What’s that noise?
***
I drove to West Texas a few weeks ago – a beautiful drive through not exactly flat lands – with plans to camp at Big Bend National Park for a few nights. I made my plans too late and all of the camp sites were already reserved. So I decided to make a day trip of it with an outside chance that there might be some cancellations.
I left Alpine about 8:00 AM and arrived in Marathon about 8:30 – that’s where you make a right turn towards Big Bend, which is about 75 miles away. The first Visitor Center is another 26 miles after that.
I went up to the counter and asked if there had been any cancellations. The park ranger told me that most of the campsite reservation/cancellations are handled online except for the Primitive Sites – I said let me check online. I checked, no cancellations.
So what’s a Primitive Site? He said it’s about a 5 mile drive from the main road, there’s a flat area and a Bear Box. There is no water and no toilet – you can either go in a bag or bury your “stuff” 6 inches. But you need a four-wheel drive. I said I don’t have a four-wheel drive. What do you have? A Nissan Frontier. He said, Oh, you can make it (it was at point that I thought this guy looks awfully like the guy at the dealership that told me the front grille of my truck “just peels off” – may he is his brother?). I said, OK, I’ll try it.
I paid the $10 fee, got a permit and then went about exploring as much of the park as I could driving around in one day. I basically went from one end to other – simply gorgeous topography. I went to the central Visitor Center where there is a Lodge – a winding road with a handful of hair-pins turns up a large hill that brought back sweet memories of summer trips as a young boy in Iran to the Caspian Sea along “Chaloos” highway.
There is also a restaurant – right now there are only two things on the menu as boxed meals. There is a store with supplies – toilet bags, small shovels, insect repellent, etc., no ice. I asked the lady at the counter, Do you have Bear Spray? She said, Oh no, we don’t have it, you don’t need it (she must be the sister?)
I drove some more, got out several times and walked for a bit. Peaceful.
It was about 5:30 PM that I made way to my Primitive Site. You really did need a four-wheel drive. I’ve gotten hooked on YouTube videos about four-wheel vehicles and did not really understand the concept of voluntarily going off-road for enjoyment until this little excursion. My truck, Esperanza, made it, for the most part.
I got to La Cocha 2, parked and got out to look around. It was in a low spot near some trees. There were some tire tracks as well as some other set of tracks – a repeating pattern of four. Then I came across some, what seemed to be recent, “stuff” – I guess the previous campers had forgotton to bury it. Or may be it’s not human “stuff”? I knew there could be mountain lions around – but this must either have been the largest mountain lion that ever lived or the other suspect . . .
I thought, let me check my permit again. My site was actually La Cocha 1 – I had driven past it on my way. So I headed back. It was on higher ground, a flatter surface with a beautiful view of the Rio Grande just about 100 yards away – the only accommodation being a large metal box. I started setting up the tent that I had bought the week before that’s supposed to fit in the bed of my truck. After following the 17-step easy set of instructions, it was in place. I filled my air mattress and moved a few things into the tent.
I sat outside for a few minutes. Even more peaceful. Silence sounded different. I’ve hiked in the woods and walked along the beach in silence – this was different. Wow.
And then a far away growl.
The sun was starting to go down, so I crawled into the tent and wanted to finish Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics For People in a Hurry”. I’ve started and stopped reading this book several times, bought the audio book, still not done – I was going to finally finish it lying under the stars in an open field without distractions.
Then another growl – seemed louder this time.
I know almost nothing about Black Bears. And while I also know almost nothing about babies, I’ve heard that when they cry, they are either hungry or need to be changed. Well, even without the aid of Big Bend CSI, I had incontrovertible evidence of fresh “stuff”. . . methinks Smokey is hungry.
So while I’m lying there in my new 15 degree sleeping bag on what I must admit was a pretty comfortable air mattress, with no mobile phone service and nothing but my Gerber multi-tool pliers that I’ve had for more than twenty years (if you’re wondering it does have a lanyard ring), I made the game time decision to bug out.
It’s amazing how little time it takes when you reverse 17 steps – I guess one word from Tyson’s book did stick. The sun was beginning to set as I drove away – I can’t say enough about the the natural beauty of Big Bend.
I made it back to Marathon at about 8:30 PM. I was pretty tired. I looked up and the historic Gage Hotel was right there. I went in and they only had one room left at an exorbitant price – I thought about it a bit and decided to stay. There were some issues with room and I had planned to write them a letter when I got back (surprise).
A few days later, Gage Hotel sent me a survey asking about my stay – well, I wrote back, “Since you asked . . .” and itemized the problems. A few says after that, I got a text message from my credit card – Gage Hotel refunded 50% of the bill.
I know I’m going back to West Texas and Big Bend again – next time much better prepared.
the City 