Categories
Texas WanderLog

Monahans Sandhill State Park & Lubbock, TX

After we left Big Bend Texas, we didn’t have solid plans. We knew we only wanted to drive about 3 hours, needed better signal for work, laundry would be a plus, and we needed groceries. Sam found Monahans Sandhill State Park which seemed to fit the bill so off we went! We were lucky enough to be joined by our online friends @wandering_nation for a few days and we all had a blast getting to know each other and hanging out. Turns out parenting is so much easier when I can send the kids out to play with their friends!

Travel Dates: February 24 – March 5, 2017

“We’ve been lucky to be parked just a titch away from @wandering_nation for the past few days. Dunes are more fun with friends. “-@telegramsam

“I’m pretty sure Harry Potter and Minecraft are the universal languages of traveling kids (all kids maybe?). We’ve loved having @wandering_nation as neighbors while we recuperate from our Big Bend trip. The kids have played for hours in the sand dunes chasing dementors, and then following it up with some good old tablet time. Makes it easy to get work done when the kids entertain each other.” -@currentlywandering

Monahans is another park where you can rent sleds and slide down the dunes. We were recently at White Sands National Monument, however, so really the sledding wasn’t all that appealing to any of us. I was worried about the wind (welcome to West Texas!) but it wasn’t too bad. We also managed to get Wandering_Nation addicted to the game of Dominion. We spent many hours playing games and chatting. So fun to have temporary neighbors to hang out with!

After a restful 5 days at Monahans it was time to move on. We debated forever about where we actually wanted to be, but honestly? Nothing sounded good.  I was kind of tired of being in the middle of nowhere and New Mexico didn’t sound enticing. The nearest city was Lubbock, TX and even though it was a small detour we decided it was worth it!

We spent 5 days at the KOA and accomplished A LOT of logistics while we were there, including a stop at Costco where we were able to get our hands on a Costco magazine with our faces on the cover!

“Thanks to everyone who has texted, tagged us in photos and otherwise made us feel so loved in the last week as the Costco Connection came in your mailboxes! We finally got our hands on a copy today (okay, 5 copies) and it’s fun to see in person. For those that have asked – we answered a call to action months ago about Costco members living in unique dwellings. They followed up with a phone interview and I sent over photos but we were shocked they put us on the cover. What a fun surprise!” – @currentlywandering

We swam at the KOA pool almost every day, visited the local library, and were able to see one of my college roommates and her family.  While not super outdoorsy or exciting, this stop was just what we needed to rejuvenate our batteries.

“Lubbock Texas was not on our original plan, but we wanted a Temple to visit, and Lubbock was the nearest one. When we arrived for our session, the sun was low enough to light up the stained glass. I find that our church attendance provides guidance and inspiration for our day to day lives, and the Temple provides perspective as we strive to live the Gospel of Christ.

Lubbock also has a Costco (and a Torchy’s) but it was our Temple visit that made the extra driving hours worth it.” -@telegramsam

“Happy Monday! We had a great weekend resting up in Lubbock, Texas. We snuck in a temple date night, rotated the truck tires and replaced the battery, shopped at Costco, hung out with my college roommate and her family, swam at the KOA pool, found something resembling mountain bike trails, and ate at Torchy’s Tacos – twice. Now it’s time to MOVE. My sister gets married in less than two weeks (eek!) So on to Utah we go. We’ll be in Moab by Friday night!” – currentlywandering

Categories
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!

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Giveaways

Countdown to Summer Instagram Gear Giveaway

I’m starting to see signs of summer plans popping up all over social media. The snow photos are decreasing and people are looking forward to sunshine and warm weather.

We are excited for our summer plans too! This year will be different for us, but so far we have a month scheduled through Glacier, Waterton, Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks in July. Super stoked to get up into some of the most beautiful parts of Canada.

To get you guys pumped for summer we reached out to our favorite gear companies and put together our biggest giveaway yet! I’ve been working on this for weeks and seriously can’t wait.

Details:

Everything is going down over on Instagram this week so make sure you are following us over there to be eligible to win awesome adventure gear:

Currently Wandering on Instagram

The contest begins on March 20, 2017. We will post giveaways Monday through Friday in the morning and evenings and leave the weekends for adventuring!

Here’s How This Works:

[1]  make sure you are following us (@currentlywandering) and whichever brands are involved.

[2] We want to hear your stories! Start thinking of your favorite adventures, family moments, or plans for this summer because we’ll be asking you to comment and like the photos.

[3] You can always tag ONE friend for an additional entry.

We have so much gear to hand out that we’ll be doing 2 giveaways per day for the next week and a half. Each contest will be open for 72 hours so make sure you are checking back every day. After each contest closes we will randomly choose a winner from the comments.

Super easy! See you on Instagram this week!

This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with, Instagram.

Here are our awesome sponsors – make sure you check out their websites and give them a huge thank you!

