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Boquillas Crossing in Big Bend National Park, TX to open by April 2012!!!!!!

So, this "everyone by boat" thing; will that be something like John Wayne in True Grit?, or more like a hover craft fast boat , or the Alaskan ferry or will you be riding your bike across through the water,etc.,etc., -more info needed?:D Maybe we (the USA) should make it hard to cross most places and easy others(like near your house!?), so we will know where to expect the cartel to pass by?
 
Get real. Check out Google Earth. This is a tiny village with very little access to the rest of Mexico. It was a crime to isolate them. It is fitting to have the crossing open. They don't seem themselves as Mexican so much as Big Benders.

You probably could wade across. No drama there.

Voni
 
One does wade across in the knee deep. Or one hires a mehicano to carry one on his back. Or one takes a ride in a ferry which is actually a shell of an aluminum row boat with a couple of guys on each side pushing you across.........

The cantina has Mexican beer which must be imported from Texas or floated downstream? One can pull your truck in the river and a couple of boys will give it a wash. Ol guys hawking "handmade" stuff.........Yes, a true bit of the touch of Mexico when visiting Cottonwood Campground in BBNP...........

What is really a shame is that one can no longer camp in the back country and float the river, hike, or ride the great roads.........Good ol banditos are watching from their side of the river for you to leave............Great place, just hard times............God bless the USA.......Dennis
 
One does wade across in the knee deep. Or one hires a mehicano to carry one on his back. Or one takes a ride in a ferry which is actually a shell of an aluminum row boat with a couple of guys on each side pushing you across.........

The cantina has Mexican beer which must be imported from Texas or floated downstream? One can pull your truck in the river and a couple of boys will give it a wash. Ol guys hawking "handmade" stuff.........Yes, a true bit of the touch of Mexico when visiting Cottonwood Campground in BBNP...........

What is really a shame is that one can no longer camp in the back country and float the river, hike, or ride the great roads.........Good ol banditos are watching from their side of the river for you to leave............Great place, just hard times............God bless the USA.......Dennis

People camp the back country every day. And people raft or canoe the river every day the water is suitable. The river tour companies are alive and well. This isn't Jaurez. It's Bouqillas, a village of maybe 25 buildings 160 miles by dirt path from the nearest paved road.

US and European tourists crossing by rowboat never were the problem. As for the waders, well once across they have an 80 mile hike to anywhere. Three (3) of them died in the park trying in 2010. In the 5 years we have lived 30 miles from the border we have seen exactly three illegals. All they wanted was a drink and to know how far it was back to Ojinaga. They had given up and were hiking back to Mexico. They were arrested within minutes, still within sight from the house, hiking south to Mexico.
 
What is really a shame is that one can no longer camp in the back country and float the river, hike, or ride the great roads.........
Good ol banditos are watching from their side of the river for you to leave............Great place, just hard times............God bless the USA.......Dennis

Geez. You walk in the big bad city at night?

I refuse to be that afraid of the boogieman.

What scares me is a ditzy blond on a cellphone in a 6000 pound vehicle hurtling through space at 60+ MPH.
Now THAT is scary.
 
One of the first years we camped at Rio Grande Village camp ground back in the 80s it was between Christmas and New yearsWe went across the river to Boquillas and the Federal Troops stationed there were giving tourists rides up and down the one street in town in their HumVee. The tourists were taking turns at the wheel. I liked the place right away. New Years Eve automatic rifle fire erupted across the river and tracers lit up the sky for a few minutesin every direction. Thats Boquillas. 3 mini tacos for a buck, cold beer, 50 cent shots of Sotol and NO trouble. Shutting down the crossing there for no real good reason put those folks in a serious bind and Im glad to hear they are back on the list of things to do in the Bend. At one time, it was the only crossing into Mexico that didnt have an official port of entry. Unguarded because there was no need. Look at a map and youll understand why.
 
People camp the back country every day. And people raft or canoe the river every day the water is suitable. The river tour companies are alive and well. This isn't Jaurez. It's Bouqillas, a village of maybe 25 buildings 160 miles by dirt path from the nearest paved road.
QUOTE]

Paul, certainly not to dispute your local knowledge; but just a different point of view. Having been a floater/camper ON THE RIVER for perhaps 35 years for weeks at a time, one has to accept that things HAVE changed.......Yes, when floating from Santa Elena to Boquillas one comes across MANY traces of habitation. Whether it is a burro trail, cane hut, or an adobe structure, folks have been crossing this area for various economic reasons/migrations for centuries.........Google, Commanche MOON................

Anyway, cadellia gathering/harvesting is still a common problem, as is the warning by rangers when camping along the river in "back country" situations to not leaving camp unguarded.......This has been a totally common problem to leave camp, go up river, put in, float Mariscal, come back to camp just below the canyon, and find LOTS of stuff gone..........It has just been getting worse.........

Yes.........there is LOTS of back country for camping AWAY from the river that does NOT have this problem....the park is HUGE........But to say it is safe and secure to camp ALONG the river is perhaps ignoring the true situation............

Yes, the "float companies" are in business and one sees them heading out every morning..........What I am discussing is the folks who truly stay in the back country for weeks/days at a time..........Big Bend is fantastic for just this type of a stay.........NO PEOPLE OR their disturbing YOUR peace..........Dennis
 
People camp the back country every day. And people raft or canoe the river every day the water is suitable. The river tour companies are alive and well. This isn't Jaurez. It's Bouqillas, a village of maybe 25 buildings 160 miles by dirt path from the nearest paved road.
QUOTE]

Paul, certainly not to dispute your local knowledge; but just a different point of view. Having been a floater/camper ON THE RIVER for perhaps 35 years for weeks at a time, one has to accept that things HAVE changed.......Yes, when floating from Santa Elena to Boquillas one comes across MANY traces of habitation. Whether it is a burro trail, cane hut, or an adobe structure, folks have been crossing this area for various economic reasons/migrations for centuries.........Google, Commanche MOON................

