| Year | Dates | Location | Activity | Post |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | April/Easter | Big Bend NP | Camping, Hiking | TR-Big Bend NP Family Trip April 1968 |
| 1977 | December | Big Bend NP | Camping, Hiking | TR-Big Bend NP December, 1977 |
| 1985 | April | Big Bend NP | Camping, hiking | TR-Big Bend NP-April 1985 |
| 1985 | April | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Camping, Hiking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains April, 1985 |
| 1986 | October | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Backpacking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpacking Oct 1986 |
| 1986 | September | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Backpacking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpack Sept 1986 |
| 1997 | August | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Hiking | TR-Guadalupe Peak 1997 |
| 1997 | August | Wheeler Peak Wilderness (New Mexico) | Hiking | TR-Wheeler Peak-New Mexico Highpoint 8/31/97 |
| 1999 | February | Big Bend NP | Backpacking | TR-Big Bend NP Backpack South Rim Feb/March 1999 |
| 2000 | February | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Backpacking | TR-Guadalupe Peak February 2000 |
| 2000 | August | Indian Peaks Wildeness | Backpacking | TR-Indian Peaks Wilderness August 24-25, 2000 |
| 2002 | August | John Muir Trail | Backpacking | John Muir Trail Thru-hike 2002 |
| 2003 | August | Humphrey Peak (Arizona) | Hiking | Arizona Highpoint-Humphreys Peak 8/13/03 |
| 2008 | Indian Peaks Wilderness | Backpacking | TR-Indian Peaks 2008 Backpacking | |
| 2011 | January | Grand Canyon NP | Camping | TR-Grand Canyon camping January 2011 |
| 2011 | January | Grand Canyon NP | Backpacking | TR-Grand Canyon Backpacking January 2011 |
| 2014 | November | Big Bend NP | Camping | Big Bend Camping November 2014 |
| 2014 | April May | Texas, New Mexico, Utah | Camping, Hiking, Travel | Trip to New Mexico |
| 2017 | November | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Backpacking | TR-Backpack-GUMO Shumard 11/16/2017 |
| 2019 | November | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Camping, Hking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains Dog Canyon & Gypsum Dunes November 14-16, 2019 |
| 2022 | February | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Backpacking, Camping, Hiking | TR-GUMO Pine Springs/Guad. Peak; Dog Canyon/Marcus backpack-February 2022 |
| 2022 | October | Big Bend NP | Camping, Backpacking | TR-BBNP Backpack Northeast Rim (and more)-October 2022 |
| 2024 | September | Weminuche Wilderness | Backpacking, Camping, travel | TR-Backpack-Colorado-Weminuche-September 2024 |
| 2024 | December | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Camping, Hiking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP camping-December 2024 |
| 2025 | January | Big Bend NP, Big Bend Ranch SP | Camping | TR- BBNP, BBRSP (partially canceled)-January 2025 |
| 2025 | April | Guadalupe Mountains NP | Camping, Hiking, Backpacking | TR-Guadalupe Mountains National Park camping and (canceled) backpacking-April 2025 |
Tag Archives: Backpacking
TR-BBNP Backpack Northeast Rim (and more)-October 2022
One night Seminole Canyon State Park; in Big Bend National Park two nights Cottonwood Campground, one night backpack to NE4, two nights Paint Gap 4
- Seminole Canyon State Park: Camping 10/15/22
- Big Bend National Park
- Camping: Cottonwood Campground BBNP 10/16/22–10/17/22
- Backpack East Rim 4: 10/18/22
- Camping: Paint Gap 4 10/19/22–10/21/22 | Flickr album
One characteristic of aging is that you can get great pleasure from revisiting experiences of your youth. Separated by decades, you forget the details of such experiences but recall that you enjoyed them immensely. In my case this holds true not only for books but also for my outdoor experiences. Going back decades later over trails previously trodden can be as full of joy and discovery as it had been the first time.
