Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 3, Part 3: Back At Camp

Picking up where I left off from our May camping trip at Big Bend National Park.

Back at camp and what to do for lunch?  We decided to forgo our pre-packaged, just-add-boiling-water meals and eat in the lodge's restaurant.

Just FYI:  the gift shop/lobby/restaurant area of the lodge had a very unpleasant odor - it wasn't a natural gas smell, nor was it a broken sewer main kind of smell - maybe if you blended those two together?  At any rate, we didn't ask and pressed on, because...food.  We quickly got used to the smell.

The food was good.  I had a turkey wrap and I think Todd had a burger.  After lunch we hung around the lodge area for a while following the shade as best we could.

Finally, we decided to go for a drive.

We started off on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, a 30-mile drive that would have led us down to the Rio Grande River.  I say would have because we didn't get to the river before we spotted smoke in the distance.  Then we spotted a lot of smoke in the distance.

This was May 22nd, the day the Castolon Fire jumped the Rio Grande and started burning toward the Castolon Historic District in the park.  The fire would burn 944 acres over 11 days, destroying several historic buildings in the process.  Of course we didn't know that at time - we just saw smoke and some passing emergency vehicles.

We reached the Castolon Visitor Center area, which was closed for the season and deserted, and pulled in to watch the growing smoke.  At that point we decided to turn around and go back.

Here's what that area looked like a short time later:

photo from nps.gov

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 7, Part 2: End Of The Line

Our 2 1/2 hour ride to the airport was uneventful, but others weren't so lucky based on the 10 or so cars we saw on the way that had spun out in the median.

The Banff National Park Administration Building

Crossing over the Bow River

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 7, Part 1

Snow!!!

Yesterday

Today

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 6, Part 2

Our first stop on the bus, sorry, motorcoach today was Natural Bridge, a rock formation over the Kicking Horse River caused by erosion.  This had once been a waterfall.

We got there at 3pm and before we got out we were specifically advised by our bus, sorry, motorcoach driver to stay on the designated paths.  He said every day he comes here he sees people climbing on the rocks for photos, and that about 4 people a year fall in.  He said if the fall didn't kill you, shock from the glacially cold "wrench water" combined with the swift current would finish you off.  It's called wrench water he said, because it'll tighten your nuts.

We got off the bus, fuck it, BUS and the first thing we saw were a couple posing for pictures on the edge of the rock formation.

Morons

Looking downstream (for a bobbing puffy red coat)

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 6, Part 1

I woke up at 4:30am for some reason, but was able to go back to sleep until 7:30.  I showered and volunteered to go down to the Chateau Deli to grab some breakfast to bring back to the room.  After meeting up with Mom, Jan, Janis and Mary Margaret in the lobby we all went together.

7:40am Lake Louise

8:30

9 o'clock and calmer water

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 5, Part 3

From the Athabasca Glacier to Lake Louise - back on the bus and driving along the Icefields Parkway.

Don't believe the monitor, we're heading into a supernova!

Mount Chephren, named after the 4th Dynasty Egyptian king Chephren, or Khafre.  Duh.
He built and is buried in the 2nd largest pyramid at Giza...

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 5, Part 2

Our next stop was an (early) included-in-the-tour buffet lunch at the Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre.  We arrived at 10:50am and filed into the upstairs restaurant.

The best thing I can say about it is that, as advertised, it was a lunch.

The vast majority of tourists we saw were Asian and while the food selection was not unusual, the flavoring of most dishes was designed to cater to their tastes.

Example: When you put potato salad on your plate you usually know how it will taste, with slight variations.  When you then take a bite of that potato salad and find that it has apparently been made with soy sauce and five-spice powder it's unexpected.  Not bad, but not the potato salad you were expecting and looking forward to.  (Also maybe not what you want to load up your plate with when you know you're looking at a long bus ride for the next couple of days, if you know what I mean.)

I sampled everything but stuck with the fried fish fingers and was fine.  Actually, the variety of little desserts were good too.  Everything else was kind of strange.  Looking at my notes I rated lunch a "Meh."

Driving in we passed the Columbia Icefield Skywalk which was included in our tour later in the day

First view of the Athabasca Glacier.  The glacier has lost half its volume over the last 125 years resulting in this "moonscape".

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 5, Part 1

Looks like I'll need to break this one down into 3 posts:

The Morning,
um...
Later The Same Morning,
and, let's see...
The Rest Of The Day.
I guess.  I don't know, I'll make it up as a I go along.

We were up at 5am and after getting ready met the rest of the group at the lodge at 6:00 for breakfast. We ate at Orso Trattoria and I had "Overnight Oats" which was (steel cut, I believe) oatmeal, banana, toasted coconut, house-made granola, chia seeds and dark chocolate.  It was served cold (on purpose) and was delicious.

