Santa Elena Canyon, Old Maverick Road, and Terlingua ~ Still In The Lowlands In BBNP 08Apr25

While temps were rising 10°/day here on the Mexican border, we still had another day in the 80s and chose to do a smaller hike along the river then an auto-route, and cap with a highly recommended trip to Terlingua, TX just west of the park. Uh, ok. I'll share some tech we used to know about "where we are" and "what we see"... my brother-in-law comped us a keen touring app called Guide Along for our trip to Big Bend. He and Kala's sister had been here before and appreciated it ~ as did we. Anecdotes on the "settling" of the area by long dead (and often then-dead) homesteaders are the Guide Along vibe; the NPS app is more geologically oriented, but not deep. I held it in my hand on the trail on occasion but really ~ get prepared from books and research prior instead; we did that too.

Santa Elena Canyon 09Apr25 ~ The Santa Elena canyon of the Rio Grande was very nice, though a bit attended on this day. We had to find our way across a back-channel of the Rio Grande to get to the trailhead; NP really. There were kayakers "gong to Mexico" and plenty of hikers on this nice but short hike into a canyon with 1200' high cliffs and the RioG demarking Mexico from America... pretty cool. Good pic of Kala & Dave has Mexico on the left and America on the right ~ duh.

Old Maverick Road 09Apr25 ~ We got back to the Crusher Too safely... no boulders, ocotillos, or rivers thwarted our effort to get to the vaunted Terlingua. We drove the 4WD (at times) Old Maxwell Rd up from the river to the west entrance of the park and on from there to Terlingua. We passed some "ears." The road was meh... we know AZ and the Sonoran Desert so the Chihuanhuan Desert is not much different. All said, again, we're fans, but it is not new stuff.

Terlingua, TX 09Apr25 ~ Ok, we drove the road; we arrived in Terlingua; we visited the "ghost town;" what now? We went to a new GenX venue with funky art and coffees built by a wealthy local guy... with Latin services prevalent (omg); Venga I think. Whatever, we contacted recommenders and they had nuthin'. We went to the "ghost town:" what? We toasted our toes for a smidge and then at 4:30pm got in line for the Starlight Theater. Seemingly this was THE thing... we played along. Stuff down here is kitchy, fine... but meh. We were 5th in line after a fam jumped us ~ whatever you need, you do. I had the vaunted chicken friend antelope and Kala wisely chose TX brisket. Yet, she also had a weak Santa Elena marg and then a Stolo-based (much better) marg; I was designated driver. I was an ass last night so, so deserved @ the Starlight.

I'm just sayin'...

Two Days Southbound ~ Snowin' Through New Mexico 04Apr25-05Apr25

Kala and I departed COS with the Crusher Too & BC20X in light snow after prepping for a 10 day outing, toward the Rio Grande River in south TX. It'd be our longest adventure together; can we take it and each other in close quarters? Yep!

We got over Raton Pass without much precipitation. Our first stop except for gas was the in the Pecos Canyon St Pk in Terroro CG where we had a rez right on the Pecos River. It was gorgeous but a little confusing and unmarked up in the canyon with a number of private spots and state park campground and precious few signs ~ but we made it on a cool day. I was stoked to see a number fly fishermen trying their hand on the Pecos but no one was catching. We had the required campsite rez but we were the only folks there.

Setting camp was no problem, just totting the generator outside. I didn't unhook since this stop was mainly a rest before driving to southern NewMex. We ate inside and ran the heat and generator all night long. We awoke to 5" of new fallen snow!

The roads were not impacted despite the precip and we quickly were on our way after berries breakfast and Nespresso travel coffees. We headed straight south through Truth Or Consequences and stopped to taste at the T∨C Brewery, we liked their Buckhorn IPA best ~ it was the 1st recipe at T∨C when founded 25 years ago! We scored a crowler to have when at our next site, Leasburg Dam St Pk near Las Cruses. 

We arrived and set up camp with a city water hookup and 30amp electric... the St Pk was nice, as was our site... this time there were plenty of other campers around and the weather was much nicer. We were near the Rio Grande and decided to hike down to it and along the rim on the Mogollon Trail (yeah, not the one we know in AZ). It was a fine hike but the canal could not have been swum and the Rio Grande was not mighty. The terrain was a lot like Arizona; that's no problem as we are fans.

Back at camp with our first real hike of the trip completed we cracked the Buckhorn and another homage to New Mexico, the latest experimental Project Dank, Jupiter Edition, from La Cumbre. Let's go.

We made great burgers under our cover and out of the wind. We slept well but did continue to run the furnace this evening.