With this in mind I wanted to do an overnight to the South Rim, including the East Rim (which I don’t believe I’d been on before). I took advantage of online camping reservation systems and I booked a trip for October 15–21, starting with Seminole Canyon State Park and ending with three days at Paint Gap 4, probably my favorite primitive site in Big Bend National Park. In between was an overnight to ER4 (East Rim #4), a backcountry site on the Rim in the Chisos Mountains. My last backpack in the Chisos had been, I think, 1999. My last trip to the South Rim had been a day hike with friends in January of 2009, and I don’t know that I’d ever been to the east rim side as it’s seasonally closed for the Peregrine Falcon. (My first South Rim hike had been as a nine-year-old with my family in 1968.)
Continue reading TR-BBNP Backpack Northeast Rim (and more)-October 2022
TR-Grand Canyon Backpacking January 2011
(There is a separate Trip Report for the car camping on that trip here.)
Gear, Lessons learned
Route
South Kaibab-Bright Angel Campground-Bright Angel Trail
- 1/10/2011 (10:41 a.m.1) South Kaibab Trailhead->Bright Angel CG (4:15 p.m.)
- 1/11/2021 Bright Angel CG (9:39 a.m.) to Grand Canyon Village (5:27 p.m.) via Bright Angel Trail
Locations/Elevations Mileages
South Kaibab Trail
| Location2 | Elevation | Distance |
| South Kaibab Trailhead | 7260′ | start |
| Cedar Ridge | 6120′ | 1.5 miles |
| Skeleton Point | 5220′ | 3.0 miles |
| Tipoff | 4000′ | 4.4 miles |
| Bright Angel Campground | 2480′ | 7.0 miles |
Bright Angel Trail
| Location3 | Elevation | Distance |
| Bright Angel Campground | 2480′ | start |
| River Resthouse | 2480′ | 1.8 miles |
| Havasupai* Gardens | 3800′ | 5.0 miles |
| Three-Mile Resthouse | 4748′ | 6.5 miles |
| Mile-and-a-Half Resthouse | 5729′ | 8.0 miles |
| Bright Angel Trailhead | 6860′ | 9.5 miles |
Planning
While at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center at the end of 2007, I’d overheard a couple discussing with a NPS ranger backcountry permits for the Bright Angel site, at the bottom of the canyon near Phantom Ranch. I made a mental note to consider this in the near future. It’s a popular overnight and back hike; some folks pay $$ for the indoors at Phantom Ranch or a cabin but I was only interested in the backcountry sites. (My parents had hiked down and stayed at a cabin in 1978.) Aside from New Year’s Eve, there were almost always walkup available permits for Bright Angel this time of year. I made a mental note to come back soon for an overnight hike to the bottom and back. I returned for this trip in January of 2011.
Continue reading TR-Grand Canyon Backpacking January 2011
TR-Backpack-Colorado-Weminuche-September 2024
Backpacking in Weminuche Wilderness, then AirBnB in Cortez, CO
Gear, Lessons learned
Trip Report
Planning
I decided I wanted to revisit a couple of backpacking trips I’d made years ago, partly because a lot of my earlier trip had been obscured by clouds and fog, and partly just to get out to a not too crowded part of the San Juans again. I would visit an area where I’d camped and backpacked going back almost forty years, the San Juan mountains and the Weminuche Wilderness. I first visited the San Juans on a long trip in 1986, car camping at Vallecito campground on the western side of the wilderness area, based on a suggestion from my parents. I returned for a couple of backpacking trips in the 1990s, in the Williams Creek area which is about thirty miles north of Pagosa Springs on USFS roads.
Continue reading TR-Backpack-Colorado-Weminuche-September 2024
TR-GUMO Pine Springs/Guad. Peak; Dog Canyon/Marcus backpack-February 2022
Took a trip out to Guadalupe Mountains National Park last week. I’d reserved Sunday and Monday nights at Pine Spring, Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday nights at Dog Canyon. I intended on climbing Guadalupe Peak again Monday, then I was planning on a backcountry stay on Wednesday night, possibly at Blue Ridge (as discussed here; https://bigbendchat.com/tentative-plan-for-one-night-backpack-dog-canyon-b-t18146.html).
