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National Parks On the Water Texas

Overnight Canoe Trip in Santa Elena Canyon – Big Bend National Park

When researching Big Bend National Park, we picked out a few things that were on our “must-do” list, and a few for the “would be great if we had time” list. Canoeing Santa Elena Canyon was at the top of the “must-do” list for sure! We’d seen some friends do a boomerang trip where you put in below the canyon, paddle upstream, and then turn around and go back. They had mentioned there were great campsites which got us thinking about how to extend our paddle to an overnight trip. After a lot of research and plenty of stress we pulled it off and we are so glad we did. This trip was definitely the highlight of our visit to Big Bend!

For the rest of trip see our Ultimate Guide for Big Bend National Park – Texas.

The Gear & Planning

We travel with backpacking gear & bikes, but we don’t have our own boats. We rented two regular canoes and related river gear from Far Flung Outdoor Center in Terlingua. There are other rental shops in town, but we felt these guys had the most extensive equipment for an overnight trip vs. just a day trip. We also paid them for a private shuttle at both ends of the trip. The shuttle was expensive (several hundred dollars) but going just as a family instead of a fully guided trip saved us about a thousand dollars.

Far Flung also has a great mileage chart for the river and shuttle fee estimator. Seriously tons of great info right on their website. We knew we wanted to take out at Santa Elena Canyon so the best spot for us to put in for roughly a two day paddle was Lajitas. Total river miles between the two is 18. Definitely the longest paddle we’ve done, but we knew we were up for it!

After we figured out our camping situation in Big Bend, we were able to call and reserve our canoes ahead of time. We were definitely there in the off season, so reservations were not a problem. We did get our desired dates, but Far Flung does run their own trips so coordinating a shuttle could have been difficult. Best to reserve everything as far in advance as possible.

One of the hardest things for us when we head to the back country is what to do with the Airstream? Many times we’ve been able to leave it in visitor center parking lots, but that wasn’t going to work here. The day before our trip, we moved the house to Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend which was the closest to Terlingua. It was cheaper than staying in an RV park in town ($15/night vs closer to $30) and we knew it would be safe. We unloaded and locked all our bikes next to the trailer and spent the afternoon packing and getting our food ready.

Equipment We Rented for 2 Days:

Fire Pan (required by the NPS whether you plan to have a fire or not): $10.78

Canoe (x 2): $340.48

Toilet System (we went with a groover, basically a plastic box inside an ammo can + a seat): $38.80

Larger Waterproof Bags (x 2): $32.32

Shuttle Fee: $80.81 drop off + $202.03 pick up = $294.84

Lost Paddle (oops): $30.17

Backcountry permit (required by NPS): $12

Total equipment rental: $747.39

Equipment We Brought:

Basically we took all our backpacking gear. We’ve worked hard to make sure its small and lightweight (not really a concern in a canoe though) and it was easy to just throw it all in the dry bags. We did pack everyone’s clothes, pajamas, kindles, headlamp, earphones, in individual packing cubes to keep things organized. I feel like it worked really well!

We then had our Freezer Bag cooking meals (We did a Thai noodle dinner this time and it was delicious!), Jet boil, and extra canister.

Just because we could, we packed our two REI camp chairs. They were awesome to have around at camp and the kids were jealous we wouldn’t share. I think next time we might need to pack a few more.

We had a small cooler bag for some lunch items (everything in it got totally soaked so I’m not sure I’d recommend it), and two 5 gallon Rhino water jugs for fresh water. The Rio Grande is a pretty nasty river and we were advised against filtering it, but 10 gallons was plenty for overnight.

Day One – Putting in at Lajitas

We arrived at Far Flung Outdoors by about 8am on Thursday morning. We needed to sign paperwork, double check equipment, and our shuttle timer started promptly at 9am so we wanted to be ready to go.  Everything went smoothly, and just before 9am we loaded up in the company van and our driver set out for Lajitas. Our driver was chatty and told us a little about the history of the ghost town and the area. Before we knew it, we made it to the put in, quickly unloaded, and then we were on our own!

The Rio Grande was running fairly low and slow, and took a great deal of effort to paddle. It was definitely not a float trip! We traded up canoe crews several times each day. Rachel and Andrew are both excellent paddlers, and Jess and I manned the rear seat. The blue bags you see are large dry bags that contain our gear. Yellow bags and ammo cans contain the required ‘groover’ toilet system. We used straps to tie the gear in the boat just in case we all spilled out!

The first day we covered 10 miles of river with open views and an occasional minor rapid. For our only real rapid of the day, Jess and I paddled each canoe through while the kids walked down the bank. The kids kept themselves entertained by singing songs, telling stories, and just talking. We counted all the turtles we saw, and broke into song whenever we saw one.

“These kids. I’m so grateful to be their mom. Cara is an excellent paddler but with 21 miles to go on our overnight trip we didn’t want to push her. Instead, anytime she wasn’t paddling, she happily took on the task of being our figurehead. Most of the time with kids and the outdoors it’s a “whatever it takes” mentality. 😂” – @currentlywandering

We stopped for lunch about mid-day by just pulling off the river. We had made sandwiches early that morning and paired with veggies and chips it was the perfect lunch!

