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Big Bend - Alpine - Marfa - Fort Davis


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On 12/17/2022 at 1:52 PM, 4th&Five said:

Taking the family out in February. It’ll be their first time and my first time in 15 years. We’re going to do the Star Party at McDonald on Friday and then 3 days in the park.

You'll have so much fun at the star party. Bring a jacket just in case because it's considerably cooler at the observatory than it will be in Fort Davis and Marfa

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Taking the family out in February. It’ll be their first time and my first time in 15 years. We’re going to do the Star Party at McDonald on Friday and then 3 days in the park.

We tried that in February of 2020 and got shut out by humidity. Ours wasn’t the normal star party; it was for one of the bigger scopes.
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  • 2 weeks later...

That ernst trail is rough. We rented a jeep and sis it for the first time last July. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to go to the end: had to walk the two youngest back to the jeep and fire up the ac. Very cool pics.


I think you should go for the Diego burger.

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  • 3 weeks later...
anyone been to the chinati hot springs out west of presidio? have always been curious but wasn't sure if it's worth a stay. would like to combine that with pinto canyon road which has also been on my list for a while. 

Went there pretty soon after they opened and spent the day. Looks like they have done a lot of improvements. The couple who were running it were from Dallas. Turns out we knew the lady. She was a bartender at Club Dada. Anyway it was a cool place. d4284a6e9fd76720eb5cefa32ed591a4.jpg
Had a blast driving the WRX out there.
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Me and a group of friends are heading out.. guys trip in November and we have settled on BB. Any recs on places in Terlingua that can sleep 6 or 7 guys? I would ideally like that stretch of cabins on the main road but can't find them on the internet..

If not, I think we're going to get 2 separate places in Terlingua..

 

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51 minutes ago, texashorne said:

Me and a group of friends are heading out.. guys trip in November and we have settled on BB. Any recs on places in Terlingua that can sleep 6 or 7 guys? I would ideally like that stretch of cabins on the main road but can't find them on the internet..

If not, I think we're going to get 2 separate places in Terlingua..

 

Terlingua base camp has lots of casitas

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11 hours ago, texashorne said:

Me and a group of friends are heading out.. guys trip in November and we have settled on BB. Any recs on places in Terlingua that can sleep 6 or 7 guys? I would ideally like that stretch of cabins on the main road but can't find them on the internet..

If not, I think we're going to get 2 separate places in Terlingua..

 

you talking about these in Study Butte? https://terlinguanights.com/

there's also Terlingua Ranch Lodge, but it's about 16 miles east of 118 and 16 miles north of Study Butte, so a 32 mile drive to town. the lodge has a restaurant (the bad rabbit), pool (don't think it's open in Nov.), and small laundromat. if you have 4WD, take the Christmas Mountain drive from the Lodge.

 

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On 2/3/2023 at 11:03 PM, texashorne said:

Me and a group of friends are heading out.. guys trip in November and we have settled on BB. Any recs on places in Terlingua that can sleep 6 or 7 guys? I would ideally like that stretch of cabins on the main road but can't find them on the internet..

If not, I think we're going to get 2 separate places in Terlingua..

 

these are the ones you seek: https://nuevoterlingua.com/

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On 2/4/2023 at 10:21 AM, tejas60 said:

owned by a scumbag that's also a sex offender. allegedly.

there are some cool casitas, though.

i read about that not long ago, didn't know that was the origin of the "katy lied" stickers around terlingua. thought it was just a fellow steely dan fan spreading the word. 

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On 2/4/2023 at 10:19 AM, tejas60 said:

there's also Terlingua Ranch Lodge, but it's about 16 miles east of 118 and 16 miles north of Study Butte, so a 32 mile drive to town. the lodge has a restaurant (the bad rabbit), pool (don't think it's open in Nov.), and small laundromat. if you have 4WD, take the Christmas Mountain drive from the Lodge.

Stayed there a couple weeks ago. You definitely feel like you’re out in the wild, which was cool. Restaurant was good and even had live music. The drive after dark was a bit harry, especially since the last few miles is unpaved but would stay there again. 

Here’s a pic from our cabin:

9E016AC4-8DAE-4639-9E4C-E917828FF81A.thumb.jpeg.4f6a2a54612be871442c96a8c22b2627.jpeg
 

Might have been mentioned but Long Draw Pizza in Terlingua was a great stop after hiking all day for some pizza and beers. They even had the Horns game on. 

Edited by 4th&Five
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on 28 may 1923 after 2 years of drilling Santa Rita #1 came in here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@31.225133,-101.6924472,106m/data=!3m1!1e3

everyone knows the original hardware is on the 40

the rig and pumphouse at the above site visible on satellite and street view produced for another 45 years

they were recently restored making this a Fandango-level pilgrimage site for Horns on the way to or from the transpecos which is why i'm posting this here

the ruins of the town of Texon are in between the rig and the road (us 67) and probably full of sneks

the historical marker on 67 is exactly due north of the site and the rig is easily visible facing south, and easily accessible driving the "streets" of Texon

https://goo.gl/maps/Z3PTmjsCzrmLbAxX6

here's the sites worth a read on this subject:

https://universitylands.utsystem.edu/News/2021/6/SantaRitaWell1Restoration (scroll down - the pic isn't loading - there is text after the blank space)

http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Texas_ghost_towns/Texon_Texas/Texon_Texas.htm