Anyway, cadellia gathering/harvesting is still a common problem, as is the warning by rangers when camping along the river in "back country" situations to not leaving camp unguarded.......This has been a totally common problem to leave camp, go up river, put in, float Mariscal, come back to camp just below the canyon, and find LOTS of stuff gone..........It has just been getting worse.........

Yes.........there is LOTS of back country for camping AWAY from the river that does NOT have this problem....the park is HUGE........But to say it is safe and secure to camp ALONG the river is perhaps ignoring the true situation............

Yes, the "float companies" are in business and one sees them heading out every morning..........What I am discussing is the folks who truly stay in the back country for weeks/days at a time..........Big Bend is fantastic for just this type of a stay.........NO PEOPLE OR their disturbing YOUR peace..........Dennis

Well Dennis, I guess I shall simply cede to you your vastly superior local knowledge of the place where I live. You are entitled to live with as much fear as you have been taught to have. I choose not to live that way.
 
I have stopped and talked with the park rangers who were counting the number of unique foot prints in the sand and dirt crossing Marathon road that connects Terlingua Ranch with the North entrance to the park. This is not common but they were checking the road every few days mostly because they are concerned about peopleÔÇÖs safety out walking cross country like that. The park rangers have a different mission. The folks coming through from Mexico do not walk on the highway unless they want to get caught. If you ride out to the last remote camp (21-23 I think it was) in the Black Gap wild life management area east of Big Bend, youÔÇÖll see evidence in the form of cloths and empty water jugs left behind by people stopping there on their trek North. On one ride along River Road years ago, we came across a boy on horseback tending to a heard of cattle he brought across the river to graze in the park. Now however, Homeland Security has ruined River Road by grading it and dumping gravel on the softer parts so they can run back and forth in their Chevy Suburbans as fast as they like - so it should be MUCH ÔÇ£saferÔÇØ out there in the vastness of the park now.

I would avoid camping at Solis because there was a crossing there that a pickup could clear before the floodbut I have camped at Black Dike, Glenn Spring, Rice Tank, Earnst Tinaja, Hannold Draw and Nine Point Draw and the solitude and grandeur of the night sky viewed from these vantage points is unimaginable except to those who have been there - am I right?
 
but I have camped at Black Dike, Glenn Spring, Rice Tank, Earnst Tinaja, Hannold Draw and Nine Point Draw and the solitude and grandeur of the night sky viewed from these vantage points is unimaginable except to those who have been there - am I right?

You are right! Amazing night skies. And daylight vistas. Priceless!

Voni
sMiling
 
You are right! Amazing night skies. And daylight vistas. Priceless!

Voni
sMiling

+5.......lolol......the best vista for me, is up at the basin looking east at twilight.........YOU can, it seems, see all the way back to Dallas............Finding stone tools and petroglyphs in the canyon crossings is a favorite past time of mine........ahhhhhh Solitude.......God bless.......Dennis
 
Get real. Check out Google Earth. This is a tiny village with very little access to the rest of Mexico. It was a crime to isolate them. It is fitting to have the crossing open. They don't seem themselves as Mexican so much as Big Benders.

You probably could wade across. No drama there.

Voni
My wife & I camped in Big Bend park & were down @ the water too-it was a feeble joke!:thumb
 
Canyon Looks Imposing...

Several friends and I are headed that way for camping and fun in February, the week before the Cowboy Poets Association in Alpine, which we hope to attend on the way home.

So this topic is of ancillary interest. Looking at the Google Earth, the crossing appears to be intimidating with the canyons there. The river looks more like an intermittent stream there. There also seems to be some interesting trails in the area. Haven't been there since I was a kid, and am looking forward to the trip.
 
Thanks Voni, the sites for Big Bend are new to me, and have lots of good information. Are you and Paul going to be at the Cowboy Poets gathering? Looks to be a great time, though I gotta say, the hotels are pretty much booked up. Need to get on the phone with the hotels today!
 
We will definitely be there. Hotels sell out quickly so good idea to get your reservation in. Though it's a drive, there are more rooms near Study Butte, Terlingua and Marathon too.

Be sure to stop by the adobe when you travel 118 south.

Voni
sMiling
 
My wife & I camped in Big Bend park & were down @ the water too-it was a feeble joke!:thumb

Sorry. I get hypersensitive about this because it seems there is a pervasive urging in our culture to make us afraid. I've not had one bad experience in the Big Bend other than with cactus and other prickly things.

Cautious, yes. Life is scary. But please base your caution on facts.

Over and out.

Voni
 
Check Wagon Breakfast

Voni, thanks for the new to me information on Big Bend. Between these sites and a photo-journal posted here previously by someone here who put incredible time and talent into his Big Bend trip (and others) we should be all set. Cannot remember his name, but the report was impressive, and I have lots of time to find it again.

Finally got motel reservations in Alpine, and the price was reasonable. Will be wondering until it is experienced what you get for $5 at the chuck wagon breakfast.
 
Sorry. I get hypersensitive about this because it seems there is a pervasive urging in our culture to make us afraid. I've not had one bad experience in the Big Bend other than with cactus and other prickly things.

Cautious, yes. Life is scary. But please base your caution on facts.

Over and out.

Voni
[/QUOTE

Actually,I ride Mexico and entering @ Eagle Pass is the plan for this trip, 1st of March.
 
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