Big Bend in summer

If you get going very early and finish your hike by noon you'll probably be ok........it is dry heat after all.....but that sun will bake you. If you go up to Alpine, Ft Davis, Marfa its at 5000 ft altitude and much cooler, think Denver weather. There aren't any multi hour hikes up there but the Chihuahuan Desert Research Center outside Ft Davis has a couple of nice hikes that take about 1.5-2 hrs. One goes through a little canyon and the other goes up a big hill with a nice view at the top. plus its cool looking at all the cacti they have in their demonstration and research gardens. Ft Davis State Park has hiking but I've never found any good hikes there. There are some great drives, from the park take River road along the rio grande towards Presidio. It really is spectacular. Stop at Closed Canyon for a quick walk into a little slot canyon. Eat at the Oasis in Presidio which is a hole in the wall but my favorite mexican food I've ever had. If you have a truck or SUV you can take Pinto Canyon Road from Ruidosa to Marfa....do a little research on the drive before you tackle it.

Thanks y’all. That was kinda what I was thinking.

quote:

---

from the park take River road along the rio grande towards Presidio.

---

Had seen you say that in a different BB thread and looked it up. Definitely on the list for mid day.

Marfa has surprisingly good food options. Our favorite was Bardo. Italian
deli that makes their own bread. Outstanding!!!

Texas Monthly just ran an article about a guy who spends much of his time rescuing broken down tourists in Big Bend. He has some good stories, some of which involve kids getting in trouble and parents finding his info online and sending him to help.

Go ahead and look up his number ahead of time.

quote:

---

On his first day off in weeks, Peter Cary is ready to put his feet up at his West Texas property outside Terlingua, but his phone still buzzes all day long. Flat tires. Broken lug nuts. Empty gas tanks. Cary is a jack-of-all-trades and former towing company owner from the Northeast who had planned to retire in the beautiful, remote Big Bend area. Instead, he’s built a side hustle as the go-to guy for stranded motorists.

Just a few days earlier, he heard from a man with a busted tie-rod. “He’s in a $70,000 Toyota truck with every toy known to mankind to take care of himself,” says Cary, a gruff, baseball-capped 56-year-old who spends long days in the Trans-Pecos sun. The driver, who was visiting from San Antonio, was cruising along Old Ore Road when his wheels began flopping to either side. That 26-mile stretch of rough, rocky road takes four hours from pavement to pavement. It’s one of the worst places in Big Bend National Park to get into car trouble.

The driver made contact with park rangers, who told him to reach out to Cary, who told him to hunker down for the night with his camping gear. Cary brought a small trailer the next morning that could navigate the road and carry the truck to a place where he could fix it. It turned into a full day’s work. “No towing company in the world wants to go out there,” Cary says. “Unless you know the park, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into.”

***
The only mechanic in Terlingua is closed on the weekends, and tire and car repair shops in Marathon and Alpine are an hour or two away. Every week, he deals with situations that could very easily turn deadly. In March, four college kids in a Land Cruiser got a flat tire on Black Gap Road, in Big Bend National Park, and were so low on gas that they couldn’t run the air conditioning. The road is technically closed due to flooding damage last year, so the chances were slim that anyone was going to drive by. At 4 p.m. on a 101 degree day, they were able to send a message to one of their dads, who joined several Big Bend Facebook pages and was directed to Cary. By sunset, Cary had contacted them and made a plan to meet up first thing the next morning with gas so they could at least stay cool. All in all, he spent seven hours fixing the tire and helping them get on their way.

---

Peter Cary article

I went in August once, stayed at the Chiso mountain lodge, it was okay up there temp wise, but It was 110 on the desert floor. They were rescuing someone who didn't bring enough water at Santa Elena canyon. I think I had 5 gallons extra in the truck at all times.The rangers told us to stay off those sketchy 4wd roads.

There is an interesting book called Death in Big Bend that describes how fast you can get in trouble there.

I almost went in August by myself while on a business trip.

A friend said, "Don't"

Glad I didn't. I decided I didn't want a rental GMC Acadia to decide my fate...

Maybe some other day, I hope.