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Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011

The little "tree" branch" on the passenger side of the Jeep has the exact same bends/kinks as the one in the photo you took....see it??.........You bet, that IS the same arroyo/chute.
Great story, thanks for sharing!
:sun:
 
The little "tree" branch" on the passenger side of the Jeep has the exact same bends/kinks as the one in the photo you took....see it??.........You bet, that IS the same arroyo/chute.
Great story, thanks for sharing!
:sun:
Someone has a eye for detail.:clap:I can't wait for todays update.
 
Me thinks his name is Tracker John.
BTW, nice avatar, Tracker.

Thank you for the photo.

Here's a couple for you,
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When are we going back? :trust:
 
That's me! Hi Lori! :wave:

Wow. Not sure why a real adventure dude like you wanted to head north with a wimp like me. I don't think my machine has ever been out of the stable overnight except for Junction...
The older I get, the slower I ... well, everything is just slower:doh:
 
I saw Tracker/Adventure John at lunch yesterday and he acted like it was just a really nice ride around the park! Maybe for those two it was but I think I might have been a bit worried at times. Especially when a pickup with armed dudes in it want to stop and have a talk. But you know, we never have found out more about the toilet paper situation. But on the other hand I think maybe we really don't want to know more about that.
 
Hopefully Milton dooes not have to work today so he can finish htis dang report.
 
Yes. He's sure got a lot of us on edge of our seats.

We sure do appreciate a good story.

I don't think I could stand the suspense if it was coming to us LIVE!:sun:

Voni
sMiling
 
Day4: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011

We had learned an important lesson yesterday.
Never pass on an opportunity to top off with water.
Or gas.
You just never know.

Saturday morning. Day 4. We are still in the Sierra del Carmen. Tantalizing close to the exit, but nonetheless still here in the El Jardin canyon. We get right to it, collecting our gear for the big day. Getting ready to hike up the chute to our bikes and attempt to inch them down, one at a time, with one guy on a tie-down attached to the rear of the bike, the other guiding the front wheel with the hand brake. Oh, Gaahhd. Duct tape the two tie-downs together. Be sure to bring your gloves.

Yesterday there’d been some discussion about the abandoned truck. Tracker John had commented on the truck tracks in the canyon bed.

There’re no truck tracks in the canyon, had been my first response. Those are horse tracks.

But on closer inspection I had to admit that the two “horse” trails were extremely uniform in their apartness. Examining the canyon bed gravel on the up-canyon side of where the horse trail left the canyon floor, I, indeed, noted compacted gravel consistent with a truck’s passing, not all that long ago. John was right. Now the question was, where was that truck going, up-canyon?

This morning, when I reached the chute, John had left sign that he was exploring further up the canyon. I walked up a ways, found another, more gentle horse or cow trail, but following it further up the hill the terrain got all funky and the horse (or cow) trail(s) petered out. When I got back to the bikes at the top of the chute, John was there. He had passed me while I was exploring up the hill.

My bike on the goat path, the canyon leads to open desert.
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“I found the road!”
What???
"I found the road! And it’s on one of my GPS maps!!”
You found a road?!!? Like a “road” road? “The” road????

Well son-of-a-gun! If that just don’t beat all!
John has certainly proved to be handy on this little adventure. He has picked his way thru this Sierra del Carmen single-handedly. Heck I’m just along for the ride. Really. What have I done? My role on this trip has turned into something like “Cultural Advisor”. Or Translator maybe. John’s the one who found the water yesterday, got us this far with his GPS and tenacity. He’s the one who helps me pick up my top-heavy bike when I fall down. And now he’s discovered the way out of here?

Yup. John you’re pretty handy to have around alright.
Hey, John, you can use my toilet paper any 'ole time.

The missed track, where we lost the road, was right where I fell the 4th time yesterday. Where we took that extremely difficult right, that led us down the goat trail. We were so intent on exiting out the canyon, and that seemed to be the way to the canyon. However. If we’d looked left... away from the canyon….An easier gentle left up the hill led us initially away from the canyon, but eventually down to the canyon floor. Why, the road even had vestiges of concrete! Oh, this was the right road alright.

What joy! Now we only had a mile or three of deep sand and fine gravel river bottom to plow thru.

Our campsite. Take a break, eat some jerky, drink water.
Hey, our bikes are on the canyon bed... with us!

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While packing we met a couple of cowboys on horseback, coming up the canyon with a mule. We asked if they lived in the house we’d raided yesterday. No, they lived out in the desert. We talked about water and gasoline and Jaboncillos. They were kool and eventually wandered on.