We reached our overnight spot earlier than expected. It was chosen with two goals in mind: a non-muddy landing and non-rocky tent sites. Our camp was of questionable nationality: a river island at higher water levels, this piece of land was divided from the south by only a small trickle and was clearly frequented by Mexican cattle. One of our maps placed the border across the middle of the island, and the other map only showed a border where the middle of the river was clear and no border across the island at all.

Once we got our tents set up we had a few hours to kill until dinner. The kids all brought both audio books and kindles, and spent quite a bit of time relaxing in their tent. We also managed to play a game of Ticket to Ride on my phone. This is the hardest part for me about back country trips – dealing with bored kids once we get to camp! There was a little exploring we could do, and Cara had fun shoveling cow pies with our oars, but mostly it was just time to relax. We had forgotten our card games or even our backpacking bocce set (unfortunately) but we all survived!

The only person we saw this first day was a Mexican cowboy on the opposite bank. We figured he was out checking his herds, and just waved as he trotted past. There’s definitely something to be said for the isolation and peace found in our country’s wilderness places!

“As a family, we are constantly seeking to push ourselves outside our comfort zone. Although I’ve rafted plenty of rivers, planning this overnight canoe trip was extremely uncomfortable. Canoeing has never been my strength, and we were planning to be in very remote areas of Big Bend National Park.

Thursday night after a long day of paddling I stood on the shore of the Rio Grande and watched the sun set over our little campsite. Later, we sat by our fire, gazed at the most stars I have ever seen, drank herbal tea and for the first time in months I felt incredibly at peace. I am content. Happy with our choices, proud of my kids, and in awe at the path @telegramsam and I have traveled to get here.” -@currentlywandering

Day 2 – Paddling Through the Canyon

After a peaceful first day and a good night’s sleep, we felt prepared for day two. Within just the first few river miles, however, we fought with vegetation along a bank, high centered and tipped our first canoe of the day, and Jess hit a rock hard at Entrance Rapid near the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon. Needless to say, we were already pretty rattled.

Most of the paddling trip was fairly flat, boring water. We were warned sufficiently about Rock Slide, however, as its a boulder maze with no good way to portage around it. Sam had stressed the night before about our ability to make it through, but I had adopted a fairly “we’ll make it work” attitude. Fairly normal for both of us. Far Flung had given us a detailed map of this section and the various routes we could take to make it through.

“Rock Slide is rated a Class IV at much higher water levels, this is a Class III at current flow (284 CFS) mostly due to tight navigation. If we had a guide with us, I wouldn’t have been worried about this rapid at all. Because we were on our own, Jess and I felt the direct responsibility for the safety of our kids. We studied maps and guides, and we scouted the rapid in advance. Frankly, it was out of our comfort zone. We reminded the kids of some river safety practices, and made an appeal for divine guidance and strength.

Our courage gathered, we headed in. Rachel and I went first with an attempt at the fast moving Texan Gate, and spilled into the river as we were unable to keep their balance against a large boulder. After draining the canoe on a small sand bar mid-rapid, we managed to nail the small rock you see here in the center of the channel and dumped in again.  Luckily, we were able to drain enough water out to make the canoe workable in this tight spot, and then more fully drained the rest of the water out below the rapid. We lost both the toilet seat and a paddle in the process, but luckily picked the seat out of an eddy later on that day. A paddle was a small price to pay to make it through safely!” – @telegramsam

“My track record so far that morning was not great. I paddled Rachel through scraggly brush, dumped both girls in the water after siding on a mostly submerged rock, and ran straight into a large boulder after missing a turn – smacking my shins on the canoe bar and instantly developing large welts and bruises. As I watched the water rush towards yet another large rock I knew there was no way I could make that sharp turn and keep everyone safe and in the boat.

I could also tell the kids were scared. So much of parenting is protecting our children both physically and mentally and I was doing a poor job at both. After scouting the rapid we determined that Sam and Rachel would run the Texan gate first and I watched as they launched, turned, side hit the rock and promptly were dumped in the river. Luckily there was a sand bar and they were able to beach the canoe, dump it out and reset, but if Sam couldn’t do it, how on earth was I to? Fortunately there was another option. The Mexican gate had more turns but the river was moving much slower. Andrew and I dragged our canoe upriver and headed for the right side instead and we made it with only a few minor bumps.

After an entire day of paddling and honing my rudder skills, I look back and think, “Well, shoot. I could do that NOW.” Isn’t that a lot like life? We bumper our way through collecting bruises, get dumped in the water, and at the end of it are so much stronger and capable than when we began. Luckily along the way there’s also calm water and incredible views. We are all stronger from our experience, and Rachel will tell you Slide Rock was her favorite part of the trip.” -@currentlywandering

With Rock Slide behind us, we began to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. The walls of Santa Elena Canyon rose high around us, and the views were spectacular! The Canyon was pleasantly warm, and we paddled easily. We counted turtles, watched birds fly through the canyon high above or heads, and snacked on Perky Jerky and Starburst. We had a few more tight turns to paddle, but by this time we were all definitely in a rhythm and much more confident of our skills. After executing one rather well-time turn, Rachel looked back at me and exclaimed, “Mom! That was graceful!” High compliments from a girl who doubted all of my skills just a few hours earlier!

