Big Bend & Carlsbad Caverns National Parks

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I got the idea to take Colin on a trip to Big Bend National Park when my mom emailed me a photo from West Texas.  She had been doing some training in some of the smaller towns and thought the place was  beautiful...of course it is!  I had gone to Big Bend with my dad when I was younger.  We had camped in "the basin" only to find out there had been a mountain lion in camp that night.  We had gone across the border to Boquillas del Carmen, and spent a day rafting on the Rio Grande.  It was a fun trip and I was hoping to show Colin some of the places I had seen.

DAY - 1

We left home early the morning of December 10th and spent the day driving to my mom's in Austin.  Colin was very content watching movies and playing Angry Birds on the iPad until the battery died...then he reluctantly went to sleep.

DAY - 2

Sunday we left Austin with my mom and headed West.  We had a nice drive through the hill country before getting on I-10 and starting the transition to the desert.  We arrived at the park entrance around 5:00 p.m. and drove towards the Chisos Mountains.  Colin had been sleepling as we had entered the park but woke up as we were climbing into The Basin.

We got to the lodge around 6:00 p.m. and my mom went to check-in while Colin and I waited in the car.  As she was walking back to the car we had a little excitement.  A young black bear came wandering across the parking lot!  He headed into the trees and soon emerged 12-15 feet away on the rock outcropping above my car.  He began to eat the juniper berries and I began to snap photos.  Unfortunately the lighting wasn't great and he wasn't posing so the photos are not great, but fun none the less.  I figured this wasn't too out of the norm, but the entire kitchen staff was outside with their cameras so I guess seeing bear wasn't that to common here.  He was the 15th I'd seen that year (lucky me)!  He was around 6ft tall and 250 lbs. +/- if I had to guess.  Probably no more than a year old.  He finished his meal and scrambled back across the parking lot...not liking all of the attention he was getting!  We headed to our room to unpack and then back to the lodge for dinner.  Yes, we walked.  After a nice meal we went to bed...we had a big hike ahead of us the next day!

DAY - 3

Monday after a breakfast of eggs on the camp stove Myself, Colin, and my mother headed out to hike The Window Trail.  The Window Trail descends 800 ft from the parking lot to the point where all the water drains from The Basin into the desert below via a 75ft waterfall.  The hike is 5 miles roundtrip.  It should be noted that Colin was 3 years, 11 months at the time and that neither he nor my mother had ever done a hike this strenuous.  I was not expecting the pace to be fast, and was expecting it to take most of our day.

The descent was easy going and very enjoyable for all.  Colin found numerous rocks to climb and we enjoyed the scenery.  As we neared the bottom the valley turned into a canyon and we encountered steps cut into the slick-rock.  Colin and I scrambled down but my mother took some coaxing.  We got to the point of the "pour over" but stayed back as to not make grandma too nervous.  Had I a climbing rope and harness I would have been tempted to build an anchor and rap out to the edge where I could really get some good photos.  I did not.

After a brief rest we headed back up and I expected that it would be slow going.  I was pleasantly surprised that they both made really good time.  In fact, as I kept stopping to take photos I found myself having to catch up!  Colin decided he wanted to have some Mac and Cheese (the microwave type) that he had insisted on bringing along.  I was fully prepared to boil some water for him and make it but after a snack he decided he could wait for dinner.

We continued our climb back up the trail and by the time we made the fork in the trail to the campground they were worn out.  I offered to them that they could continue to the campground for another 1/4 mile and I would finish the steep uphill 3/4 mile climb to get the car.  They thought that was a great idea and we were both off.  By the time I picked them up and returned us all to the room to clean up they were somewhat rested.

We decided to go for a drive down towards Rio Grande Village.  By the time the car had moved half a mile Colin was sound asleep.  He had a nice little nap and we enjoyed the scenic drive.  The sun was beginning to set as we returned to the mountains.  When we got to the hotel room Grandpa was waiting for us.  He had driven out that day because he had to finish up some work on Sunday.  We all went to the lodge for dinner and Colin filled grandpa in on the grand adventures we had had so far on the trip!

DAY - 4

Tuesday we spent the day driving down towards Castolon and the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook.  This culminated with Colin "swimming" in the Rio Grande.  The last time I had seen the Rio Grande it was a decent sized river with moderate whitewater.  This day it was a total of 18" deep and 8ft wide.  Colin still enjoyed it!  After the swimming adventure we headed North and out of the park towards Carlsbad.  We drove through Ft. Davis and the Observatory before stopping for dinner in Pecos.  We arrived fairly late in Carlsbad but they had an indoor pool and I promised Colin he could swim.  We spent over an hour in the pool before retiring to bed to play Angry Birds.  This had become our new bedtime tradition on this trip.

