On Wednesday morning, I met my 9 participants for the first time as they arrived at 6am (since I had missed the pre-trip since it was while I was at AAMAS in Istanbul). They quickly packed all of our backpacking gear into their packs and then we loaded up the cars.
Brad, Cade, and I had agreed to work on a 3 hour driving schedule. Hence, I drove to Sonora, and then got a break until Fort Stockton where I switched cars and drove the remainder of the way to the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park. We stopped at the Walmart in Fort Stockton for everyone to get last-minute items - I picked up some $19 hiking poles since I had stupidly forgotten mine in Austin and I knew I would want them.
I woke everyone up to stop at the sign. I think they were eventually happy about it.
Once in the Chisos Basin, I went to obtain our back-country permits around 3:20pm. However, the ranger suggested that we obtain a camp site first since they were in very short supply. He suggested we talk to the camp host about obtaining a group site. Hence, we loaded back into the cars and drove over to the camp-ground. We found the camp host, and he did indeed have just one group site left - site P. Site P was pretty much just a pavilion with tables on a hill - there was not a flat site to be found. But it would do for a night. As everyone else was setting up camp, I hurried back to the ranger station to obtain our back-country permits before they closed at 4pm. I made it just in time, but found that our original plan to camp in Boot Canyon one night and Pinnacles the other night would not work as too many site had already been taken in each. Trying to get back-country permits in Big Bend for a group of 12 is difficult! However, I was eventually able to get our backup plan of staying in Colima 1 both nights. In hind site, this was certainly the best plan for our group.
Sloped site P
My back-country permit
Once back at the camp with my back-country permit in hand, we presented the various hiking options to the group. Despite an oncoming storm, they decided on the Lost Mine trail. We drove to the trailhead, and I opted to put on rain gear before starting since I was certain it would begin raining soon. As we climbed up the trail, the visibility got worse and worse. When we hit the one mile point and a ridge, we found we had very little visibility. We waited for a bit, and then the group decided they wanted to continue on the to summit and hope it cleared. I figured there was little to no chance we would see anything from the summit. However, as we kept climbing, the visibility did get better and better. From the top, we could see very well - even the valley had cleared. Lost Mine is certainly the best 'half-day hike' I've experienced in Big Bend so far, and there are plenty of places at the end of the trail to sit and just enjoy the views.
The rain got a bit worse on the hike back down, but we made it down with no issues. Once back at camp, we cooked our chicken noodle and tomato soups and grilled cheeses. It was a popular meal, and everyone seemed satisfied. We were treated to a nice view of the sunset through the window from our camp-site as well.
Thursday morning I awoke feeling miserably hot. I was sharing a tent with two of the participants - Monica and Stephanie - and quietly packed up and got out. The tent was so much hotter than the outside air! I got ready and then just sat and enjoyed the early morning. People slowly began waking up around 7:30am, and once about half of the participants were awake I woke up Cade and Brad and started our bagels and yoghurt breakfast.
After breakfast we put the items we would not need backpacking back into the cars and packed the items we would (as well as the refrigerated items). We moved our cars to the visitor's center parking lot and hit the trail slightly before 10am.
Brad led our way up the Laguna Meadow Trail. Once we finished the climb and could see the meadows, we found a nice viewpoint off trail to have lunch at. I was pleasantly surprised how little I struggled on the climb as long as I went slowly. Since some participants were struggling with the weight of their backpacks and/or their muscles, this was not an issue. After lunch, and resting for about 45 minutes, we hiked onward to camp. My pack got really heavy near the end of this hike, but I was still pleasantly surprised that I was not miserable like I was during the 2014 Thanksgiving trip to Guadalupe Mountains despite almost certainly carrying more weight on this trip.
Plenty of flowers in May
Flowering cacti
My group relaxing after lunch
The hardest part of the backpacking trip is over!
We finally reached our home for the next two nights - Colima 1. Colima 1 was a group site that could hold up to 15 people in 5 tents, so 12 people in 4 tents fit nicely. It was equipped with two large bear boxes, 1 medium bear box, and three smaller, older bear boxes. It began raining as we reached camp. In hind sight, we should have waited for the rain to stop before setting up camp - but we attempted to set up our tents in the rain. This lead to the bottom of our tent being wet. Of course, by the time camp was set up, it had stopped raining. We took the rain fly off our tent in hopes that it would dry. I also organized all of our group food and cooking items in one bear box. We used the other large bear box for personal items and food, and the medium bear box for water. We used the smaller three bear boxes to store trash.
We took a group trip to the nearby composting toilet after everyone relaxed for an hour, and then we sat around and played games until it was time to cook dinner. Dinner was quinoa with brown sugar salmon - it was actually the best quinoa dinner I have had. I'm not usually a fan of quinoa, so this is a big statement. It started getting cool during dinner, so most people hurried to bed after dinner.
Friday morning I awoke first again, and got out of my tent. I got ready for the day, and then enjoyed sitting on a log and just listening to the birds. Cade's head stuck out of his tent shortly after his 7:45am alarm and we started our hashbrown breakfast shortly after. The participants woke up as we started cooking, and breakfast was served soon after. However, even after all of the participants had gotten food, Brad had still not gotten out of his tent. I went to check on him, and he claimed he was being slow because he was cold. Getting up and ready before the participants was drilled into me during guide school, but it seems that since the latest group of guides did not go through part 2 of guide school, they missed this part of the curriculum.