Nuu-Muu
Teton Sports
Eagle Nest Outfitters
Haiku Bags
Power Practical
Woombikes
KEEN Kids
Aventura & Ecoths Clothing
Wilde Nomad
Trail Foody
Liberty Sport
Enso Rings
Deuter
Peak Design
Nite Ize
GCI Oudoor
Hydro Flask
Tiny Big Adventure
Bug Protector – all Natural Bug Repellent
Bare Snacks
Leatherman
Mamoo Kids
Darn Tough Socks
Perky Jerky
Action Wipes
Granite Gear
Post for the Parks

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
Daily Life Finances & Money

Items We Still Buy at Costco & Our Costco Connection Magazine Cover

People seem surprised that we have kept our Costco membership even while living in such a tiny space. Either we are crazy, or there is more to Costco items than large, bulk purchases. I prefer the latter explanation.

Truth is, we are probably addicted to some of the items they carry, and even though the packages may be larger than a regular grocery store, its worth squeezing them in for the cost savings in the long run. In addition, sometimes it really just is convenient. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice my occasional rant about loathing grocery shopping. I really do. Its very difficult to price shop, build up a pantry, coupon or any other cost saving techniques. When I buy in bulk from Costco, I feel that I’m getting at least a marginally better deal than the grocery store.

Costco is also predictable. While we sometimes can’t find an item (e.g. Dave’s Killer Bread), its usually not difficult to stock up on our regular items. The layouts of the stores are all the same and we know right where to find everything.

We also have a Visa card through Costco. We get 3% back on gas, 2% back on restaurants, and 2% back on travel expenses. We make enough back between the Executive Membership and the Visa to more than pay for the Costco Membership (hello? Have you SEEN our gas bill every month?). Plus, we usually have quite a bit leftover that lends itself to a spending spree sometime in April. I’m sure they planned it that way.

The food court. Seriously one of the cheapest meals for a family of 5 (even if its not exactly healthy).

In celebration of our recent appearance on the cover of Costco Connection magazine, I thought I’d revise and republish our 2014 list of items we typically purchase. Its actually changed quite a bit in that we’ve added a few things we simply can’t live without. Somehow we always find room.

Items We Buy A Lot

Frozen Strawberries (for smoothies, pancakes, and muffins)
Multigrain Tortilla Chips
Cherry Tomatoes
Grapefruit
Cara Cara Oranges
English Cucumbers
Bananas
Organic Spinach
Rotisserie Chicken
Frozen Chicken Breasts
Chicken Apple Sausages
Cheddar Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Kodiak Cakes Flapjacks
Real Maple Syrup
Love Crunch Chocolate Granola
Cereal (Oatmeal Squares, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Cinnamon Toast Crust)
Mixed Nuts
Dave’s Killer Bread when I can find it, Sprouted Honey Wheat Bread when I can’t

Items That Last Us Quite Awhile
Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
Natural Turkey Lunch Meat
Ground Flaxseed
Chia Seeds
Organic Chicken Bullion Base
Butter Quarters (freeze most of these as well)
Honey (the 3 bears one)
Gummy Vitamins
Dove Body Soap
Kirkland Shampoo & Conditioner
Vegan Protein Powder (for everyone but me, I use Shakeology)
Johnny’s Garlic Seasoning Spread
Quinoa and Brown Rice Packets
Fig Bars
Cliff Z Bars
Stretch Island Fruit Strips
Triscuits
Almond Butter
Nutella
Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce
Kirkland Signature Salsa
Coconut Milk
Paper Towels
Single Serving Hummus (I usually freeze more than half of them)
Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges

When We Have Room or Just Occasionally For Fun:
Potstickers
Orange Chicken
Canned Chicken Breast Chunks
Papa Pita’s Greek Pita Flat Bread (found in *almost* every Costco we’ve been to. Except Nevada.)
Cheese Tortellini
Pesto Sauce
Bagels
Coastal Aged Cheddar Cheese (this stuff is seriously AMAZING)
Broccoli Florets (if I plan a whole week’s worth of dinners with broccoli in them)
Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches
GoGurt (then we freeze a lot of them)

Items We’ve Given Up on Buying
Avocados (I just can’t nail the ripeness and they usually go to waste)
Toilet Paper
Cheese Sticks (my kids won’t eat them all)
Eggs (as much as we eat them, I can’t fit it in my fridge!)
Milk (only room in the fridge for 1 gallon)
Fruit Snacks (I just don’t like my kids eating them)
Carrots (once again not enough room for such a large bag)
Oatmeal Packets (much to the dismay of my children)

Wow. That is quite the list. I’m sure I forgot a few, but I’ll add more in as I think of them. What are your favorite items to buy at Costco? Anything you can’t live without? Personally, I still jump for joy anytime we can leave the building with a purchase under $100. Tell me I’m not alone?