Trail Toil Day 4-7; Big Bend Ranch State Park
Back home from the Lajitas trail-work weekend, I had to unpack, organize, then repack all my gear for a week living out of the Bunkhouse at the Sauceda Ranger Station way out in the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The plan was to spend four days working on several trails within the Park with Tim Gibbs [Park Archeologist] and Amber Harrison [Park Ranger, Trails].
Monday morning, I met Tim and Amber at the Barton Warnock Visitor Centre to load my gear in their State Park vehicle for the 2.5 hour drive to Sauceda. Earlier that morning, Barrett Durst [Park Manager] took my mountain-bike up there with him in his vehicle. Arrived and unpacked, by 11am we were carrying picks, loppers and McCleods towards our first project; the Cinco Tinajas Trail. Amber figured the bit of vegetation that needed to be cleared and the few cairns that needed to be erected should only take us the afternoon. Uh-huh…
Part of my reason for helping Tim and Amber with these trail-work projects was to experience trails I’ve never seen before and this would be the first of many. A fairly short loop of about 4 miles, a steep, loose, rocky trail took us down to the creek-bed and our first bit of work. Walking along the sand and gravel, we erected several large cairns to help guide folks along the trail before it climbed back out of the creek. It was there that the work began in earnest.
That hillside trail was pretty rough and difficult to follow. So we reestablished the trail, cut back all the overgrown vegetation and redirected water-flow so the trail would not continue to erode. From there, more lopping cacti and coercing double-track into single-track. By about 4:30pm we came across a big ugly section of trail that had been badly eroded and blown-out by all the water the Park received over the summer months. Because of the time, we called it a day and drove back to camp. We knew the next day would be a long one, and it was.
Tuesday morning by 9am we were back on the Cinco Tinajas Trail, ready to tackle the projects we’d identified the day before. It was hot, dusty, hard work moving rock and gravel, filling erosion ditches with dead-fall, rocks and sand. We cut new erosion-mitigation ditches, erected cairns and basically rebuilt the trail that would take folks back to the creek-bed. That was the easy part of the day. From there we walked about a 1/4mile to a nasty uphill section of trail that was badly blown-out, an old jeep-road. We spent the rest of the day digging dirt, hauling rocks, redirecting erosion and shoring up the trail to defend it against the ravages of water. It was a long day of hard work, but greatly rewarding. Back at the trail-head, Amber and Tim took me along another little trail-spur so I could actually see the natural rock pools that give the trail its name. Considering all the rain we’ve had recently, the pools were full and teaming with life. Spectacular!
Back at the Bunkhouse, we ate well, socialized with a few other Park Staff and were in bed by 10pm. After two hard days of work, we had another trail to tackle, one we knew would be an all day adventure.
Wednesday morning we drove to the half-way point of the Encino Trail to drop water. We then drove towards the Solitario for another water-drop; I would need it on Friday. With the water-drops done, we got to the Papalote Encino Trailhead and began work on that 7 mile loop. It was another warm day in the desert but fortunately the work was not too arduous. We spent the next 6 hours cutting back all that prickly overgrowth, erecting a few cairns and turning more double-track into fast flowing single-track. With the entirety of that trail completed, we had a 1.4mile dirt-road hike back to the truck. Since Tim was responsible for making dinner, Amber made me a deal: “I’ll walk back and get the truck if you do all the dishes from dinner tonight.” “Deal!” An hour later our tired bodies were back at the Bunkhouse, showered and eagerly devouring the scrumptious meal Tim prepared.
Amber’s original plan was for us to complete those two sections of trail and one more, the Puerta Chilicote Trail. But after those first three days of hard work, we better realized just how long it would actually take us to do the work required. So, instead, the board came to a unanimous decision; to heck with working on that trail. Instead, we would spend an hour Thursday morning on the 1mile Sauceda Nature Trail that loops around the Bunkhouse. Easy work.
By about 11am Thursday morning, Tim and Amber had packed all their gear into the truck and were heading back to the Barton Warnock Centre and paper-work. I, however, stayed behind to enjoy a leisurely 2 hour ride. Late in the afternoon the sun was beginning to set and the temperatures starting to drop. It was ideal riding and I again discovered dirt roads and a section of trail new to me; the road to the very prominent landmark, La Mota mesa. I knew that on the way back I could take a turn and ride single-track that would take me to the trail we’d worked on Monday/Tuesday. Regrettably, the section from that little trailhead was so badly overgrown with cacti I lost the trail and found myself in a wash. It was getting late and I would soon be out of light. Not wanting to chance my luck, I simply turned around, went back to where I started and rode back to the Bunkhouse.
Knowing that Friday would be a big day on the bike, I was fed, hydrated and in bed by 9pm. Part two and day seven of my trail toil was complete but the fun was only just about to begin!
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