Bogley

[Don]

So I flew down to El Paso on the 14th, stayed in a cheap little hotel that night. We had an evening meeting where we met the other course participants and the Outward Bound reps. Our group leaders were 2 OB reps; one a Brit national, Simon who really knew his stuff; especially local vegetation and history, the other, Calvin a laid back hippy from Wisconsin. The rest of our group consisted of 9 veterans of either Iraq or Afghanistan; 2 Air Force fighter pilots, and Army artillery officer, a former marine now in the Army reserves, an Active Marine 1st Sergeant, an active army supply sergeant, an army reservist, one kid who is completely out of the military now and myself.
Early on the 15th we started the 5 hour drive to the small town of Presidio where OB has a base. At the OB building they issued gear; they provided cooking sets, water treatment, aid kits, sleeping bags, pads, packs, shelters and trekking poles. I brought some of my own gear; sleeping bag, pad, aid kit, GPS, trekking poles and used some of their gear (made for an easier flight that’s for sure). The pack loads were pretty heavy because water is scarce on the mesa; each of us started with at least 6 liters of water (I’m paranoid and desert experienced so I added a bladder to that for a total of 9).
Some of the group members, despite their military background were pretty new to backpacking; they were expecting something like day-trip hiking with a base camp, not carry-everything backpacking. After sorting and distributing group gear and food we packed up and drove another hour to Lajitas and the trailhead to Mesa de Anguila. It was already evening and with not much sunlight we only got to the base of the mesa before establishing camp.
That night was the coldest and I woke with cold feet in my (kinda old) 20 degree bag. I wrapped my feet in my fleece jacket for additional insulation and slept good the rest of the night. There was ice in my water bottle the next morning. The day time temps were in the high 70's and nights were in the mid to low 30's the whole time I was down there.
The morning of the 16th we had oatmeal (no coffee; I really should have planned that better rather than rely on OB) and hit the trail early. It was a pretty steep climb up the mesa but I was bugged pretty quickly by the pace of the group. Of course the OB leaders wanted everyone to stick together, both for responsibility reasons and because they wanted us to have that bonding time on the trail. I quickly dropped to the very back of the group and would just stop whenever I wanted to take photos. I found that I could take my time and easily catch the group either on trail or at one of many, many breaks. I made this my habit the rest of the trip.
Halfway up the mesa one of our party was really struggling and talking about quitting (again I was frustrated and wanted to keep moving but there was a long break to encourage him), part of the encouragement included the Simon taking much of his water load to carry. I and another vet took 3 liters each and with the extra weight I was much happier with the slower pace for the rest of the day.
That night we camped between a small canyon and a higher mesa called Mariposa on Mesa de Anguila. That night we ventured into the canyon to collect water from potholes. Down there a pothole is referred to as a Tinaja. This one is called Tinaja Rana and is a reliable water source on the mesa. The water looked like pothole water and we had to be careful not to stir up the sediment. We treated our tinaja drinking water with iodine and I quickly realized I had not brought enough Gatorade powder to cover the iodine taste for the whole trip so I cut down to half strength in order to stretch my supply and still cover the taste.
The morning of the 17th a few of us got up extra early to attempt a summit of Mariposa Mesa. We left camp carrying some water and a light breakfast while the sun was starting to light the horizon. We ended up having to go cross country and pick our way up to the cliff band encircling most of the mesa. Mesa Mariposa gets its name because when viewed from above (or as contour lines on a map) its shape looks like a butterfly. About the time we reached the cliff band it was clear we would not make the summit by sunrise so we stopped there to watch the sun rise over the broad valley and the Rio Grande River that stretched out before us. I was pretty glad we stopped when we did; I moved away from the group to dig a cat hole and watch the sun rise on my own. We didn’t make the summit and back in camp I was glad to have brought my own first aid kit because I never travel without Imodium.
That day we traveled south-east across the mesa so the terrain was more level and the pace was better. I still thought we took too many break, I just kept my pack on, stayed standing up and kept it to myself. We passed by an unnamed cave and stopped to explore ir a bit. It quickly turned technical and we had no ropes so it was a short exploration. Simon said a local guy has been down 8 rope lengths and has not yet found the bottom. I got grid coordinates if anyone is interested.
The vegetation in the Chihuahua desert is surprising. The cactus is everywhere, really everywhere, it grows in bigger, thicker clumps than in Utah and it is much more prevalent. I would love to visit when they are blooming. There are no trees, but the smaller plants are very dense and everything is violent. There are so many kinds of thorns and spikes and barbs [see pictures below]. Some commonly seen plants were, Sotol, Nolina, Candellila, Creasote bush, Ocotillo, Agave Lechuguilla, only found in the Chihuahua desert and the occasional Yucca. There was a surprising amount of wild grass growing around too. I only know about these plants because Simon really did know his stuff. He even pointed out some Ephedra Viridis or Mormon Tea.
That night we camped at the head of Bruja canyon which is one of the few slot canyons I was able to find beta for before the trip. It’s a technical slot and again we had no ropes so we could not fully explore, plus it goes off the mesa and would have put us in the wrong location for our pick-up. I get a couple guys to go down canyon with me that evening to explore. It was a neat, tight little slot at first and required stemming or wading a pothole right away. It then opens wider for awhile but we only went down about half a mile or so due to the sun setting and stealing our light, plus we were hungry.
On the 18th we continued across the mesa and in the early afternoon dropped of the mesa and walked forever (maybe a mile and a half) across the desert floor to meet the pick-up van. The van took us to a campsite nearer to Lajitas and only about 200 meters from the Rio Grande River. A few of us, myself included, jumped in the river to clean the backpacking funk off while the others joked about the futility of cleaning up in a dirty river.
The morning of the 19th we walked back down to the Rio, but in a different spot where there are cliffs at the waters edge. OB has bolted anchors set up and after a quick belay class (I was nervous about the inexperienced belayers) we took turns rappelling down and climbing back up three routes they had set up. They were pretty easy routes, I’m no expert but these were 5.7 or 5.8 maybe, still, a lot of fun at a beautiful location.
At 11:am we left the climbs and drove back to the OB base at Presidio where we unpacked, sorted, cleaned and returned gear and had lunch before starting the 5 hour drive back to El Paso.
After checking into the hotel in El Paso everyone rushed for a shower. We met up again for dinner at a really cool Mexican restaurant.
People joke about Starbucks being everywhere but I was really happy to see the Starbucks in the airport early on the 20th. I love a good latte and going without for a few days really makes it all that much better.
It’s late and I doubt I will have time to label all the photos but I will get back to it.

[KapitanSparrow]

Cool manly stuff!

[blueeyes]

:) Nice. Some of the pics remind me of our property in Duchesne.

[Sombeech]

Sweet, lotsa variety of fun on that trip.

[accadacca]

Awesome! :popcorn:

[Jaxx]

What an awesome experience! thanks for sharin'!

[Don]

I know, this thread probably has enough photos but I was recently emailed a couple shots from a companion.

[Jaxx]

did you eat only veggies? I see you carried mt dew with you. :roflol: Was it worth the weight? Or is it just water in there? One more questions, did you see any chupacabra?

[Don]

That night was veggie stir fry. It was mostly veggie food.
The Mountain dew bottle was only water. I carried 3 of those bottles and 2 litter size nalgene bottles. Heavy load.
No chupacabra. Couple mexicans, but they stayed on their side of the river.