Back at the room to see our luggage picked up at 7am, then back to the lodge to board the bus, sorry, motorcoach, at 8 o'clock.  At 8:30 we were off to sightsee along the scenic Icefields Parkway.

As we set out we slowed down to watch two young elk bulls sparring

This adult gentleman just sauntered past the bus

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 4, Part 2

Our lodging for tonight was the Jasper Park Lodge, located in Jasper National Park.  It was a short bus ride from the station.

As we came into Jasper we saw the Jasper Skytram gondola heading up Whistlers Mountain.  We didn't ride it though.

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 4, Part 1

A glorious morning

A glorious afternoon

A glorious evening

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 3, Part 2

I'll try to be a bit less wordy this time, but I don't make any promises.  Let's go.

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 3, Part 1

This was the first of two days aboard the Rocky Mountaineer train.

I forgot to mention it in my previous post, but when we first arrived at the hotel we had been told that there was an opportunity for early check-in for the Rocky Mountaineer (RM).  We just had to go down to the lobby at 5:30pm the day before departure and look for the table with RM staff.  So that day after we got back from our late lunch/early dinner we went to the lobby to look for them and saw this area set up in front of the restaurant entrance:

I thought wow, they're really doing this up right

But no, that wasn't for us.  It was for a private function at the restaurant.  The Rocky Mountaineer staff (who were great, by the way), had a couple of folding tables and chairs set up along a narrow walkway across the lobby.  Oh well.  We sat down and were given an envelope with our train tickets, luggage tags, itinerary, and commemorative pin.

I thought it would look good to showcase it against a patch of bare skin apparently from the "gluttony" victim from the movie Se7en...
...also known as a section of the kitchen counter that I will now never see the same way again.

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 2, Part 2: Lookout! It's The Top of Vancouver!

We got back to the hotel around 1pm and 45 minutes later we met the rest of the group downstairs in the lobby.  Then all of us walked the few blocks to the Harbour Centre building where we used our vouchers to visit the Vancouver Lookout observation deck.

First one, then the other

Our hotel, the Pan Pacific, is to the right of center with the silver/glass dome.  The edge of Stanley Park that we walked to/around sits behind the Chevron station on the water.

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 2, Part 1: A Walk In The Park

Well, not in extensively...more like to and around and through a little bit.

Rocky Mountaineer Canada Trip 2019 - Day 1

In May of this year we received a group invitation from friends that began "We were visiting with Dad about taking a trip in early October aboard the Rocky Mountaineer..."

Todd and I had been wanting to do this same trip for a few years, so the unsolicited opportunity arriving from out of the blue was spooky.  We immediately said yes (in our heads), but spent a week researching and talking about it before committing.  My mom was also going, so that was a bonus.

Our "Journey Through the Clouds Excursion" trip started at the beginning of this month.  We flew from DFW to Vancouver and spent two nights there.  We then boarded the glass-domed Rocky Mountaineer train for a two-day rail journey with overnight stops in Kamloops, British Columbia, and Jasper, Alberta, followed by a two-day bus ride with stops along the scenic Icefields Parkway and overnight stays at Lake Louise and Banff, both in Alberta.  On the last day we took a bus from Banff to Calgary to fly home.

The trip was amazing:  We had amazing scenery, great company, great food, and the fall weather (including an incredible snowfall on the last day that didn't impact our travel) was perfect.



On the first day we arrived at DFW airport at 7:30am and met up with our 8 other traveling companions at the gate.  Our roughly 4-hour flight took off at 9:15 CST and landed at Vancouver International a little after 11:15 PST.  After collecting luggage and going through customs, a mostly kiosk-interaction process, we grouped into taxis for the 30-minute ride to the hotel.  Luckily our rooms were ready so we were able to check in early.

Todd and Mom waiting at the airport.
"I once flew on an airplane thiiis big..."

"...your seat cushion may be used as a floatation device.  In the event of a donut emergency, bags of donuts will descend from the tray table in the seat in front of you.."

Oh Canada!

Just got back from a fantastic Rocky Mountaineer train trip in Canada.  I'll post more after I get settled while it's still fresh, then I'll return to Big Bend.  Stay tuned.

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 3, Part 2: Second Hike

Todd was up when I got back to camp so we made breakfast on the stove (sandwiches with english muffin, scrambled egg, cheese and Canadian bacon - homemade egg McMuffins).  Afterwards we cleaned up, filled up our water bottles and drove to the Lost Mine Trail trailhead.

