Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 03-11-2009, 06:49 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

We are just a few days from a return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park. We will be exploring different areas of the 300k acre park this trip, and staying for almost double the time. They are supposed to have some rain a few days before we arrive so we are hoping things will come to life. I also expect it will give us different road conditions from the last trip.

We will also be testing the satellite internet system for the first time.

more to come....

__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-11-2009, 09:03 PM   #2
CJ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: SoCAL
Posts: 312
Send a message via Yahoo to CJ
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Greg what kind of satellite internet system is it you are testing?

I have been on a relentless search.

__________________
CJ
CJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2009, 11:43 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

CJ,

This is a HughesNet system. We went with a used modem that had been decomissioned so that we could recomission without needing a contract and thus could go month to month and turn the account "off" when not needed. We went with an older dish so that we could get the lighter more-durable fiberglass dish; this also included the more easily adjustable dish to tripod-offset attachment equipment. We got all this through Terry at Roving Internet as a complete system.. It included a new tripod, anchor system, offset, and cables.

We have high expectations. We did a lot of research as well.

...more on it all later....

.
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2009, 12:06 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
neeemo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Idaho
Posts: 104
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Can you also use the dish for TV?

Tom
__________________
'02 SMB EB Q 4x4 Diesel
neeemo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2009, 09:00 PM   #5
CJ
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: SoCAL
Posts: 312
Send a message via Yahoo to CJ
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Hey thanks Greg, I will be anticipating the outcome of your test.




thanks for the reply.
__________________
CJ
CJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2009, 09:14 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Quote:
Originally Posted by neeemo
Can you also use the dish for TV?

Tom

Yes and No... you cannot use it for DirecTV or DishNetwork, but you can watch tv via websites.

There are no low end systems that we have found that supply real TV and real internet.

DirecTV provides a system where you get real TV and fake internet (like WebTV).
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2009, 10:53 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

We have returned from another great trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park. This trip we went to a different area of the park. This time we stayed at RINCON 2 in the southeastern portion of the park. There are only a few dozen campsites in the 300k acre no-paved-roads park, so we called early for a resrevation, knowing it was a spring-break week. They did say that they were going to be very busy, but it even their "very busy" ends up being pretty darn quiet.

To enter the park you currently have to come in from the West end of the park. Last time we took hiway 67 south from IH10 al the way to Presidio because it was a night arrival. This time we planned to stay just short of the park area so we could take a slightly different approach to the park entrance. We went from Austin to south of Marfa last Saturday. We stopped and oberved the mysterious Marfa lights, ...and they remained mysterious. After viewing the lights just after dark, we headed south on hiway 169.

Hiway 169 parallels hiway 67 southward and provides the alternate route we wanted.
...BUT hiway 169 is REALLY not much of a hiway. The northern end only has 25 miles that is even paved, and that paved stretch is just barely two lanes wide.

We boondocked just of hiway 169 when we found a corral area that allowed us to get quite a ways off the road. In the first 8 or 9 hours we were there, we saw exactly one vehicle go by. Just before we broke and headed south to the park it was like rush hour and we saw 3 vehicles headed south and 2 headed north.

As we headed south towards the park entrance we lost the pavement, and found a huge web of roads, most of which were unmarked in any way. It took the GPS and map software to keep us headed on the correct course. In some places the road is graded and in places there are multiple paths for the same road. We did get off course one time and found some soft, wet, and very well rutted not-often-used road that at one time was hiway 169. The wife saw the inside of her eyelids in one spot where we slewed sideways as we fought back up a steep soft rutted area, but the 12 yr old seemed unphased.

The hiway 169 route provided a much more interesting and scenic route to the park entrance, but I am not sure I would want to go that route in the dark or when in a hurry.
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-21-2009, 11:10 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

Arriving on the first weekend of spring break we expected to beat most folks to this remote area, and that seemed to be the case. We only saw two vehicles on the road from the park entrance to the Sauceda Ranger Station, but there were 3 other vehicles at the Ranger Station.

During the time we were at RINCON 2 we saw 2 vehicles with a total of 4 people over the 5 days we were there. Both of those vehicles were seen when we were hiking Fresno canyon.

When we left, on the drive out to the Ranger Station we saw no other vehicles, BUT from the Ranger Station to the park entrance we saw 10x more vehicles and people than we had seen total during all the rest of the time we have spent in the park on the two trips combined. It was strange since there had always been so few people seen.

We saw a large group of scouts that looked to be heading out on a hike from one trailhead off the main park road.

We saw some Border Patrol vehicles entereing and a bunch of pickups of camping gear and toys heading into the park.

But even with the traffic on the main road, the campsites are so well seperated that you still feel like you are out there all alone.

The exit route was back to Presidio and back up hiway 67 to IH10. On the way to Presidio we saw a huge group of folks for some sort of equestrian trail ride event. The had taken over a portion of the road and had a tent city with RVs as well as covered wagons.... but it was the heat of the day and it seemed everyone had retreated to shade or RV interiors.
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-25-2009, 07:07 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

The Rincon 2 area, and maybe that whole area of the park is a geologist's heaven. The view is not as fantastic as we saw at Guale 2 and Choro Vista, but the geologic variety is amazing. This is located just outside El Solitario, a long dead and collapsed volcano, but there is less volcanic rock here than we say at the other side of the park. In many areas here the layers have been tilted up and are now showing an edge to the surface. We saw huge veins of crystaline quartz-like material; in places it would run exposed for yards and yards and be a foot wide.

There were amazing varieties of colors and textures and layers all throughout the area.

I tried to ignore the number of rocks and stones that my wife and the 12yr old were picking up and putting in the packs and pockets....
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-25-2009, 07:28 PM   #10
Senior Member
 
Greg In Austin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 1,543
Send a message via AIM to Greg In Austin Send a message via Yahoo to Greg In Austin
Re: McBeast return trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park

The route to RINCON 2 from the main park road is easier than what we saw going to Guale 2 and Chorro Vista. It is 4WD in areas, but somewhat less challenging.

Most of the route follows the stream in the bottom of Fresno canyon, but much of the route has an alternate parallel route as well. The gravel stream bed route will follow a longer more winding easier route, and the alternate routes will leave the gravel and cut the corners for a shorter but less travelled and more challenging route. There are places where you must leave the stream bed because of boulders or other formations that eliminate the ability to follow the stream.

Because the route follows the stream bed, it does not seem to be as well marked as the roads we have seen in other areas of the park. It is also easy to miss some of the shortcuts with some steep departures from the stream bed. Many are marked with surveryor's tape, but not all.

The road continues on past the turnoff to RINCON, but seems to end at a series of stone ledge waterfalls. Immediately below the falls we saw tire tracks and another road that would seem to lead off towards Terlingua, but we saw no way to go from above the falls to below the falls in a vehicle. We had hiked down to this point on the road from Rincon and hiked a good portion of the road below the falls; the road below was much much less travelled. (this may be a future destination)
__________________
Greg in Austin
2008 Ford 6.0PSD EB/E-PH SMB 4X4 Aluminess f/r bumpers (13.5mpg avg, 15mpg hwy) 52k miles [Texas McBeast]
2006 Toyota Prius (48 to 68 mpg) 120k miles [Penelope]
2013 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (15 to 18 mpg) [Johnnie]
2012 Mitsubishi MiEV (no gas required) ($.50/day in electricity) [Evie]
https://badge.facebook.com/badge/1232...3.32047100.png
Greg In Austin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Sportsmobile Registry

Betsy

Dave&Di

Serenity

Makalu1
Add your Sportsmobile
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:33 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.