“Somewhere in the midst of overturned canoes, shin bashing, and bumper boats my Enso ring slipped off my finger and disappeared into the murky depths of the Rio Grande. Or more likely it floated downstream, got caught in an eddy, and now a Mexican Señora is in awe at the incredible comfortableness of this amazing piece of silicon wrapped around her finger.” -@currentlywandering

As we neared the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon we saw hikers on the same path we had walked just two days before. It was a surreal experience, remembering back to our limited view of this magnificent stretch of river. The view at the end is beautiful but insufficiently captures the adventure, the challenge, and the beauty of the 20 miles we paddled to get there.

We made it to the take out spot 20 minutes early, which gave us enough time to haul our boats out of the water, change our clothes, and grab a snack. Once our shuttle arrived, we piled everyone in and set out for the hour drive through Big Bend back to Terlingua.

We celebrated our successful trip with coin operated, hot showers and dinner out at a local Mexican restaurant. It was the perfect end to a fabulous trip! We don’t often push ourselves this far outside our comfort zone, but I’m so glad we did. There are so many ways our trip could have ended badly, and I’m grateful for the protection we believe the Lord gave us on our journey. I’m pretty sure we will all remember this trip for years to come!

Categories
National Parks Texas

Ultimate Guide for Big Bend National Park – Texas

Big Bend National Park has been on our “must see” list for quite sometime. Unfortunately, Big Bend is on the way to exactly nowhere and we hadn’t been able to carve out the time to get down there before now.

The park sits on the border of Mexico and Texas where the Rio Grande takes a large bend and gives Texas part of its unique shape. There’s also not a whole lot nearby. The small ghost town of Terlingua, TX and the slightly more lively town of Study Butte are to the west, and Marathon, TX is an hour north of the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center.

We set our sights to visit this winter and were able to spend 12 days exploring Big Bend and while we were initially overwhelmed and frustrated the park definitely has become one of our favorites!

Travel Dates: March 12 -23, 2017

Ages of Kids: 11, 9, 6

Since we know a lot of people that are interested in this park, we thought we’d give a run down of our experience and what we learned along the way!

Layout of the Park

Big Bend has three distinct areas: the river, the desert, and the mountains. I was amazed that we could have summer down by the river, yet need jackets and beanies up in the mountains. The temperature difference is about 10 degrees between areas so just be prepared with all sorts of clothing.

There are four Visitor Centers but Panther Junction is the central hub in the center of the park. Persimmon Gap is at the north entrance, the Rio Grande Village is in the southeast, and Castolon Historic District is near Santa Elena Canyon in the southwest.  Chisos Basin is in the middle up a windy road into the mountains.

Also, the park is BIG. It takes about an hour to get almost anywhere and sometimes even longer. From Terlingua to the Rio Grande campground is about an hour, and its 45 minutes from Persimmon Gap down to Panther. Just be prepared to drive. There are gas stations at Rio Grande and Panther Junction and it wasn’t crazy awful expensive when we were there.

Where to Stay

I can’t even begin to describe the stress that is camping in Big Bend. It’s worth it though. Most of the camping is first come, first served and the campgrounds very often fill up during the spring.

Your best bet for a FCFS site in any of the campgrounds is to get there before 10am. We suggest camping outside the park at Stillwell store or in Terlingua (or even Alpine) and then drive in early the next morning.

Each of the visitor centers has the latest report on campground availability and can reserve the backcountry sites so you don’t have to drive all the way into Panther Junction for that.

Ideally you could snag a FCFS site at Rio Grande Campground, hike to the hot springs, or maybe even go over into Mexico. From there try and get a backcountry site or  move to a different section of the park.

Backcountry Sites – Trailers

The biggest attraction at Big Bend National Park is the back country camping. There are dozens of 4 wheel drive roads with designated camping spots. We saw so many over lander vehicles, truck campers, and even a decked out pop up trailer.

While it feels like boondocking, you do have to get a permit from one of the visitors centers and each spot has a bear box. So not totally primitive, but definitely solitary. It was awesome.

“Spending a few days in the Big Bend back country is exactly what we needed after a packed week of adventure.” -@telegramsam

You can only get a permit 24 hours before you plan to occupy the site, but the catch is that people can switch sites during their stay. So even if you go in on a Monday to get a spot for Tuesday it could already be taken by someone from last week. Totally confusing, right? A 14 day permit only costs $12 though so once you can snag a backcountry site staying is really, really cheap.

While they are plenty of roads we wouldn’t take the trailer down, there are a few that fit a 27′ trailer (or even slightly larger). Campendium has a great blog post on the different sites and which ones would work for trailers: What You Need to Know about Backcountry Camping in Big Bend National Park.

We ended up at K Bar 1 for 6 nights at the end of our 12 days. It was awesome. There was one ranger that wouldn’t let us camp there due to being visible from the road (and people came here to see wilderness not an RV park). So…. we found someone else that was a little more helpful. Maybe it is policy and the volunteers just didn’t agree with it? I don’t know. All the other volunteers we talked to all mentioned KBar as a place they send campers with trailers.

Our friends the Hendricks stayed at Croton Springs with their 30′ Airstream and absolutely loved it. He has a blog post on that here.