I’d been getting in pretty good shape over the past six months, doing cardio, hiking, and most recently hiking with a pack to start conditioning myself for backpacking. But I had an unexpected trip to take my 89-year old mother to California to meet her new great-granddaughter from New Zealand who was visiting family in Berkeley…but I digress. Bottom line is I was out for a week, then home for only a couple of days before leaving on my trip.
I left Austin around 4 pm arriving Ozona around 8 pm. I began this habit of breaking up the drive to GUMO a few years ago; gives me plenty of time to pack, take care of chores, and hardly feels like any time at all for the first day. And then it’s nice to get to my campsite early enough to where I don’t have to rush to beat sundown (especially in Winter). I got to GUMO just before 1:00–oops, Noon Mountain time; went to the visitor center to make sure I didn’t have to check in or anything (got that Senior Pass heh heh, and had already booked the camping) and wanted to confirm I could get my Wednesday night backcountry permit here on Tuesday morning as I left (I could).
TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpacking Oct 1986
TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpack Sept 1986
Trip report written some thirty-four years after the fact, relying on photos, map notes, and memory.
Starting from Pine Spring Campground, I got up to the crest at the trail junction near Pine Top where I met Ranger Craig. Turns out he was doing a backcountry stint, and we hiked together for the next two days. He was quite the naturalist and helped me identify a lot of flora and fauna.
We stayed one night at Tejas backcountry site, then over to McKittrick Ridge for the next night. Somewhere along the McKittrick Trail we came across an angry rattlesnake.
In the morning, Craig left for elsewhere, and I returned back toward the Tejas trail.
Continue reading TR-Guadalupe Mountains NP Backpack Sept 1986
To-Do hikes
Marcus/Bush Mtn Trail
Update: I finally did the Marcus trail in April 2025 but got snowed out of my following Blue Ridge/Bush Mountain backpack.
I really want to finish up all the hiking trails in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I’ve never been up the Permian Geology trail to the Wilderness Ridge BC site. I’ve never been up/down the Marcus trail, nor the northwest corner of the Bush Mountain trail.
I want to do the loop of Marcus trail/Blue Ridge/Bush mountain to finish up that corner of the park. It’s the least used bit of trail in the park I believe. I actually did do the Blue Ridge section back in the 1980s; even have a backcountry permit for Blue Ridge backcountry site but I didn’t use it. I just hiked out from I think Mescalero to Blue Ridge to Bush Mountain and back to Pine Top.
I will start in Dog Canyon, thence to Marcus, and the only question is whether to do the loop clockwise or counter-clockwise.
- 3.5 mi. –Dog Canyon CG to Marcus Trail jct
- 0.2 mi. –Marcus Jct to Marcus BC site
- 3.7 mi. –Marcus BC to Blue Ridge Jct
- 0.5 mi. –Blue Ridge Jct to Blue Ridge BC site
- 1.2 mi. –Blue Ridge BC to Marcus Jct
- 3.8 mi. –Marcus Jct to Marcus Jct
- 3.5 mi. –Marcus Jct to Dog Canyon CG
- 16.4 miles total loop
TR-Backpack-GUMO Shumard 11/16/2017
CalTopo map
I spent most of a week in mid-November (2017) at Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO). Camped 4 days/nights; at Pine Spring CG and in the middle an out/back overnight to the Shumard Canyon backcountry site. I don’t have a *lot* of info to add; i’ve done the El Cap/Overlook trail several times over the decades so didn’t take many photos. I had never done the Shumard Canyon stretch before so this was all new to me. It turned out to be quite challenging due to the trail conditions, and I took very few pics (even though i’d intended to do some night photography). That happens. Continue reading TR-Backpack-GUMO Shumard 11/16/2017
TR-Indian Peaks 2008 Backpacking
I’ve hiked many times in the Indian Peaks Wilderness, just south of Rocky Mountains National Park. This time was a multi-day backpacking trip. Because of the nature of the trail system and the need for permits in advance, I planned a route with a sort of curly-cue path.