DAY - 5

Wednesday we spent most of the day at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  Roie, Colin, and I opted to hike down through the natural entrance and Grandma opted to take the elevator and meet us down there.  We had lunch in the cave and then walked the 1.5 mile trail exploring the big room.  After some purchases in the gift shop we hit the road and headed back toward Austin.  We stopped for dinner again in Pecos and Grandma and Grandpa drove back to Austin, but Colin and I stopped along the way as I was too tired to drive any further.

DAY - 6

Thursday we made it back to Austin and met Grandma for lunch after her board meeting.  That night we took Colin to Chuck E Cheese and he had a blast!

DAY - 7

Friday Colin and I headed for Wichita where we spent the night.  We could have driven home in one day but it is  along drive and I wanted to go one more place.

DAY - 8

Saturday we headed for Strong City, KS and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.  We spent a little time looking around and took a short hike before heading back home.  It was a nice week away seeing some beautiful places with my boy!

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Horseshoe Canyon Ranch Climbing Trip

I had started going to the local climbing gym (IBEX) with my friend and neighbor Andy in early August.  I had only been climbing a few months but jumped at the chance to go climb some real rock.  We left on Friday, October 28th for Horseshoe Canyon Ranch and got there in time to get in half a day of climbing.  We checked into our cabin and waited for Andy's friend Bob to arrive.  The three of us headed up to The North Forty and they started me off with an easy 5.6, Cotton Candy.  I had gotten to the point where I could climb most 5.8's at the gym, but my first time on the rock was a bit scary.  First, most of the routes are a bit higher than the gym, and secondly, getting used to the feel of the rock and being able to grab anywhere (rather than having obvious holds in from of you) took some getting used to.  By the end of the weekend though I was hooked!  I ended up climbing the following routes Friday before we headed to The Ozark Cafe (the main restaurant in town, and excellent food!) for dinner:

Cotton Candy (5.6) | Sundial (5.7+) | Girth Hitch (5.7+) | Groovy (5.8+) - A

Saturday we headed back up to The North Forty for the morning, starting off on some easy 5.7's.  We ran into Paul from the gym and his family, as well as their friends Sarah and Roman.  We shared some belays and Sarah convinced me to get on The Greatest Show on Earth, my first outdoor 5.8.  I have to say I was a bit nervous, but did not want to be rude and pass on an offered belay.  After all, I was climbing 5.8 at the gym so I should be able to do it here too right?  It was a bit of a mental challenge, but I got to the top without any trouble...and my confidence soared!  I climbed the adjacent African Herbman, also a 5.8 before Andy, Bob, and I headed over to the East Side.  All in all I climbed 6 routes on Saturday with one failed attempt:

Tunnel Vision (5.7) | Little manly man (5.7+) | The Greatest Show on Earth (5.8) | African Herbman (5.8) | Rubber Chicken (5.6) | Gracie's Eight (5.8) - A | Montezuma's Toe (5.8)

Sunday Andy and Bob took me to Titanic Boulder for a photogenic climb of Squirrel Deck and then the two of them headed off to climb Gimp and Wheezer.  Knowing it was well beyond my abilities I headed back to The North Forty to look for Paul and family.  I found them on Cotton Candy and gave it another climb.  They were packing up after that to head home but Roman was wanting to stick around and climb.  Sarah agreed to leave her rope with us if we would make sure it got back to Paul.  Now, I had been seeing Andy and Bob take turns leading and then "cleaning" the route.  I knew I was not ready to lead, but cleaning seemed fairly straight forward and I had been trying to give it a try...to no avail.  Andy and Bob wouldn't let me clean since I hadn't been taught...Sarah almost did but then asked if I had done it before.  When I said no she flatly refused and I could tell there was no point arguing.  Roman however was a different story.  Not only did I give him my first lead belay, but he was more than willing to let me clean the route with a bit of instruction.  Now I would not recommend that anyone clean routes on their first time out unless they are absolutely comfortable in their abilities and have received proper training.  I was completely comfortable, though not without a bit of nerves, and was very pleased to clean Paul's Redemption!  To me it was one more skill acquired and one more step to a life of outdoor adventure and the freedom that comes with it.  Soon, Andy and Bob met up with us.  They climbed Strongman and then Roman tackled a 5.12.  I ended up with only 3 routes that day, but was worn out none the less.  It was an excellent first outing...only it was too short!

