¡Viva Terlingua! (11-04-12)

It's hard to believe, but this is my 300th blog post.  Anyone who has read it on a regular basis knows that sometimes I write posts with regularity, and sometimes I don't.  Some posts are more interesting than others.  I guess it's the nature of the beast.  Sometimes I am in the mood to write and sometimes I'm not.  So anyway, thanks for bearing with me for the last 3 years!

Terlingua- home to the world renowned International Chili Cook Off! We’ve been to Terlingua several times, as we use it as our base to explore Big Bend National Park. This time we made reservations a year in advance, to make sure we got a place to stay for the Cook Off. Our friends Julie and Mike arrived the day before us and set up camp.

Before the cook off started, we met a couple, Will and Cindy, who were participating. giving us an “inside track” to all things Chili.  As it turns out, the Cook Off was not at all what we expected- there was no Chili, brisket, or beans for the spectators.  This was pure contest, with very few samples and in general, no food available for purchase.  You could get a burger, or a burrito, but that’s about it. Quite disappointing. There are actually two Cook Offs at the same time- the original one and the CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International)Cook Off. 

 The entrance fee to each is about $30 per person.  We paid to get into one of them but then couldn’t say exactly what we got for our money.  Luckily the day we decided to check out the other one, the guy at the ticket booth, for whatever reason, accepted the wristbands from the competing Cook Off, so we didn’t have to pay again. 

Having been denied our dose of Chili, we found ourselves eating at the Starlight Theatre several times. They usually have live entertainment, but the best part is the $1 tacos and $2 Margaritas.

On the way down to Terlingua, we stopped in the Houston area and had dinner with our friends Dave and Avril.  They live in an interesting subdivision.  Instead of your typical golf course, their subdivision has its own runway.  Many of the homeowners own planes- Dave and Avril own two-and their driveway leads directly to the runway.  Talk about easy access! Being near Houston, in addition to many pilots living in the subdivision, they also have several past and present astronauts as neighbors.

Dave and Avril flew down to Terlingua to spend a few days hanging out and hiking with us.

We revisited two of our favorite trails with them- the Lost Mine Trail, and Santa Elena Canyon.

After an awesome two days of food and fun, it was time to watch them fly off into the sun……

 

The hiking continued with Mike and Julie.  Near the RV park there is a short hike that leads to some petro glyphs. There were also some great boulders to climb on as well! Note how blue the sky is! 

One of the things I love about Texas is how blue the sky is.  In fact, the weather has been absolutely perfect while we’ve been here.  We’ve eaten most of our meals outside at the picnic table.  It's been a week full of great food and fun with friends.  Tomorrow we move on, headed towards El Paso to spend a few days with Paul's mom before starting our trek towards Florida.

Grizzly Country! (Grand Teton National Park) 06-15-12

    Knowing we were entering bear country, I started reading up on the subject of Grizzly bears VS Black bears, and how to handle ourselves while hiking in Grizzly country.  I found out that bear spray is more effective as a Grizzly deterrent than a bullet.  That’s good to know, since it’s easier to buy the bear spray- which we did.  Apparently, even if your hands don’t shake too much to actually hit the bear with a bullet, it could take 3 shots to bring a Grizzly down.  No thanks.  Of course, your best bet is to not get in a Grizzly’s face to begin with.  People hike with “bear bells” that are supposed to warn the bear that there are people in the area, but experts say the sound doesn’t carry far enough, and some say the Grizzlies just think they sound like the dinner bell.

 

The distance at which a hiker typically encounters a grizzly is when they are a mere 15 feet apart.  Most people do not make enough noise, and they look down at the trail too much, not looking to see what’s around them. As surprised as I would feel, I’d hate to think how surprised the bear would be. A startled Grizzly is a dangerous Grizzly.  Rather than bells, they suggest you hike in groups of 4 or more, the theory being that you will be talking, and your voices will carry enough to send the bear in a different direction.  With that in mind, we took our friends Avril and Dave along as our bear bait.

Along the way we discussed the “rules to live by” of a bear encounter.  Don’t Run is rule #1.  Don’t climb a tree to escape a bear unless a) you climb very quickly, and b) you can climb higher than 31 ft up the tree, because bears can climb 30 feet. Don’t drop your backpack- for two reasons.  First, if the bear does get a chance to swipe at you, the pack will protect your back, and second, if the bear gets it and the pack has food in it, the bear has just learned that if he attacks someone, he will get food. If bear spray doesn’t work as a deterrent ( or if you were silly enough to go hiking without it) laying down flat and playing dead, with your hands on the back of your neck to protect it is your best bet, as long as you don’t move until the bear is long gone, because any movement will be perceived as aggression by the bear.

Using our friends as bait must have worked because we did encounter a Grizzly on one of our hikes.  He was quite far away, so the picture isn’t that good, and we were lucky that Dave happened to look back and see him, because we had already passed him.  Of course, after that, we all spent a lot of time looking over our shoulders.

The hike we were on that day was a trail around Two Ocean Lake, with a side trip up  to “Grand View”.  Turns out we couldn’t go all the way around the lake because the trail was closed (we found out later it was due to nesting Bald Eagles) so we had to turn around and go back the way we came.  All in all it was about 8 miles.  We enjoyed the walk but I liked the hike we had done the day before better. 

Our first hike with Avril and Dave was into to Cascade Canyon, via Observation Point.  To get to the trailhead we took a boat across Jenny Lake. Once we got past the short climb to Observation Point, the number of hikers on the trail thinned out

and the 8 mile hike was really enjoyable.

Although there were quite a few snow patches along the way, the air temperature was perfect and the scenery was great.  With the snow melt from the nearby Tetons, there were plenty of waterfalls.

Just about everywhere we went, the Tetons stood in the background. What makes them different from most mountains is that they have no foothills.  They very abruptly rise up from the relatively flat ground that surrounds them.

I would love to go boating with that backdrop!

Of course, one of our primary interests in the Tetons, in addition to hiking, was the wildlife. We headed to the visitor center to learn about the park, and find out where the best wildlife viewing spots are. I really enjoyed one of the of the exhibits- patches of actual animal fur, so I could feel what wolf and bear fur feel like. Throughout our visit, we did see a fair amount of wildlife-in addition to Pronghorn Antelope and Bison, we saw quite a few moose:





Well, I took that picture before we actually saw real moose:

While driving down Moose Wilson Road, we came across a moose jam.  It seemed like cars were strewn everywhere as their occupants tried to get their own pictures of Bullwinkle.

Along the road to our campground turned out to be the best spot for finding moose, and many times when we drove by, they were in the area: 

Yesterday we took a very long drive down a  dirt road along the river, and managed to spot a Bald Eagle flying above the water,  but I didn’t have much time to get the camera set up, so the picture isn’t the best.  Hopefully we’ll see more in Yellowstone.

Naturally, Dozer wanted to see his share of wildlife. Squirrels, mice and other small creatures were abundant in the campground and it wasn’t long before Dozer had a baby squirrel in his mouth, making a beeline for the trailer.  We did get him to drop it, but he immediately went back on the hunt.   A small mouse managed to get into the trailer one night, and Dozer did his job as a mouser and took care of it for us.

Today we spent gearing up for our 3 week stay in Yellowstone.  We did laundry, bought food, and washed the truck. We ate lunch in the small town of Jackson Hole at an excellent restaurant, and wandered the very expensive shops without buying anything.