Off we go, paddling down the canyon bed, struggling in the sand.
Kind of loping along taking giant steps, plowing thru, my feet just wouldn’t stay on the pegs. Who wants to fall down again?
Exhausting, but we were moving. :rider:

We still have some serious obstacles.
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We have to dismount and scout our way thru the rocks. At one point we even have to walk our bikes one at a time.
John takes a fall off a boulder. Trying to walk his bike alone, the bike went up the boulder until it was way over his head and came crashing down upside down... again. :eek2:

Struggle, pant and rest... Drink water.
Move a little more. Pant and rest. Drink more water.
Move a litle more. Repeat, repeat and repeat.

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Walking my line before I ride it.
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A little technical here.
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But we make it.
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The last unlocked gate. We are officially out of the canyon.
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The cowboys told us there was a deposit of water on the other side of the gate.
Guess this is it but the tank didn’t have a spigot.
The water was just a trickle but enough to take a cooling bath.

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The Sierra del Carmen from the water tank.
We did it!!! We crossed the Sierra del Carmen! :nana:
Elvira’s Crack on the left and our canyon on the right.

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It was a lot further out to the main road than I expected. Still, we were moving.
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Another pano from John’s camera.
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Jaboncillos. Center of town, I think.
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Day4: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011

Jaboncillos. [say: HAH-bone-SEE-yos]
Jaboncillos is straight south of the town of Boquillas on the rio, where you can, or used to be able to cross over from Big Bend NP.

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At the square, in an old lady's kitchen I drink 2 jugos (Jugomex fruit juices), 3-4 glasses of water, and one coke. John does the same. The lady is preparing our meal before I even ask her for it. Eggs scrambled with chorizo, whole beans cooked with onions on the side, and hand squeezed chili peppers. Flour tortillas. They get the silverware out special for us. Two spoons.

Re-hydrating at the little lady's house/store in Jaboncillos.
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This kid must have been the lady’s grandson or nephew or something. She bossed him around pretty good.
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Outside it is blistering hot. We dined behind the screen door with green trim.
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Outside the lady’s house.
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Never pass up a chance to top off with water and gasoline.
We refilled our water bottles from a bucket in the kitchen. I couldn’t pass up buying a jumbo can of fruit cocktail from the lady's shelves and stashing it in a saddlebag.
Food, water, next is gas. Oh, yeah and don't forget directions.

Our gas stop. They were harvesting the candelilla plant here. The kids showed me big sacs of processed wax inside the house.
See more info on this intereting process.

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John told me the kid from the lady’s house was so proud of his calves.
(If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m posting John’s photos as well as my own.)

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This guy named off some towns when we told him we were headed to Ojinaga.
John checks his GPS, sez, “Well, that’s not the route I have picked on my GPS, but I think I’ll re-route the GPS to follow those names.
I’ll roger that, Tracker. I've had enough adventure for a while. Let’s go home.
We procure gas and we’re off.

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Wax camp sites.
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Day4: Wrong Way 'Round the Bend 2011

One last goodbye to the Sierra del Carmen. John shot this image from the main road leading south out of Boquillas, which passes Las Norias and Jaboncillos.
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El Milagro. This is all there is to the place name on the map, El Milagro.
It’s a crossroads.

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Amazingly we hit a stretch of new pavement leading out of El Milagro. We had our hopes up high.
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But…… the pavement is short-lived. At San Miguel we pick up huge power lines and follow them for a while.
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55 miles from Benavides you can see Big Bend NP clearly - from the south side of the river.
In this photo you can make out the Sierra Quemada, Emory Peak, the South Rim and even the tip of Elephant Tusk.
Nice shot, John.

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Ahhhh, it’s Saturday night and we want so much to be in Terlingua.
John is charging for the barn. I’m tired.
Then I have a flat front tire. I’ve been hitting some pretty big rocks at speed. Luckily the pressure holds with re-inflating only.
Near Alamos del Marquez we stop for one more night out. We’re getting good at this.
 
Love this "movie".

Man this is a LOOONG intermission ... :drool:

------------------
You can't get ahead if you're always behind.
 
Here is the route. We were always within 40 miles of the border.
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John, what software are you using for the Mex topos?

Thanks,

Joel.
 
John, what software are you using for the Mex topos?

Thanks,

Joel.

The images above are the Bicimaps v5.3, I think 6.1 is current. I have the 2011 E32 also and If I could only have one, I prefer the E32.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'd been wondering if Bicimaps was reasonably detailed and accurate in that part of the world. Looks like they are.

Regards,

Joel.
 
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