Squirrel Deck (5.8+) | Cotton Candy (5.6) | Paul's Redemption (5.7) | Strongman (5.9) - A

[A = Attempted]


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Meramec River Trip

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Colin and I decided to go on one more river trip before fall turned to winter. We decided to head back to the Meramec River and chose the 20 miles upriver from Onagonda Cave State Park as our destination. This would be our longest trip of the year but we were feeling experienced and ready for it.

I told Colin that I would be picking him up early from school. He was very excited about this because it meant he did not have to lay down for a nap! I left work early on Friday, September 24th to pick him up and we headed home to load the car. We left town and headed towards Jefferson City. Not having a nap, Colin was getting very tired and cranky. Being that he loves pizza, I stopped at a Pizza Hut for dinner and he really enjoyed that! After we got back on the road he soon was snoozing peacefully. The only drawback to this was that it had taken time...and we were behind schedule. I tried making good time, but as we worked our way down to I-44 and then off onto highway H near Leasburg I began to think we were not going to make it to our outfitters, Ozark Outdoors, before they closed at 10:00. Then, as we were heading downhill towards the river I saw the cop, but too late. Sure enough I had been caught in the local speed trap. On a steep hill the speed limit dropped from 45 to 35 and the to 25 in a matter of a few hundred feet. The cop was very polite and when he saw it was myself and my 3 year old with our Kayak strapped to the roof of the car and I explained we were trying to get there before close he let us off with a warning. I was very pleased, but it was now 9:55 and I was not sure we would make it.

Fortunately for us, there was someone reserving rafts for the next day that was taking their time and trying to bargain their way into a bigger raft for the same price. So, by 10:20 we were finally able to check in. I arranged for our shuttle the next morning and asked if we could rent a cabin as I did not want to mess with setting up camp that night. They had winterized most everything already but had a hotel room available...it just didn't have linens. Since we had our sleeping bags this was not a problem. So, just as we were finishing unpacking what we needed for the night it started sprinkling. By the time we were in our room it was a full on downpour! We got settled in and slept very peacefully with the rain outside. Good thing I went for the room as we would have been setting up the tent right as the rain hit!

The next morning we checked in and went to meet our shuttle down by the river. He rode with us to the Bird's Nest put-in and took our car back. There were two older gentlemen putting in for a day of fishing and they were very impressed that Colin was going along. We soon passed them and were on our way. The river was very scenic, and although the water was too cold for swimming, we stopped several times to stretch our legs and for Colin to practice skipping rocks. At one point we came across a rope swing and he really wanted to try it until I reminded him how cold the water was. He made me promise that we would go back next year so he could do it.

He has been a very good sport about the long days on the water, but it was on this trip that I really realized he enjoys the time in camp much more than beig in the boat. So, even though we had only gone 8 miles, I stopped when we found the perfect gravel bar with 4 hours left until sundown. He had lots of fun playing and exploring while I setup camp and made us some dinner. We have typically not done a campfire because it was always late and we were exhausted, but this time I thought it would be a special treat. We found some driftwood and soon had a nice little fire. He really enjoyed helping me cut the wood, and when he scraped himself with the saw he was pleased to see that I had brought band aids. After the fire died down and he tired of poking at the coals we retired to our tent to read stories and watch movies on the iPhone. The forecast had called for thunder storms so I turned on the weather radio. It seemed that they were coming our way, and sure enough we could see lightning to the South. Someone was looking out for us though because they stayed to the South and it never once rained on us in the night. We soon dozed off and slept peacefully.

The next day we slept in until after 8:00 and didn't hit the water until close to 10:00. We had a couple paddle by as we were making breakfast. They had put in just up river and had stayed not far behind us. After letting the tent fly dry in the sun we loaded up camp and embarked. The day consisted of even more gorgeous scenery and we took it all in with the occasional stop to play. Later in the day we passed two guys in a canoe and a younger girl (12-14) in he own Kayak. It was a blue Wilderness Systems Pamlico. Colin thought he needed one like that someday. I think he is right!

I had been a bit worried about having to do 12 miles on day two with our early stop the day before, but the river was flowing nicely with few obstacles so we made excellent time. We reached the car just after 3:00 and I took my time packing while he went swimming. He was freezing but didn't seem to mind! I got him into some dry clothes and he was snoozing before we hit the highway. He slept most of the way home and I enjoyed the quiet drive. This was the longest trip of the year, but it had been the one that was the most enjoyable and had the least amount of challenges. A perfect way to end the season!



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