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=118024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texon,_Texas

+++

getting there from austin/houston/sa

for sake of simplicity assume destination is study butte via fort stockton & alpine down 118

99% of travelers from east/south of sonora will have that as their common detour point

sonora to study butte (no texon fandango): 290 miles ("251 minutes")

sonora to texon to study butte: 318 miles ("287 minutes") https://goo.gl/maps/3bYB4jD8ye5YDA4X6

so it's a difference of 30-ish miles / 30-ish minutes in travel plus time spent gawking

adding on the stiles courthouse to the north of big lake and then to texon is another 30-ish miles / 30ish minutes plus gawking time

+++

getting there from nortex:

exiting i20 in cisco & taking 208 to 67 south of coleman is 8 miles shorter to stiles courthouse than i20 through big spring but i can't drive 55 and i'm sure most here can't either so assume abilene to study butte via fort stockton for better i20 performance over us67

abilene to study butte (no fandangos): 394 miles ("350 minutes")

abilene to stiles courthouse to texon to study butte: 427 miles ("404 minutes") https://goo.gl/maps/DCsGS2EPhwRjazAQ9

from nortex both fandangos add only 36 miles and "54 minutes" which is more likely 45 minutes tops in daylight, plus gawktime

 

 

 

 

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On 1/25/2023 at 9:42 AM, stc said:

anyone been to the chinati hot springs out west of presidio? have always been curious but wasn't sure if it's worth a stay. would like to combine that with pinto canyon road which has also been on my list for a while. 

 

its pretty low key. Its been awhile since i've been there, but you could tent camp or stay in rooms they have there. Not much going on. Large communal hot tub fed from a hot springs. Warning: hot tub may contain naked hippies. Some of the rooms have hot tubs also. Large communal kitchen. Bring your own food. Bring wood for a camp fire. Surrounded by private land, so not much hiking, although you can hike downstream in the dried creek bed with cliffs on either side for a little ways, although you enter private property pretty quickly.

They have a pool but I've never seen it full.

I give it a meh. The isolation is the big draw. The drive is the fun part, although you surely need high clearance. On the drive back you might get stopped by border patrol once you get to pavement. I say two nights max. I would say one night, but the drive there is pretty long for only one night.

 

edit: @Anton Chigurh Is Pinto Canyon road the unpaved road through open range that takes you there from Marfa? I don't remember.

 

 

On 2/3/2023 at 11:32 PM, Anton Chigurh said:


Late February to early May for birds.

Weather, late October to early April.

Can easily extend that if you are not tent camping, though.

 

I think Oct and Nov are the best months by far, although it can get chilly at night starting in Sep, and downright cold in Nov. If you are coming from a blast furnace like Austin, Dallas, Houston, even August and Sep are nice because its much cooler than those places, and you can get cool nights and afternoon thunderstorms that cool things off. (Hottest time is earlier in the summer before the monsoon). Jan and feb are cold and windy and dry dry dry. Spring is often very windy and dusty. For me, wind is worse than extreme temps, so I avoid the spring time.

But the worst day out there is better than the best day just about anywhere else.

Drive back through Fort Davis and onto Balmorhea for a dip in the pool there. Its awesome. You might need advance reservations for entry into the park though.

 

 

Edited by High Plains Drifter
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1 hour ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

its pretty low key. Its been awhile since i've been there, but you could tent camp or stay in rooms they have there. Not much going on. Large communal hot tub fed from a hot springs. Warning: hot tub may contain naked hippies. Some of the rooms have hot tubs also. Large communal kitchen. Bring your own food. Bring wood for a camp fire. Surrounded by private land, so not much hiking, although you can hike downstream in the dried creek bed with cliffs on either side for a little ways, although you enter private property pretty quickly.

They have a pool but I've never seen it full.

I give it a meh. The isolation is the big draw. The drive is the fun part, although you surely need high clearance. On the drive back you might get stopped by border patrol once you get to pavement. I say two nights max. I would say one night, but the drive there is pretty long for only one night.

 

edit: @Anton Chigurh Is Pinto Canyon road the unpaved road through open range that takes you there from Marfa? I don't remember.

 

 

 

I think Oct and Nov are the best months by far, although it can get chilly at night starting in Sep, and downright cold in Nov. If you are coming from a blast furnace like Austin, Dallas, Houston, even August and Sep are nice because its much cooler than those places, and you can get cool nights and afternoon thunderstorms that cool things off. (Hottest time is earlier in the summer before the monsoon). Jan and feb are cold and windy and dry dry dry. Spring is often very windy and dusty. For me, wind is worse than extreme temps, so I avoid the spring time.

But the worst day out there is better than the best day just about anywhere else.

Drive back through Fort Davis and onto Balmorhea for a dip in the pool there. Its awesome. You might need advance reservations for entry into the park though.

 

 

Agree with all of this.  And Pinto is the way there.

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Found out I am going in May to Lajitas.  Not a golfer.  Will probably do the zip-lining and take a good book(s) & whiskey and just get the fuck away for a while.

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