Rio Grande & Cottonwood Campgrounds

We stayed 2 nights at Rio Grande Campground and it was a great base for exploring the southeast corner of the park. We visited the hot springs twice, and the kids enjoyed playing the water and mud when they flooded the campground for irrigation purposes. We also ended up here over Valentine’s Day with our friends @thefamilycan. We had a little dinner celebration and the kids made each other Valentine cards. It was adorable.

There are showers at the store, which also has basic groceries (eggs, milk, hot dogs, etc.) laundry, and gas.  There is a “no generator” loop but you can use them in the remaining sites during limited hours. This is also the only NPS campground that takes reservations for some of the sites. The rest are first come, first serve.

We moved over to Cottonwood Campground early on day 4 to use it as a base for our overnight canoe trip. There’s absolutely no signal down there, but since our purpose was canoeing it wasn’t really a big deal. Cottonwood doesn’t allow generators, so its very quiet. The sites are not as large as Rio Grande and aren’t recommended for large trailers. Supposedly the javelina frequent Cottonwood, but unfortunately we didn’t see any.

We visited the Castolon Historic District while we were down there mostly to complete pages in our Jr. Ranger Books. They did have a really interesting (okay, boring for Cara) exhibit on the Mexican/US border and the Texas rangers. Apparently early settlers also grew cotton in the area. Who knew?

WiFi & Verizon

Naturally we wanted to be able to work while we were in the park, as taking 12 days of vacation just isn’t feasible for us. We also love to spend longer in our National Parks and spread out the exploring a bit while still getting some school, work, and regular life in.

We stayed our first night in Terlingua at Retro Rents because we arrived later in the evening and the campgrounds were all full. We had heard it was cheap but we found it that’s only if you stay a week. Otherwise I think we would have picked one of the RV parks closer to the west entrance. The Wifi at Retro Rents was just okay not great. I’ve heard good things about the wifi at BJ’s RV park and there are a few others in Study Butte that could work. Staying out there just means a long drive to get into the park to see anything.

There’s fairly decent wifi at Panther Junction & Chisos Basin Visitor Centers and the Rio Grande store. Sam “commuted” to work while we camped at Rio Grande and although it was annoying it allowed us to stay down there for a few days.

After a few days off signal at Cottonwood, we managed to snag 6 days at KBar 1 (back country site) and had decent enough Verizon to work. Unfortunately for the children it wasn’t fast enough to stream Netflix. Darn. Time to go hiking instead.

There’s no T-mobile in the park, but our phones did roam to AT&T and we were able to get cell service in some parts of the park (but no data).

Things to Do

We kept ourselves fairly busy! There’s so much to do in the park and it just takes time to check them off the list especially if you don’t want to drive yourself crazy in the process. We did plenty of hiking, soaked in the hot springs, canoed the Rio Grande, sat out at night and looked at the stars and earned our Jr. Ranger Badges.

Hiking

There are quite a few hiking trails in Big Bend and we slowly made our way through some of the more popular ones.

Nature Trail (Rio Grande Village area, .75 miles round trip). This is a great little trail with pretty views of the Rio Grande river and campground. The kids never made it out here, but I ran it a couple of times.

Balanced Rock (Panther Junction area, 2 miles round trip). This short hike was perfect for a Sunday evening wander with the whole family. My kids have learned that when I say we are going on a “short hike” to still lace up their hiking boots. Apparently nothing counts as short around here anymore! The trail wanders along a flat wash, and then there’s some serious scrambling/elevation to get up to the formation. It was a great warm up for Emery Peak.

Emery Peak (Chisos Mountain Basin area, 10.5 miles round trip). We went from hiking in the desert one day to mountains & trees the next. The Chisos mountains are over 7000 feet tall and it tripped our minds to be hiking with oak trees, cactus, and even some snow! Out kids rocked the 10.5 mile round trip hike up to Emery Peak – the highest point in the park. The views were absolutely incredible the entire way up.

“Sitting on top of the world! Emery Peak sits at 7832 feet above sea level. So crazy that a mountain that tall is in Texas smack next to the desert. There’s quite a rock scramble up the last bit and Rachel mustered up so much courage but ultimately the sheer height did her in. Not a bad lunch spot though, eh? This was our first peak summit and I’m thinking we have more to come!” – @currentlywandering

Hot Springs Trail (Rio Grande Village area, 6 miles round trip). While you can drive to the Hot Springs, the hike was quite beautiful. My friend Charlene, and I set out to hike the 3 mile trail with 6 kids in tow. The trail actually had quite a bit more elevation gain than I had anticipated, but the views were stunning! After work the dads drove our trucks over to meet us so we didn’t have to hike back as well. I think the kids would have rebelled if we had made them! Even I wouldn’t have enjoyed a wet, 3 mile hike back to our trailer.

“It’s so amazing to me that much of our deserts were once lush, tropical forests and huge seas. We found this fossil on our hike from Rio Grande to the Hot Springs in Big Bend National Park. The older kids were hiking fast and completely missed it, but Cara’s sharp eyes picked it out of the surrounding stone. Not too shabby.” -@currentlywandering

Lost Mine Trail (Chisos Mountain Basin area, 5 miles round trip). We had heard this was the best trail in the park, so naturally we had to fit it in. We hiked this only 2 days after Emery Peak so we were all a little tired. It gains some pretty steady elevation, with a lot of switchbacks up the ridge. If you can’t get up to the south rim, then this is definitely a good one for the view!

