Big Bend National Park

[mjnims]

finally made it home. Good to put faces with the board names. enjoyed meeting everyone and hope another gathering gets worked out. Of course there is always Co and Az treffens to be attended.
I think I will have to fast for a couple of days after the Diego though

[andy]

I'm so glad you all made it home safely. The same for you Shawn if you sent your last from home.

We got back to Comstock to temps of 103 F, so it was almost like being in Big Bend. After we unpacked it was time to run to Del Rio and get fuel and groceries.

Everyone was great. It was a real treat meeting all those who made the trip and putting faces with posts on this board now will make your postings more real or personal, something, ya'll know what I'm saying.

While I'm sure there is room for lots of improvement on future runs, I want to thank David Dunn, Darren Fulton (Pres Rocky Mountain Pinzgauers0 and Mike Nims (former Pres of Southwest Pinzgauer Association) for all their suggestions about putting a trip together. Believe me, without all of your input we probably wouldn't have had as an enjoyable time as we did.

I'll be posting pictures as soon as I can and then later some videos.

Andy

[I-10pinz]

This is by Thomas the elder, stole 4's name and password for this post. Enjoyed meeting all of you, had a great time. Looking forward to the next one. We left under the cover of darkness around 4 or so, had lots of deer headed North to Alpine, then lots of turkeys on the road East towards Sanderson. Wasnt eager to hit any of either. Made it home around 3PM.

[mjnims]

Thomas funny thing about the deer. There was a guy in a white econo car that just could not wait to pass us. About 5 miles after he passed us he was 1/8th of a mile ahead and a deer ran out. He hit the deer in the front corner of his car, the deer did not fair well. His car has, what I would guess in the range of $3500 worth of damage to it. I thank him for running block for us. We saw some turkeys before we hit Alpine but not much wildlife after that, not complaining about that at all.
I guess I need to throw a rifle in the truck and come out there to help with the infestation problem you all have.

[pinztx]

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[pinztx]

I think we had the Boarder Patrol baffled. They had a few questions when I came past. I think I was the 3rd pinz by there.

[mjnims]

A few pics we had

[I-10pinz]

Well glad to hear you all made it back safely, yes the deer around here have become a problem though thankfully a few are taking action and culling the herd with various heavy rolling devices.

Nice pics yall.

[texas pinzgauer]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Once everyone on the forum sees all of the photos, they'll see how great this part of the world is. Sorry to have misssed it but there was no way I could get authorization to make two trips to Big Bend on consecutive weekends. I'll be out there next weekend with Pinarello but sans Pinz.

While it does get more complicated with kid's schedules, let's try to do this in the first quarter of 2009 when the temps will be considerably more forgiving.

More details on the trip once everyone's heart stroke has subsided.....

[texas pinzgauer]

Mike (and the other western attendees) - how did this a terrain compare to your BLM regions where you go off roading?

[pinztx]

If you want to see all the pictures we took go to http://gallery.mac.com/shawnfluitt they are under Big Bend 08.

[andy]

Dang, ya'll are quick with the pics! These are just from Thursday when we ran Old Ore Road with Mike and family. The first one I think was a weather omen. More of the Main Event tomorrow. Andy

[mjnims]

Mike (and the other western attendees) - how did this a terrain compare to your BLM regions where you go off roading?

BLM lands are all over Arizona. They only make up a small portion of what is available to us for public use. The areas in southern Arizona wether BLM or not are very similar to the Big Bend area. Texas and Arizona differ greatly in the amount of land available for public use.
As a rule we don't offroad much in BLM areas. Most of the BLM areas are parks or wilderness areas which would be closed to offroad travel or extremely limited. Arizona has a lot of areas open to public use. We tend to use the National Forest areas, State Trust land areas and open state areas most. Each area has rules regarding use with BLM and STL requiring permits.
As an example of the area in southern Arizona, here is a picture from a trip last month

[andy]

Breakfast at Kathy's Kosmic Kowgirl Kafe


Getting organized


Group shot before hitting the road


Pit stop to make sure there are plenty of fluids available to avoid dehydration.



2 pics of all going through Black Gap














Saturday dinner at Starlight Theatre in Terlingua

[Erik712m]

Looks like you guys had a good time. Andy some of those pics, must have been after you had one to many just kidding. Did you guys see wild life the hole time you were there? are the still doing the long distance donkey shoots?