Grapevine Hills

After a long day of driving we pulled into Big Bend National Park. The backcountry office closed at 5:00 p.m. so we hurried up to panther Junction to claim our backcountry spot. The ranger told us there was nothing available for Monday night so we bought a permit for Tuesday and Wednesday night. As we stopped to look at pictures of javilenas rading campsites, someone came into the backcountry permit office and gave up their spot. We jumped on that spot so that we could stay in Big Bend monday night.

6 miles down a very dusty bumpy rocky dirt road we came to our campsite called Grape Vine hills number 5. Actually it was number 4 because someone was in number 5 accidentally. We set up camp and began cooking revise and smothered potatoes for reds birthday dinner.

Big Bend was under a wind advisory and the wind probably blew 25 miles an hour all night long. At 1 point I was afraid the truck was going to top over. The tree house held up well no rips no tears the fabric is in perfect condition.

As we drove up to our campsite we discovered the trailhead for balanced rock was very close to our campsite. We decided we would stop at the trailhead to see how far of a Hi Kate was before we determined if we would take it on Tuesday morning. We were the only ones at the trailhead when we arrived except for 2 other people. We hiked up to the balanced rock which is a 2 mile out and back again. The last quarter of a mile is straight up rock, scree, and pokey bushes but the payoff was worth it

Change in campsites tonight will be closer to the Rio Grande and santa elina Canyon.Read more