Santa Elena Canyon (Castolon Historic District, 2 miles round trip).  This was a great evening walk! The trail was fairly flat except for the nice switchbacks up the steep canyon. We hiked this the night before our canoe trip and it got us all excited for getting on the river.

Soak in the Hot Springs

After driving to the parking lot, the springs are only a short .5 mile walk away. We managed to visit three times and each was different! We noticed many people stayed for just a few minutes, but our kids had fun jumping and swimming down the river for hours. The water is a consistent 110 degrees and was absolutely lovely, if a bit on the sediment-y side.

Along the trail are remnants of an old hotel that would house tourists visiting the springs. It was a really neat historic area and I love that the buildings are still there!

Canoe the Rio Grande

When we researched activities in Big Bend, canoeing in Santa Elena Canyon was at the top of our list. We had never attempted an overnight canoe trip with our kids (I did a multi-day rafting trip as a teenager) and it sounded like a challenge. We could have just done a day trip – or a boomerang as they call it – but that just didn’t sound as appealing.

This trip took a lot of research and planning so I put together an entire blog post just for our canoe trip. You are welcome.

Stargazing

We’ve been to quite a few “dark sky” National Parks but Big Bend blew them all away. There were So. Many. Stars! I seriously couldn’t believe it. Another perk is that we had some pretty warm nights. We were out shooting star photography at 11:30pm and it was about 70 degrees with a nice warm breeze. 

Dining and Food

There aren’t a lot of places to eat in the park. The Chisos Basin has a lodge with a restaraunt, but that’s the only one. After our hike to Emery Peak we treated the kids to dinner at the lodge. Sam and I were hoping for a hamburger, but unfortunately the only one on the menu was a vegetarian bean burger. That just wasn’t going to cut it.  Instead we opted for the all you can eat salad & soup bar and it really  hit the spot! They also had a pretty decent kids’ menu (which actually had a hamburger) and we felt the food was good for the money we spent.

There are convenience stores in most of the areas, and we may or may not have grabbed ice cream bars at 10am one day.

The only “real” grocery store is in Study Butte and we were surprised at the variety and quality of the food. After our canoe trip we stayed in town long enough to grab Mexican food for dinner, a coin operated shower, and a trip to the grocery store.  It says something about our travels when we can shrug and say, “Well, its not the most expensive bread we’ve ever bought.”

Earn a Jr. Ranger Badge

Naturally we had to earn our Jr. Ranger Badges while we there. The nice part about a 12 day stay was that we could stretch it out a little. There are pages to complete in each section of the park, but the kids don’t have to complete all of them to earn the badge.

They also had centennial hiking patches we could earn and since I figured we’d never get down there again we were going to earn all the things! There were patches for hiking the Panther Path Nature Trail (easy), the Hot Springs Trail (medium), and Emery Peak (hard). Super proud of my kids for snagging all three!

If I’m honest, planning and visiting Big Bend took about everything we had. Canoe trip, hikes, hot springs, campground jockeying, plus all the driving completely wore us out. Kids and parents alike. It took us quite awhile to recover!

Even though we were in this park for 12 days, I feel like we only grazed the surface. They have some great scenic drives, you can mountain bike on all the back country roads (and cycle the paved ones!), and the backpacking in the Chisos Mountains looked top notch! I feel like we did a great job with the time we had though and we always try to save something for next time!

Categories
National Parks New Mexico

Backpacking & Sledding in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

"White Sands National Monument is one of those other-worldly places. Located in southern New Mexico this park is truly one of a kind. We visited three years ago on our initial trip from Virginia to Utah and the kids have been begging to go back. When we decided to stay west this winter they unanimously voted White Sands as the one place they wanted to visit for sure.

Travel Dates: February 17-18, 2017

Ages of Kids: 11, 9, 6

Where to Stay: There is no campground for trailers in White Sands National Monument. However, Lake Holloman is a free option about 5 minutes from the entrance, or Oliver Lee Memorial State Park is about 30 minutes away.

Where to Get Sleds: The Albertson’s in Alamagordo sells sleds (usually) but you can also get them from the Gift Shop through the courtyard and past the Visitor Center desk. At the time new disks were $16 and used were $10. They will also buy them back once you are done ($7 new and $3 used I believe).

We arrived Airstream in tow and parked in the Visitor Center lot where they have ample room for bigger vehicles. We went inside, grabbed our Junior Ranger books and headed to watch the video about the park. Unfortunately about this time a school group came through so we didn’t explore the exhibits further. After about 15 or 20 minutes of working distractedly on their books, the kids looked up at me and said, “Mom? Can we just go sledding?”

I realized we weren’t going to get anything else done before we hit the slopes as it were, so we bought used sleds from the Gift Shop for $10 each, some wax, and loaded up for the drive into the park.

