Big Bend Ranch State Park: Hiking

There is no hiking guide for Big Bend Ranch that I have been able to find.  But there is an excellent Texas Parks and Wildlife Department  "Discovery Map" sometimes available.  I found one at the Fort Leaton State Historic Site but they were sold out at Sauceda.  If you use the map in conjunction with the "Big Bend Ranch Biking Guide" then you will have enough information - and there are always the USGS Topographic Series maps.  I met Bundy Phillips, one of the developers of the biking guide, on the night that the Desert Storm blew in and blew some campers into the bunkhouse.  Bundy filled his tent with rocks and came indoors.

YEDRA ROAD - 5 miles approximate

My first day on the ranch was spent in "backcountry driving" in search of a place to camp.  After camping at Papalotitos Colorado, I hiked out the next day to the old windmill and stock tank to the north which was dry of course, and then west through the thorns across the hillside to the Yedra road.  

Hiked the road to the Yedra Trailhead and into Yedra canyon.  The presence of Cottonwoods there proved the presence of water but it surfaced in only in a few places, and in an almost imperceptible trickle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found campsite Yedra #1 to have a really nice view. It is set below a ridge line so that there would be some shelter in some winds - but 4 wheel drive high clearance would be needed to get there.  On my return, In sight of my camp, I turned left off of the road into the dry stream bed for a hundred yards and turned right climbing the rock bluff through the fence line for a short walk up hill through the thorns to camp.

HORSETRAP LOOP - 5 miles

On day three I spent the morning furling my camp, in anticipation of high winds, and moving back to the bunkhouse.  In the afternoon I took this easy walk through Chihuahuan Desert terrain with distant views of The Solitario Flatirons, Fresno Peak and Los Portales.  The trailhead is in sight of Saucedo on the Main Road East.  It is Ride 1 in the BBR Biking Guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PUERTA CHILLICOTE - 9.5 miles

This trail is not in the biking guide but was featured in the 2012 Issue of El Solitario, a news sheet that is published by the TPWD, described as follows:

This hike is a relatively easy way to access some wild and rugged backcountry in Big Bend Ranch State Park, including an exciting 700-foot vertical view of Fresno Canyon and exceptional vistas of the famous Solitario "flatirons" and the mysterious Los Portales. …There are historical ranch remains, hidden springs, striking volcanic rock formations, and beautiful desert vegetation. …to Fresno Canyon/Flatirons vista: …follow the rock cairns eastward for about 2 miles …there is no prepared trail until you get to the canyon edge, but the route is relatively open. Pay attention to the rock cairn markers.  If you are on the correct route, you should be able to see the next and the past cairn from the cairn where you are located.  You will be hiking over ancient lava flows …"

You will quickly discover why this trail is not in the biking guide.  The "ancient lava" doesn't record footprints so the trail is not discernible but for the cairns. The "relatively open" nature of the terrain also includes vegetation that somewhat mirrors surrounding vegetation so that no matter what direction you look you will see a "trail".  The cairns are there, but I think that Coyote is also there messing with the cairns.  Consequently a mountain biker is going hike/bike this trail, sometimes circling his bike and a cairn in search of the trail.  Early into this stretch I decided it might be a good idea to have a reference point for return to the car.  I looked behind me and saw the points below which looked like a horse's neck, McClellan saddle, and saddle bags heading to the left.  It comforted me for the duration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below, Fresno Peak and the Solitario Flatirons across Fresno Canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Flatirons (below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BURNT CAMP LOOP - 10.2 miles

This is Ride 19 in the BBR Biking Guide:

The Solitario, a 10-mile wide collapsed dome and signature feature of the park, is unique in the world.  Inside the Solitario the landscape is not all that spectacular, and at first glance one might think it's just a bunch of low hills.  However, geologically speaking it is one of the many small wonders of the world. …And just to be inside the Solitario is a special experience.

Okay then.  It is a geophysical spiritual personal thing.  It is a test thing.  The guide rates it 3 hours, elevation 4216' - 4587', moderate/difficult.  I believe that I gained that elevation only to give it up again at least a dozen times. This trail challenged my sense of place and of time, and to finish it in a building desert storm with rising winds and closing visibility due to blowing sand was a special treat.  I have had a bandana in my day pack for years and had never used it but in the homestretch of this hike it covered my face up to the eyes.

Bundy is right.  You are hiking backstage.  The views are out front.  You have seen Los Portales, Fresno Peak and the Flatirons - this hike is just inside the summits of those features and only a few hundred feet lower in elevation.  This was a long last day, but very satisfying.  Hiking time was 4.5 hours - driving time from Sauceda was 1.33 hours one way with only 3 wheels touching the earth at times and once I had only 2 wheels teeter-touching. 

Some of the pictures below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A welcome sight.  I hiked over 30 miles in the park and never encountered another living soul.  Finding this truck parked next to me was the closest I ever came.

!Vaya con dios!