Guardian of the Road

12/23/2020

Yup, we tackled more of the washboard gravel road and then some 4×4 trails that make up Big Bend Ranch State Park today.

The guy above seemed to be acting as the guardian of the road, I was just glad he found us worthy of passing without a confrontation, I would had hated to ruin his horns by tinting them Hypergreen with paint from the jeep. Anyway, it was well past lunch time when we encountered him, standing at the side of a road we just turned on.

Going well past the 27 miles to Ranger Station we were bouncing past warning signs that you needed 4 wheel drive to continue, we continued on down the road, which was not on the GPS. There was a large water tank, and some kind of old small building at the end of the road, the sign said road closed beyond so we turned around.

Here I should note that the GPS in the Jeep, the map from the Ranger Station and the roads did not always match up, like we drove several miles of road that was not on the GPS (more on that later).

Obviously with the road closed we turned around. We like to start by exploring the furthest point away first, taking side roads and such on the return. To that end we were on this one dead end side road when we came across something most unusual and gave us a little bit of concern.

We’re bouncing along and stopped at what is left of an old car, and I mean not much left. Anyway there was a backpack setting there, nobody around. It was open at the top with a black piece of plastic sticking up so we pulled that out looked in and there were some mask and other items inside, this put us in a quandary, where is the owner, where is the sleeping bag and water? We knew we were on a dead end road so we left the backpack and continued on and thought we would see if it was still there on our return. Well, it was still there and I must point out that we were in the middle of no where, with nothing around. It’s not like it fell off a vehicle or something like that, it was up on the bank and setting upright in a creosote bush. Well dodo, now what, is the owner off somewhere hurt? Off exploring and going to return? We almost took it with us to give to the rangers but decided to leave the pack and stop at the ranger station when we got there and tell them about it.

On the 1 hour + trip back to the Ranger station we could have had some pork (Peccary), on the grill of the Jeep if I had floored it.

1 + hour later back at the Ranger Station, our minds were eased somewhat about the backpack, it seems that, in the area  we found the pack, a couple of days ago a group of people apparently snuck across the border and after spending 1 or more cold, 32 degree, nights in the open with little protection, they were done in. Tired cold and hungry, they turned themselves in to some campers, who then took them to the Ranger Station, the Rangers were fairly confident the pack belonged to one of them, but they would send someone out to pick it up and scout the area.

It was after that the real adventure began, we start along this one road that said it was a loop. 4 wheel drive, low range, to go extra slow on the rough trail, up down around we went following the GPS. This portion was not on the map but was on the GPS. Staying on the road as best as we could tell according to the GPS, we passed a couple of turnoffs. Reaching what we considered  the loop part of the road ………….. well below are some pictures of a road that WAS on the GPS.

Looks like we didn’t take any pictures of the more challenging spots, like where we were scrapping both sides AND the bottom of the Jeep with brush or the ditch we had to straddle, that one had me scratching my head on how best to get past it. That was one of the more challenging spots we have had in our explorations. Once we committed to the route there was no place to turn around and backing out was not a good option.

Below are some more pictures of the day.

There is one downside to being in a smaller community, besides affordable shopping, and that is water. We’re under a boil water order, there was a large water main break a few days ago. Since this end of the community has a small population, the boil water stays in effect for days and days.

The End