We eventually took off on our day hike to the South Rim. Multiple people had some nasty bruises and blisters on their hips from carrying heavy packs the previous day. We did not have much mileage, so we could hike slow and enjoy the day. We did just this, stopping for a long time at three different view points. The first view point, seen after climbing out the the meadow, makes a real impression. Multiple people in our group actually said 'man, this makes it all worth it'. We chilled at the South Rim until the participants decided they wanted to head back to camp around 3pm. We got back to camp around 4:30pm, and played cards until dinner time. Dinner was supposed to be mango, mandarin orange, and bean tacos - but I had spaced out when repackaging food and did not remember to put tortillas with this meal. The meal was still great though - I do not think anyone really missed the tortillas. After dinner it started to rain, so we all retreated to our tents. I was amused by the international group (a UK guy, an Australian guy, and a French girl) playing American country music in their tent.
Views from the South Rim never get old
South Rim
South Rim
The next morning we tried to get moving early. Breakfast was instant oatmeal with toppings, so it was easy to prepare. We took down camp, packed our now substantially lighter backpacks, and headed for the Pinnacles trail. We stopped about a mile in at the Emory Peak turn-off. Most of the group wanted to hike to the peak, but two participants did not want to go so I stayed with them. We decided to stay with everyone else's bags at the turn-off, but in hind sight we should have made the rest of the group carry they packs and we should have headed down to the cars. Waiting at the turn-off in the rain was by far the most miserable part of the trip, as we were all very cold due to the combination of rain, wind, and inactivity.
The boot in Boot Canyon
Me, on the trail
The rest of the group returned 1.5-2 hours later, and we broke into a faster and slower group for our descent. I trailed the slower group, but I literally saw the faster group running down the trail! Once at the bottom we gave everyone 30 minutes to visit the Visitor's Center and store. In the meantime, we went to the Visitor's Center to try and get a primitive site by Rio Grande Village for our final night. However, since it was Memorial Day weekend, all of the sites easily reachable were already filled up - and especially considering our group size, there was nothing available for us except a few sites about an hour down a rough 4x4 high clearance road. With all the rain, and one vehicle without four wheel drive, we decided that would be a bad idea. All of the group sites at both Rio Grande Village and in the Chisos Basin were fully reserved online. We started to have serious concerns about finding a place to camp. We eventually found phone numbers of Big Bend Ranch State Park, and convinced the ranger at the visitor's center to let us use their phone to call. The state park claimed they had plenty of space, but it would be a 1.5 hour drive west from the basin to reach the campsites and we could not reserve over the phone. We opted to go with this plan, and went to serve lunch.
After lunch, the participants really wanted to go to the hot springs down by Rio Grande Village. We knew this might make it difficult to get a camp spot at Big Bend Ranch State Park, but we decided to just go with it. I dropped my car off at the hot springs and went to double check that there was indeed no space at the Rio Grande Village group site. The sites were all empty, but all reserved, so we could not take any of them. They looked nice and grassy though. When I returned to the hot springs, everyone except Brad and one participant were waiting in the parking lot. Apparently they had not seen Brad and the participant since they left the hot springs! After waiting in the parking lot for 15 minutes, I began to worry and sent Cade and another participant to look for them. About 30 minutes later, I finally saw Brad and the participant climbing down a hill! I was relived but angry - it was selfish and irresponsible for Brad to leave the group and disappear for 45 minutes.
Once we were all in the Suburbans and ready to go, we drove the two hours to Lajitas and self-registered at Big Bend Ranch State Park since they closed at 4pm. Then we drove onward to the Grassy Banks primitive camp. There was one area where water was running across the road at a depth of 6 inches (according to the pole by the road). I hesitated, but having seen two other vehicles just cross safely, I went for it and crossed without issue. Once at the camp, we were relieved to find many open spots. We claimed spots 5 and 6, and set up camp. As we were cooking quesadillas for dinner, we were treated to yet another great sunset. After dinner many of us stayed up playing cards and enjoying the stars. Staying at Big Bend Ranch State Park for the last night ended up working out perfectly!
The next morning we awoke at 7am and cooked pancakes for breakfast. Everyone got as many as they wanted, but there were none left at the end. The strawberry jam worked surprisingly well on the pancakes. Cade had fun manning the grill, and ended up making cute Mickey Mouse pancakes at the end. We left our site at 9:30am and reached the Big Bend Ranch visitor center in Lajitas to pay just before 10am. After paying, we were off towards Austin!
The drive home was uneventful. We ended up arriving back in Austin at 6:30pm. Brad, Cade and I dealt with some of the gear, and agreed to meet on Tuesday to finish repacking, cleaning, and putting everything away.
The evaluations for our trip were good. Lots of positive comments, and no real negative comments - the only ones were (1) serve more pasta and (2) reserve campsites.
As a guide, I feel like although I did a lot of things right. Some specifics are:
- The participants really felt the trip was theirs and seemed very happy with how it turned out.
- Keeping the participants informed about our schedule.
- Meals were adequately sized (except for the last dinner, which was a feast).
- Going over the plan for the next day during dinner works well, since everyone is naturally together during that time. Likewise, reviewing the plan for the day at breakfast also works.
However, I do have some things to improve on as well as some things I would do differently in the future:
- Reserve campsites early if going on a holiday weekend. If state park or national park group sites, reserve online. If primitive, reserve all of them ASAP upon arrival.
- Do a better job critiquing new / less experience guides. I dislike confrontation, so I had trouble talking to Brad about his actions / lack of actions that I had an issue with. Being a good lead guide is not just about how you plan a trip and interact with the participants, it is also about how you mentor the other guides, and I need to improve in that aspect.
- Implement interviews at the pre-trip to determine ability, and then assign particular gear piles to particular people based on ability.
- Make an active effort to learn names ASAP. On this trip I really struggled with names, and when this was discovered on day 3, a few people got rather upset that I did not know their names.