The view from the trailhead parking lot

Gaining elevation

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 3, Part 1: First Hike

I was up early, so while Todd slept in I went for a hike - shortly down the Window trail there's a fork that leads up to the lodge.  It was about a 2 mile round trip back to camp.

Much better before the sun's overhead

The moon is still prominent

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 2, Part 2: After The Hike

Back at camp we were at a loss as to how to spend the rest of the day.  After about an hour we grabbed our go bags, piled in the FJ and decided to drive to the showers.  At the other campground.

Which was 29.5 miles away.

Yep, that's right

The only available showers for campers are located at the Rio Grande Village campsite.  For $2.00 in quarters you can take a 5-minute shower and they're open 24-hours a day.

We originally weren't planning on taking showers; we had brought washcloths and towels to sponge off in the bathroom using the sink.  However we were covered in sunscreen and bug spray, had a ton of time to kill, and wanted to take a drive to see more of the park anyway, so why not?

By the way, if that Google satellite photo above looks like the surface of some other planet to you, you'll be interested to know that Big Bend was one of the locations used by NASA as a moon substitute to train astronauts for the Apollo 11 mission.  Per a quote on the Big Bend Book Store webpage:

"[T]he astronauts were brought along in two separate groups... through the field areas on April 2-3, and April 15-16, 1964. The trip continued the basic geology study by requiring interpretation and mapping of well-exposed structural and stratigraphic relationships. Also included was an introduction to volcanic rocks along the Rio Grande River west of Big Bend National Park... On the first day they mapped two folded and faulted structures on aerial photos. On the second day there were four stops, two at road cuts of layered volcanic lavas and ash flows, a third at Bee Mountain to study an igneous intrusion, and a fourth at Santa Elena Canyon to study a large fault scarp." 

But it's a dry heat

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 2, Part 1: The Hike

I'll start with a quick word about our initial impression by the time we had arrived and set up camp.

It was hot (thankfully we were in the hills where it's about 10° cooler than down in the desert - where it reached a high of about 109 while we were there), and bright, with little shade, and a never-ending stream of flies, mosquitos and other flying bugs.  I mean, a ridiculous amount of flying bugs.  When in camp we had to wear insect repellent, which we had brought but hoped we wouldn't have to use much.

Some of the campsites have covered picnic tables, but not all (including ours, which we knew in advance).  We had brought a canopy that attaches to the back of our vehicle or can be set up as a sort of lean-to, but neither application worked:  A.) The campsite was not adjacent to the car - there was a short, curving uphill path to get from the road to the site.  B.)  When not attached to the car the canopy uses two tall poles on one end, with the other end being staked to the ground.  The slightest breeze made this unstable even though we had it staked/tied/secured very well.  In the end we had to pack it up.  Without the canopy I was more worried about the sun than the heat.  As an alternative we moved our camp chairs down by the road under the shade of a tree when we were at camp for any length of time.  The upside of this is that we got to meet the camp hosts as they walked by and who were super-nice.  We had a great conversation with them.

The campsites are non-electric and don't have water.  The bathrooms of course have water and also have a sink area for washing dishes, but they don't have showers (more on this later).  Knowing this in advance, we brought a 5-gallon jerry can and several smaller containers of water.  Turns out we didn't need to worry as about every 5 campsites there was a water spigot for everyone's use with a 5 gallon per-person per-day limit.  This was a definite plus!

Oh, there are also bear lockers at each campsite as black bears call the park home.  We saw plenty of fresh bear scat during our stay, but did not see an actual bear.  We also didn't see any of the other potentially dangerous park wildlife such as tarantulas, scorpions, mountain lions or rattlesnakes.  I felt both relieved and cheated at the same time.

Ok, enough of that.  We got up on this day and planned to hike The Window, a 5.6 mile "moderate" round trip trail.  We had a healthy breakfast of pop tarts, filled up our water bottles and walked to the trailhead which was near our campsite.

Panoramic from the trail leading to the bathroom.  Our blue tent is just visible to the left of center.

Here we go

Camping At Big Bend National Park 2019 - Day 1

In May of this year we went for the first time to Big Bend National Park in West Texas to camp.  As described on the National Park Service website:

"There is a place in Far West Texas where night skies are dark as coal and rivers carve temple-like canyons in ancient limestone.  Here, at the end of the road, hundreds of bird species take refuge in a solitary mountain range surrounded by weather-beaten desert.  Tenacious cactus bloom in sublime southwestern sun, and diversity of species is the best in the country.  This magical place is Big Bend..."

That pretty much sums it up.

We got an early start that morning and drove about 9 hours across Texas to get there around 3:30pm.

Thumbs-up for wind energy!

We packed a lunch and stopped to eat just south of Fort Stockton at a little picnic area on a hill

Couldn't have picked a better spot