I love that the parking lots are HUGE and we can just drive our entire Airstream into the park. The best dunes are located near the end of the one way, teardrop shaped loop. We parked near the Alkali Flat Trailhead where there were multiple large dunes to choose from.

We also met up with both @liddleadventures and @thefamilycan so it was a full day of friends and sun! We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

With cloudless blue skies, and warm temperatures, our visit this time was totally different. We basked in the sun wearing shorts and short sleeves, and even had to apply sunscreen in order to not be burnt. It felt like the perfect beach day and we were up and down the dunes for hours.

At one point in a conversation with another family, we were musing about the back country camping in the park. There is a loop for tenters and we joked about pulling out our tents and just staying the night.

And then we totally did.

Sam drove back to the Visitor Center to grab a permit (first come, first served) and I double checked to make sure we had enough food to pack in for dinner and then breakfast the next morning. Around 3pm our friends both took off for their next destinations and we set about packing up our overnight gear and prepping food.

Once we were ready, we drove to the backpacker trail head, parked the trailer and set of into the sunset for our short one mile hike to campsite #2. Cara insisted on bringing a sled and pulled it behind her as we followed the orange markers out over the dunes.

We got to camp and hurriedly set up our tents before it got dark. In hindsight, we could have timed things to arrive just a little bit sooner, but honestly the kids were having so much fun sledding with their friends that I’m not sure we would change anything.

Have you ever had a random idea to turn a one day visit into a backcountry overnight trip? Me eithe…. Yeah. That happened. In our travels, we have learned to say Yes when adventure calls. That is how we ended up hiking into the otherworldly scene displayed here. We found our campsite amidst the dunes just before nightfall. Staying overnight allowed us to experience not only the late evening and early morning unavailable to daytime visitors, but also a brilliantly bright full moon. -@telegramsam

Hooray for a spontaneous backpacking trip! While sledding yesterday in White Sands National Park we decided to grab a back country permit and stay the night. With a full moon, plenty of stars, and a gorgeous sunrise we definitely made the right decision! -@currentlywandering

Camping on the dunes is prohibited so all of the camp sites are nestled in valleys between dunes. We settled into our little spot, made dinner, and the kids managed a final sled before bed.

One of the perks of staying the night was the ability to see both sunset and sunrise in the park. Sunset over the gypsum sand was pure magic. Depending on the time of year, the park can close before sunset actually occurs which I think is totally sad. The rangers drive through the park at closing announcing over a loudspeaker that everyone needs to leave. I’m grateful we were able to just stand and enjoy it.

At first we were excited there was a full moon and then we realized that its really hard to sleep when its so bright outside! Sam, Rachel, and I went for a walk at 10pm with no headlamp (and no shoes honestly) to try and bring on some sleep. I didn’t even try to capture any star photos as the moon would have just washed them out.

“The moon was full last night, and as it shone upon the brilliant white sand around us, it lit up the night in a way I have never seen before. It was bright enough to allow a late night wander without any light at all. It was so bright that we had moon shadows. It was so bright that we had trouble falling asleep. It was indeed otherworldly.” -@telegramsam

We had plans to be 5 hours south of White Sands by Saturday night, so were were up and out of camp early the following morning. We had a quick breakfast of Cliff Bars, fruit strips, and hot chocolate before making our way back to the trailer. Halfway there we realized the Visitor Center didn’t open until 9am (we needed to turn in our Jr. Ranger books) so we slowed down a bit and got some more sledding in.

Backpacking trips that involve sand dunes and sledding are much more fun. -@currentlywandering

I love that we could revisit one of our favorite places and the experience was so different than last time. White Sands is definitely a unique visit and camping in the back country made the visit even more special.

Categories
Arizona

Our Boondocking, Nomad Neighborhood in Las Cienegas NCA

Las Cienegas has been on our visit list since the WanderingWatsons visited two years ago. Once we managed to pull ourselves away from the mountain biking haven at McDowell Mountain, we drove straight to this boondocking site southeast of Tucson, AZ. Loaded up with extra water, groceries, and not very many plans we were set for a calm week.

From the terrain we were driving through, it was hard to believe we had just left the Sonoran desert. This landscape was closer to an African Savannah with scrubbly trees and tall, brown grass.

We found ourselves a campsite big enough for @thefamilycan to join us the following day, and settled in for another amazing Arizona sunset. Seriously. I don’t know how this state delivers the colors so consistently.

Temperatures dipped below freezing at night, but during the day the sun warmed us up. With friends nearby, forts to build, a dog to walk, and school & work to complete we were content to mostly just sit and not go anywhere.

“It was pretty chilly yesterday evening, but you wouldn’t know it from the way the kids played outside. I love the open space that our #bigbackyard often provides. Having the @thefamilycan around makes for good friend time.” -@telegramsam

When we decided to spend a portion of our winter in Arizona again this year, places like this were exactly what we had imagined. No pressure to see or do anything, just beautiful views and wide open space. There’s something about this spot that was incredibly peaceful. Both @thefamilycan and we were extremely content. Perhaps there does need to be some land in our future after all?

