i am part owner of these lands; and i dispute the design of one group of people declaring that they have the right to know of and visit sensitive sites but reserve information from those seeking the same information simply because the latter group may not have the same level of "training" to protect these lands. i would love to know what makes one grouping of rock art viewable (hot springs area) and another so very secret as to be unable to be discussed.
nevertheless, we had a great time in the park and -as always- left yearning for more. i have already begun planning the next trip.
this trip was hard to plan for from the start. our list of companions was ever evolving and devolving until the day before departure. with varying capabilities among the potential travelers, the itinerary for the week also continued to change. i say week, when really we were only there for a very short three days.
ultimately, the guest list included me, jackson ,dad, neil, david and zac. david and zac were already in alpine,so the plan was for us to meet up at campsite number 53 in the basin before heading off for a hike into cattail falls.
first things first, we stopped at panther junction to garner a zone camping permit for the area just west of burro mesa. this was a lot more time consuming than i thought was necessary. after haggling for 10 minutes over why my drivers license wasn't acceptable for a permit that might include the use of my father's car, and then over why it was that my father couldn't just tell them his information- the actual document had to be shown, over-zealous-ranger finally produced a convincing argument that inspired my father to walk out to the car to retrieve his driver's license from the car.
i then made the mistake of inquiring how the eastern boundary of the zone was defined. it isn't obvious from the map that the park provides and i wanted to make sure that we didn't camp in violation. the guy wasn't too sure, so he called over a young woman ranger whose face turned several colors of red when man-ranger mistakenly told her we were going to be camping in apache canyon. just prior to her head exploding, he was able to explain the situation and she was reduced to a slow simmer. after what seemed an eternity of one sided discussion on their part and low, disinterested grunting on our part, the desired papers were in our hands and we rushed out the the basin.
site 53 in the basin has pluses and minuses. on the plus side the site is near the end of the loop, is completely surrounded by trees, and is in the "no generator" zone. on the other hand, the site is very small with little to no room for tents. since david had not yet shown and wasn't planning to go to cattail with us, we dropped our stuff at the site and headed out. just out of the drive, we meet david and zac and confirmed their desire to stay behind.
we arrived to find two other cars at the cattail "parking lot." a short little hike up the trail and we found ourselves descending into cooler air as we moved into the shadows and approached the pour-off. there was very little water falling over the cliff, but still this is a wonderful place to spend a few minutes. we spent a little while hanging out by the water and talking before we decided we'd better get going in order to beat the falling sun. we lost, but were rewarded with our first big bend sunset of the trip.
back at camp we set out our bags and then enjoyed a dinner of steak and fried potatoes and cocoa. i got into my bag and turned on my ipod. as i lay there by my son, staring at the stars, sinatra sang "but whenever I have an evening to spend. just give me one like this. this is a lovely way to spend an evening. cant think of anything Id rather do." it was a perfect way to end the day.
the morning came early and we dressed quickly and made our way to the restaurant for an over-priced breakfast buffet. whatever. it was better than the oatmeal i had waiting for wednesday and WAY better than the mountain house eggs and bacon jackson had brought for the next morning. still, we have always eaten in the basin at least once, and this was our chance.
after breakfast we headed out 118 to a spot just past the ross waxwell scenic drive intersection to drop david's van. we packed into dad's new suv and headed down ross maxwell to the trailhead to apache canyon. the hike up the trail is well defined and not difficult. there are some surprising valleys that open up from time to time. we followed the old wagon ruts for a little over three miles to the old stone corral and ruins of a home. just before the approach into the corral, jackson and i hiked up to a spot overlooking the old water tank. it is a depression in the desert that was as dry as i expected. we ate our lunch at the corral and posed for a group picture in front of the old ruins.
after a good rest we were ready for the real challenge. if we only knew... heading north out of the corral area we followed a trail for a third mile or so. it then petered out in the middle of nothing. approaching the canyon was strange because although we knew where the canyon was, we couldn't see a thing until we were right up on it. as such, we inadvertently over shot our best entrance into the canyon. we went too far east and found a wash that looked very manageable. we followed it just long enough to find the place that it dead-ended into a 200 foot pour-off. we traversed around the head of the canyon very concerned about finding a way down that would be negotiable by an 8 year-old, and an autistic nephew. we looked over several plans that were unacceptable until we decided on one that would give us our best opportunity that didn't involve backtracking to the car. in pairs, we descended a 300 ft+ canyon wall of talus, boulders, cactus, and grass. it wasn't a true scree-slide, but it wasn't walking either. the last third we all rode down on our butts. with a lot of trepidation, nerves and gumption (and probably a little luck) we all made it safely to the wash in the canyon bottom.
the canyon is unbelievably rugged and harsh. i haven't been all over the park like many others, but this was surely the most forbidding area in the park that i have yet seen. forbidding, yes, but perhaps that is one aspect that makes it so very beautiful. with little rest, we began the remaining hike out of the canyon and into the cactus riddled flat lands which stretch out for 2 1/2 miles from the canyon mouth to highway 118. we were ever so pleased to see david's van waiting for us just where we expected it.
after some mountain house's and more cocoa, we fell into our bags and finally fully relaxed our bodies. the closest thing appropriate for the day's activities that frank had to offer that night was "luck be a lady tonight." i felt a little lucky that night that nothing untoward had happened to any of our group in our adventure in apache canyon.
as morning broke we loaded up on oatmeal and pop tarts and whatever else we could find for breakfast (including the aforementioned vomitable eggs.) we packed up our camp, stowed away all of our belongings and made the trek out of the basin for the last time. until later...
david wasn't feeling 100 % so he decided not to hike with us that morning as he and zac would head straight for alpine and the rest of their family. before he left us, he pointed us to a spot in the road where we stopped. after a short hike into the desert, we came upon some very cool rock formations. we all decided that walking in creek beds is wonderful for the beautiful stone available to observe. especially when in the desert, the handiwork of water is beautiful to behold.
we hiked back to the car and made a short drive over to indian head. it was the first time in our trip to really see many other people. we had a great time looking for petroglyphs and metates. we saw what must have been stoves of some sort and made our way to the spring at the end of the trail. we saw several groups of people measuring and documenting rock art found in the area. all in all it was a cool way to end the trip.
we had spent the majority of our trip hiking trails not advertised by the park rangers and visited areas viewed to be too precious and sensitive for the average park guest. while i see the point of protecting special places, forgive me if i disagree. as a taxpayer, i am part owner of these lands; and i dispute the design of one group of people declaring that they have the right to know of and visit sensitive sites but reserve information from those seeking the same information simply because the latter group may not have the same level of "training" to protect these lands. i would love to know what makes one grouping of rock art viewable (hot springs area) and another so very secret as to be unable to be discussed.
nevertheless, we had a great time in the park and -as always- left yearning for more. i have already begun planning the next trip.
posted by cm at 1/04/2009
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