Remembering My First Trip to Big Bend-Part 2

When we decided to take my first trip to BIBE, Ed asked me how difficult of a hike was I willing to take. My answer, foolishly, was "the harder the better". Since I had no frame of reference as to what the harder really entailed I was talking through my hat. But Ed took me at my word and designed a trip that would test my hiking skills and cardio fitness.

We began our trip down Elephant Tusk Trail shortly after lunch. The trail really wasn't a trail at that time. It was just tall metal poles in the ground periodically to sort of keep you going in the right direction. I set the early pace and learned quite quickly that the terrain looked flat but we were steadily going uphill. Ed asked me what my hurry was and I breathlessly said I had no idea and immediately slowed down. We hiked some very tough terrain that first day and camped in the wash just east of Elephant Tusk Mountain. That night I got my first taste of freeze dried food. If you are hungry you will eat anything.

The next morning we were off and running. We got temporarily lost as the trail was just going through a wash and somewhere we made a wrong turn. After about an hour we found Tortuga Mountain and we were back on track. By mid day we reached Fresno Creek and ate lunch and resupplied our water. These were the days before water filters so we just dipped out the water and put it into our water bottles as is. Now we would not even think about that. Since the days of that first trip I have visited this area of Fresno Creek many times.

We met the Dodson Trail at the saddle above Fresno Creek a little earlier so we were on to our second segment of the trip. We headed down the Dodson toward Juniper Canyon Trailhead. After a long day we arrived at our destination just before dark. We had enough time to set up tents and cook dinner before turning in for the night. My remembrance was that it was not very cold at night and very warm during the day.

Then the hike really got tough for me. Juniper Canyon Trail is a long slog up a steep canyon that seems to go on forever. We restocked our water at Upper Juniper Springs but had to run about a dozen javalenas away from the pipe that supplies the water. Javalenas are fierce looking hog-like animals but have very poor eye-sight. We got our cook pots out and began to bang them with a spoon and the creatures decided to move on down the trail. After lunch we spent the rest of the day trying to get me to the top of the canyon. I learned the value of having a large chocolate bar in my pack. Just when I thought I could not go any more, I sat down and ate my Hershey's bar and soon thereafter found enough energy to summit the canyon. But I was one tired puppy at that point.

We spent the night on the Southeast Rim of the Chisos Mountains. It was a windy but starlit night. The stars were as bright as I have ever seen them. You could see satellites as they moved steadily across the sky. The rim is a truly spectacular place to be. Unfortunately I have spent most of my time since then in the desert so the upcoming trip will re-acquaint me with the Chisos.

The next day we climbed up to Emory Peak, the highest point in the Chisos and photographed the desert looking into Mexico. Then on around the rim and down Blue Creek Canyon Trail to the Homer Wilson Ranch House and our water cache. When we reached the ranch house we were totally out of water and very tired. Ed wanted to keep going down the Dodson Trail but Lane and I convinced him to spend the night there. That gave us half the afternoon to just relax and soak up the beauty. It also gave me a chance to use the trash barrel that used to be at the road above the ranch to get rid of a lot of extra stuff in my pack.

The next day was truly the most spectacular of all the days on the trip. We headed across the Dodson to the Elephant Tusk Trailhead at the saddle. I remember thinking that there is no end to the ridges we had to cross to get to the last saddle. Lane was beginning to have ankle problems because of some bad boots. We stopped on Fresno Creek for water and I wrapped his ankle which seemed to help. Rather than continuing on down the Elephant Tusk Trail we decided to head down Fresno Creek to something Ed called the Plunge Pools. Little did I know what was about to face me.

Fresno Creek began to flow down hill into a large canyon that got smaller and smaller until we ran out of room. At that point the creek flowed over a series of plunge pools that were about 10 to 15 feet drop in elevation for each of them. This did not look like something I could handle but rather than turn around I decided to get with it. We took off our boots and put on our running shoes. Then we took off our packs and tied some line to each of the packs. I was able to get down to the first pool by circumventing the side of the canyon and jumping down. We lowered all the packs and the rest of the group followed suit. We were able to make it down the next pool the same way but the next pool Ed could not get down the side of the canyon. So he decided to jump into the pool which wound up being over his head. The temperature at that time was probably around 40 degrees. Ed was now soaking wet and we still had one more pool to climb around. I fell into the last pool but only got wet up to my knees.

We got Ed down into the wash below the pools and got him out of the wet clothes. He put on a pair of my silk long johns and got into his sleeping bag until we could get him warm enough to continue. Late that afternoon we put the packs back on and headed out again. We arrived at a rocky ledge over looking a very fast running Fresno Creek. We listened to the wonderful sound of Fresno Creek running all night.

The next day we headed down the creek until we thought we were far enough down to cross country back to the truck. We should have continued down the creek but after being lost for about 2 hours we finally found the road and then eventually the truck. What a trip that was. It was very tiring and dangerous (at the time I did not know how dangerous). However, I will be making that trip at least one more time. The guys I am going with probably do not want to bite off that much but if they do I am all for it.

I wish I had some pics to put on here from that trip but they are packed away somewhere in the attic. One day I will scan them in and put on my blog.