“The best kind of neighborhood. Sad to leave our awesome spot in the grasslands, but laundry, groceries, a tank dump, and being closer to Sunday church services were in order. Excited to still be caravanning with @thefamilycan for at least another week though. Hooray!” -@CurrentlyWandering

Categories
Arizona Biking WanderLog

Mountain Biking at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona

McDowell Mountain Regional Park as been on my “visit list” for at least 2 years. We even had reservations here two years ago, but it was too late in the spring and we cancelled in favor of higher elevation to escape the heat.

When we decided to spend winter 2017 in Arizona again, McDowell Mountain climbed immediately to the top of list. Originally we reserved 8 days thinking that would be long enough to explore the trails thoroughly. Then we actually arrived, and 8 days turned into 18. Even then we were all sad to leave, and are making plans to come back relatively soon.

Travel Dates: January 5 – 22, 2017

McDowell Mountain State Park is known for its trails. Specifically, its mountain biking trails. You can hike or ride horses on them as well, but the majority of users we’ve seen have been on bikes. They also have a competitive track and run races here on a regular basis.

Mountain biking in the desert is a completely different experience. We’ve biked in Utah, Minnesota, Florida, California and plenty of other states, but the Sonoran Desert is unique. Rolling, mildly sandy trails, Saguaro catcus, ocatillo, palo verde, and jagged mountains all make this landscape one of a kind. Throw in a few amazing Arizona sunsets (seriously they are not this good ANYWHERE else) and you can begin to understand our difficulty leaving.

The Campground

This campground fills up regularly. After our initial 8 day reservation, we spent a few days in the campground overflow (basically a parking lot), 2 days back in our original site, and then we managed to pick up a 5 day site that backed up to the playground. You can look online for sites, but once you are here you can avoid the reservation fee by just calling in or talking to the campground hosts in person at the nature center.

There is a 14 day stay limit in any one site, so even if you want to be here longer you’ll have to shuffle around. Sites are water/electric so unless you are camping solo and have large tanks, you’re going to need to take a trip to the dump station anyway.

Sites are level, spacious, and not too close together. They all have a picnic table (the sturdy stone kind), and a fire pit. We always find it amusing when the camp hosts rake the gravel nicely between campers, but it does make the site feel tidy and neat.

The Trails

Someone asked me on Instagram if all the trails we’ve encountered are this smooth and rolling. Nope. Don’t let the smoothness fool you though, from the campground headed north-west all the trails are uphill. We could easily get in a good 8 mile loop in an hour and feel like we got worked. Its nice to head uphill first and then have a nice, swift downhill on the return.

Some of our favorite loops:

For the Kids

Granite – Bluff – Granite (4 miles): Start at the campground and take the connector trail to Granite. Stay on Granite when it turns left and heads down into the wash. Climb back up and you’ll run into Bluff. Turn left and enjoy the ride down back to Granite. Turn right to head back to the campground. Granite is a nice, easy, rolling uphill, and Bluff is slightly more technical on the way down. The downhill is fun with some rollers but overall not technical (except for the waterbars).

Tortoise – Pemberton – Shallmo Wash – Escondido – Cinch – Scenic – Pemberton – Tortoise (4 miles): Feels like a lot of trails but many of them are short connectors. Start at the nature center and ride Tortoise down to the intersection. From here its an easy 0.1 miles on PB until you hit SH. SH is a great downhill – fast and furious until you hit the staging area. From here find the trail head for Escondido and follow it 0.2 miles up to the turn off for CI. 0.6 miles up CI you’ll continue on up Scenic. Its fairly smooth and not steep, just a gradual uphill the entire way. Turn left on PB and ride the short distance back to TO and then up to the nature center.

Rachel rode this one with Sam and I, but I’m not sure I’d take the other two. Cara and Andrew did ride with Sam from the campground down Tortoise and Shallmo Wash to the competitive track where I picked them up after we played around for a bit.

“Cara sometimes gets frustrated as she’s not as capable as the older kids. She was upset the other night because she was scared to ride the hills on the pump track. I assured her she didn’t have to ride, it was okay to be scared, and that we would keep practicing until she felt comfortable. Instead of quitting Cara put her intense game face on and rode the hills over and over until she smiled and laughed the whole way. I’ve never seen such fierce determination and desire to overcome an obstacle. I hope that’s a lesson she keeps with her for the rest of her life!” -@currentlywandering

North Trail (3 miles): We drove up McDowell Mountain Park Dr and Asher View Dr to park at the trail head for North Trail. Along Asher View Dr. there is an amazingly old and gnarly Saguaro cactus we had to get out and inspect – so don’t miss that on your way. North Trail is a fairly tame 3 mile loop. You can ride the trail in either direction and its pretty symmetrical. Gentle uphill and then back down on the return. Rachel found it almost too easy, while Cara was upset it was too sandy in spots to ride. Great recess break from school!

For the Adults

Granite – Delsie – Pemberton – Lariat – Granite (8 miles): Start from the campground and take the connector trail up to GR. About the same place GR splits off left and goes left down the wash, DL heads right and continues climbing. We felt this was one of the easier climbs but still managed to get a good work out. From there, this section of PB is super fun! A short sprint uphill and then its downhill, smooth, flowy and fun to Lariat. LR was a bit boring but you have to get back to camp somehow.

