I posted this over on the H&F forum, but i know a lot of you guys here go to big bend as well. i'm looking at making a trip out there between christmas and new years, which I know is a really busy week for BB. however, i'm probably steering clear of the chisos and the basin, and prefer to do some backpacking out in the desert. what are some areas you guys recommend? i have a 4x4 truck for access, then i plan on doing an extensive amount on foot.

Mesa de Anguilla..., never saw another person for 3 days. The trail head is just outside of Lajitas. Beautiful views down into Santa Elena canyon from up there.

Mesa de Angulia is great, mule ears/smokey creek area is awesome, Dodson trail will have some people on it, marufo Vega will get some traffic. But anywhere you go zone camping you will find solitude. Taking my three year old backpacking on the mule ears trails at that time.

I took park 12 from Boquillas/Rio Grande Village and then went west on Glen Springs Rd across to Black Gap. Very isolated back there. You need 4x4 clearance and sometimes will have to use 4x4 in a few spots, but it's mostly just rough gravel road.

Near Where the two meet is a road to Juniper Canyon. Another very isolated area, where the mountains drop down to the desert.

YellowPot_97 said:

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Mesa de Angulia is great, mule ears/smokey creek area is awesome, Dodson trail will have some people on it, marufo Vega will get some traffic. But anywhere you go zone camping you will find solitude. Taking my three year old backpacking on the mule ears trails at that time.

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AggieOO says you're the man to talk to about Big Bend

never even heard of the mesa de anguila, but it sounds like what I'm looking for. just wanting to get away from everything for a few days. is there a trail or is it all pathfinding / map & compass? my go-to topo website doesnt bring up a trail, is why i ask

Definitely need a map and trail finding skills, no doubt about it. That said, the main trail across the mesa was relatively easy to follow.








view of the trail and our tent

i'm sold. thanks for the suggestion.

Let us know how it is!

just be aware that you are adding an hour+ to your drive time to get all the way over to Lajitas and the trailhead. More of an FYI than anything, but something you need to account for.

Presley OBannons Sword said:

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YellowPot_97 said:

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Mesa de Angulia is great, mule ears/smokey creek area is awesome, Dodson trail will have some people on it, marufo Vega will get some traffic. But anywhere you go zone camping you will find solitude. Taking my three year old backpacking on the mule ears trails at that time.

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AggieOO says you're the man to talk to about Big Bend

never even heard of the mesa de anguila, but it sounds like what I'm looking for. just wanting to get away from everything for a few days. is there a trail or is it all pathfinding / map & compass? my go-to topo website doesnt bring up a trail, is why i ask

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Here are the three topos that make up the mesa. The furthest west one was has really bad resolution. I also included someone else's gps track. You'll want to go all the way out to "The Point". It's the mouth of the canyon from the top of the mesa. When I was there I watched a plane dive down into the canyon and fly out the mouth down BELOW me. The trail starts at the Lajitas golf course and is easy to follow across most of the mesa. But it peters out and disappears past Canyon Flag. There's a great spot to camp at the base of Canyon Flag with views into Mexico. Don't try to camp more than a mile past Canyon Flag. After that there is NO place to set up a tent. The ground is completely covered in broken rock. There is very little water up there either. The only semi reliable source is Tinja Blanca, but you'll need a rope and bucket to reach it. Just bring all you need.









My pics:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200276228424724.1073741840.1723810794&type=1&l=8fb04b65e0

dude! that is perfect. thanks a ton for those maps, I was worried i was going to have to shell out the bucks at the ranger station for them. that's exactly what i needed. out of curiosity, where do you pull those from?

thanks for the advice re: water. i plan on packing all my water in.

i have three nights to spend in the park. do you recommend making this a three night trip, or trying to squeeze something else in?

You can also get tons of info from the guys over at bigbendchat.com.
There are trip reports for Mesa de Anguilla and a lot more for some of the more obscure routes.

I frequent that site because I can't go out there as often as I would like and it inspires me to work on planning trips. So, OP, a post-trip report back here sure would be nice.

Presley OBannons Sword said:

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dude! that is perfect. thanks a ton for those maps, I was worried i was going to have to shell out the bucks at the ranger station for them. that's exactly what i needed. out of curiosity, where do you pull those from?

thanks for the advice re: water. i plan on packing all my water in.

i have three nights to spend in the park. do you recommend making this a three night trip, or trying to squeeze something else in?

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I'll look up the site for the topos when I get home tonight. For my trip on the mesa I spent the night before starting in terlingua. Day 1 hiked out to Canyon Flag a set up camp, turned out to be a shortish day. Day 2 hiked out to the point and back to camp, long day. Day 3 hiked back out to my truck.

YellowPot_97 said:

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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dude! that is perfect. thanks a ton for those maps, I was worried i was going to have to shell out the bucks at the ranger station for them. that's exactly what i needed. out of curiosity, where do you pull those from?

thanks for the advice re: water. i plan on packing all my water in.

i have three nights to spend in the park. do you recommend making this a three night trip, or trying to squeeze something else in?

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I'll look up the site for the topos when I get home tonight. For my trip on the mesa I spent the night before starting in terlingua. Day 1 hiked out to Canyon Flag a set up camp, turned out to be a shortish day. Day 2 hiked out to the point and back to camp, long day. Day 3 hiked back out to my truck.

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sounds perfect. where did you stay in terlingua?

Quote:

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Don't try to camp more than a mile past Canyon Flag. After that there is NO place to set up a tent.

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looks like your camp 1 was pretty far past CF. pretty rough going that night?

That's not my track. It's from someone else's trip report. I stayed two nights where their camp 2 is located. If I remember their trip report right they had a miserable night. I wouldn't try to camp past where the sink hole is marked on the map.
We grabbed the last room in town. The big bend motor inn has camping and showers as well.

If you have not taken a look at Big Bend Ranch State Park, I can't recommend it enough. Plenty of 4x4 options as well as on foot/mule only routes. The Ranchieras Loop is a good 3 day hike. Hiking El Solitario is definitely on the to-do list.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/spdest/findadest/parks/big_bend_ranch/map/

the site I used to get topos from is gone apparently. but natgeo has a site that you can download them from for free
http://www.natgeomaps.com/trail-maps/pdf-quads

YellowPot_97 said:

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the site I used to get topos from is gone apparently. but natgeo has a site that you can download them from for free
http://www.natgeomaps.com/trail-maps/pdf-quads

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good gouge, thanks.

Caltopo.com is the standard for topo maps. Tons of functionality and layering options. Build exactly the map you want then print it.

I also like to spend time in Google earth when planning a route, there are a lot of geo-referenced photo's in there that give you a good on the ground view of where you are going and generally show what people have done before. There are also route files on some trip reports you can download and put in Google Earth.

Any update?