Our
trip from Tucson to Las Cruces, NM was uneventful. After a
night in Las Cruces, we continued east to Ft. Davis to meet-up
with the balance of our truck friends at the Ft. Davis State
Park. Our path took us through beautiful El Paso, across the
endless flats of west Texas and past the McDonald Observatory.
The photos below are what we saw.
Vince
was already on-site when we arrived at the Ft. Davis State
Park. His campsite was right next to ours.
Vince
comes to inspect our setup after we got settled.
The
state park site is quite big and spans both the canyons and the
ridges. The flora is characteristic of the high desert in
this area.
Spring
has sprung and the yucca are in bloom.
The
following morning the group drove to the overlook point to get a
view of the area. From the overlook we got a nice view of
the broad valley to the south.
To the
south-east are low volcanic peaks.
The
lodge in the park was closed but it is a big structure nestled
at the end of the canyon.
To the
north-west we could see the McDonald Observatory.
At the
lookout a crew of wildland firefighters had parked their
trucks. Due to the strong winds, the entire area was on
alert for wildfires. This crew was pre-positioned based on
weather reports hoping to reduce response times if a fire does
break out.
Next we
visited the McDonald Observatory for a short tour of the
Visitor's Center. Some of the domes are visible in the
photo above.
The
observatory hosts radio telescopes as well as the conventional
optical equipment. This dish is in its storage position
and is not in use.
From the
observatory, we headed through Ft. Davis, east to Alpine then
south toward Terlingua. One of our crew has property north
of Terlingua Ranch so we headed there for a night of remote
camping. Above, Mark and Laura head east on the dirt
toward our camp.
The view
from the campsite was excellent. Despite the windy
conditions, the visibility was good. The photo above shows
the view to the south toward the Terlingua Ranch.
There
was no established camp, so we found some level ground on the
edge of the ridge and dropped anchor.
Mark and
Gail's U500 were close-by and Mark and Laura's truck we next to
them.
After
the group got settled it was cocktail hour. The following
morning the group split. One team remained at the remote
camp and the other went to Terlingua to check out the
town. The town was underwhelming, but we did have a nice
dinner at the Starlight Theater.
The
following day we traveled to Big Bend National Park to meetup
with the other team at Rio Grande Village right on the Mexican
border. Coming over the last ridge we could see the rugged peaks
of the Sierra del Carmen in the distance.
We
already had reservations at the camp so we went right to our
assigned site and set up. Some of the sites had a sun
shade which is merciful during the summer.
Mark and
Gail were in the next site.
We heard
a bunch of commotion from the far camp site and went to
investigate. There was a herd of collared peccaries
working their way through the campsite. Usually, these are
referred to by their Spanish name of javelina, or
"javies". These wild pigs are native to the southern
portion of the U.S. and their range extends to Argentina in
South America. Note the white "collar" around their necks.
The
javelina were accustomed to humans which is usually not a good
thing. These can be very mean and are known to charge
humans when challenged. We gave them wide berth and
watched from our camp chairs.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2023, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.