“First MTB ride is in the books with another scheduled for today. There are so many trails here and I intend to ride most of them over the next week. Not gonna lie – all of you and your snow photos are making me grateful for 70 degrees, sunshine, and cactus. 🌵☀” – @currentlywandering

Pemberton – Scenic – Cinch – Escondido – Pemberton (11 miles): This one starts at the trail head staging area which is also the campground overflow. This section of Pemberton is fairly smooth so its a nice ride up to Scenic. SN is definitely more rocky as it climbs up to and along the bluff. Definitely more technical and we do recommend riding it clockwise. Once we hit the bottom we turned onto Cinch which is a small connector to Escondido. ED is a nice rolling uphill all the way back to Pemberton. It is a good combination of technical and smooth rolling hills. I really liked it. Once you hit Pemberton again its downhill all the way back to the staging area.

Granite – Pemberton – Dixie Mine – Coachwhip – Pemberton – Bluff – Granite (14 miles): If you are looking for a rocky, technical trail than you’ll love this. Riding on a hardtail, I struggled over the rocks but it was still a really good loop. Granite is an easy fast couple of miles from the campground before your hit the turn off for Pemberton. From there follow the trail past the old Ranch homestead and then start climbing up towards Dixie Mine. This part of PB isn’t too rocky and traverses some really pretty landscapes. Once you hit Dixie, there’s a gradual, rocky downhill before hitting a gnarly, long technical climb. Summit is at the turn off for Coachwhip, which has a fun, rocky downhill before another long slog uphill. From there its mostly downhill or rolling all the back to Pemberton. We chose to turn left and end our ride down Bluff rather than doing a return up Granite the way we came. Definitely the better choice as downhill doesn’t  get much better than Bluff in this park!

A note about Tonto Trail, Granite & Delsie – These trails are super easy, gradual climbs. We came down Delsie once and it was actually quite boring, fast, but boring. Most of our trail rides including going up one of these trails and taking something a little more exciting on the return. Tonto is steeper than Delsie which is steeper than Granite.

Hanging Out With Friends & Regular Life

One of my favorite parts of our stay was hanging out with friends. @TheFamilyCan came up from Lost Dutchman to join us and we convinced them to hang out for more than a week (it wasn’t hard). Our kids played for HOURS at the playground, we enjoyed a few campfires, and the kids had some solid Minecraft time. We loved having other adult company!

“Our kids have spent hours at the playground with @thefamilycan this week. Mostly it’s been Harry Potter games and imagination central, but after they left today Andrew found a different use for the slide.” -@currentlywandering

The only downside to this park is that laundry is 45 minutes away no matter which way you drive. I paired our laundry trips with grocery shopping and other errands so it wasn’t too bad.

We have some college friends down in Gilbert, and they were gracious enough to watch our kids while Sam and I attended a session at the Gilbert, Arizona LDS temple. We loved catching up with them as they are nomads at heart and are still trying to figure out how to take their 5 kids on the road someday.

“Roughly three years ago we attended the Gilbert LDS Temple open house as we passed through Arizona heading West. This week we had a chance to attend a session as we pass through Arizona (slowly) headed East. I love the focus that the Temple brings, pointing us to the Gospel of Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice. Visiting so many different temples is one of the perks of a nomadic life.” -@telegramsam

“We visited some college friends yesterday and the the kids got a kick out of their indoor trampoline. Everybody needs awesome friends like this! This is not the only cool thing in their lives as @funawesomefamily has a fun YouTube channel with plenty of fun family stuff.” -@telegramsam

We were stationary long enough to get not 1, but 2 Amazon deliveries. We utilized the Amazon locker pick- up that is available in the Phoenix area and it worked like a charm. You send your package to a nearby locker and then use your phone or a code on the keypad and it pops open your locker with package(s) inside. Brilliant. Now we just need these in more remote areas.

One of Airstream’s marketing companies paid us a visit and we were privileged to be interviewed by their amazing team. They are rolling out a new “Home” campaign highlighting the various uses of full-time Airstreamers and we can’t wait to see how they edit our story together. Lisa gave us a preview of some of their previous shoots and they look top notch. Ours should be published in a few months and we’ll definitely let everyone know when it goes live!

“Fell in love with our tiny, shiny space all over again today. We spent a couple of hours cleaning yesterday in preparation for a video/photo project with @airstream_inc today. Our house looks amazing! If only the kids could keep it this clean all the time.” -@currentlywandering

We briefly went “ice skating” with @campytrails in Bakersfield a month ago and the kids have been begging to try it for real since then. With my ankle still not to full strength we determined I shouldn’t skate (not really my thing anyway) but I came along for moral support. Sam was amazingly patient with the kids and they learned to glide around the ice. I can definitely see more of this in our future!

One last errand to top off our stay was to replace our toilet. We weren’t really planning on it, but the darn thing sprung a leak (clean water thank goodness!) and we decided it was time. After some research Sam sent me to Camping World in Mesa, AZ where they had the correct toilet in stock. Really grateful this happened in civilization and not out boondocking in the desert!

We had a fabulous stay at McDowell Mountain and honestly can’t wait to go back. We attended a record three times at the same LDS ward in Fountain Hills, and there are plenty of hikes, museums and restaurants we weren’t able to check off our list. For now, however, its off to south eastern Arizona!