GTTB...

GTTB... Gone To The Bend, that is.

Once again it has come that time when I make my annual trek south to that Great Bend in the Rio with my camping gang, the Brave6. Thirteen trips since Easter Weekend of 1997 and the twelfth in a row... always the same 6 gents. I look forward to beer, Kuba Kubas/La Glorias/Cohibas, talk, hikes, and multi-hour soaks down at the hot spring while staring up at the the greatest display of stars in the whole of Texas.

Here's a clip I put together back in 2008. Please forgive the choppiness and timing... it was the first time I had ever done one of these. The music is the amazing "Highways of Your Mind" by the amazing Joseph Brunelle, formerly of Midland. Not the first time it's been here...



Big Bend photos include the ruins of Terlingua Abajo, a failed attempt to make it to the top of Mesa de Anguila via the Brujeria Canyon pour offs, and finally Tuff Canyon. From there it is out of the park and down the river road to Presidio and on to Ruidosa and Candelaria and the famed Chispa Drive which took us through the most ruggedest part of Texas and our destination of Capote Falls, the highest continuous waterfall in the Lone Star state. I'd guess we were probably the last bunch to visit that spot who weren't either ranch family or drug runners. It wraps up with the "road to nowhere" past the Chinati Mountains, the breathtaking climb to the Marfa Plateau, and finally on to Marfa proper. (Marfa would be the home to Little Danny... host of the BRILLIANT 45 blog Office Naps as well as dreamy Exotica Project web site.)

Hasta...