2003-11-07 Lost Mine and The Window 2003-11-08 Pine Canyon and Ernst Tinaja 2003-11-09 Cattail Canyon 2004-11-04 The Journey 2004-11-05 Casa Grande and Lost Mine 2004-11-06 Cattail Canyon 2004-11-07 Santa Elena Canyon and Cattail Falls 2005-06-01 Chisos Mountain Lodge 2005-06-02 Emory Peak 2005-06-03 Desert Views 2005-06-04 The Window at Sunset 2005-11-03 Cattail Canyon 2005-11-04 South Rim 2005-11-05 Santa Elena Canyon by Canoe 2005-11-06 Santa Elena Canyon by Canoe 2002-11-08 Emory Peak and South Rim 2002-11-09 Cattail Falls and Santa Elena Canyon 2002-11-09 Terlingua and Lajitas 2002-11-10 Old Ore Road and Hot Springs 2002-11-10 The Window at Sunset

After two trips to Big Bend, you start to learn a few things about how best to make the journey.  This time, I had decided to take off from work on Thursday rather than trying to make the drive after work, arrive at midnight, and end up sleeping under a picnic table because it was too windy and dark to pitch a tent.  I arranged to truckpool with Dave and Brian, who were outfitting the trip and thus had a U-Haul trailer full of cooking gear and food in tow.  We left Austin at around 4 AM on Thursday with the good intention of being the first to the campsite.  We had hoped to start settings things up before most of the rest of the group arrived at 3 or 4 that afternoon.

Missing Propane Accessories

We were making good time when we stopped in Fort Stockton for some last-minute supplies.  We took off from Stockton around noon and were in Marathon by 1 PM, where we decided to stop for gas at the only pump in town.  That was when, much to our shock, a passing motorist pointed out that our trailer was open.  A quick inventory revealed that two propane burners and some assorted accessories were missing, probably sitting at the bottom of one of the many arroyos that U.S. 385 dips into on its way south from Stockton.

Normally, the loss of some propane accessories wouldn't be such a tragedy, but the plan had been to fry up several turkeys for Sunday's dinner, and the job was going to require at least two burners.  We had only limited options:  try to find a propane burner for sale in Marathon, drive back to Stockton and look for our burners off to the side of the road, or purchase new burners in Stockton if we couldn't find ours.  The first option panned out not at all, as we discovered that one of Marathon's five standing structures is apparently a fully-functional workout studio, but none of the afore-mentioned structures contained anything remotely resembling what we were looking for.  We turned the rig around and grudgingly started the hour-long trek back to Fort Stockton.

After meticulously retracing our steps, we didn't find our missing burners, but we did find a replacement-- apparently the only propane burner for sale in the entire city of Fort Stockton.  So with the burner in the trailer-- securely closed this time-- we started back toward the park.  By this time, some of the other carpools were already passing us on the road.  We followed Chip and Cynthia most of the way down from Stockton, and Gina's truck passed us near the park entrance.  Ken, Cindy, and Kim apparently passed us while we were purchasing the burner in Fort Stockton, because they were already at the campsite and suited up for a hike to The Window by the time we got there.  We arrived with just enough time to set up camp before sunset.

And now ... the punchline.  It turns out that, unbeknownst to us, someone else had brought a propane burner with them.  *Writer's embellishment*  They told us that they were driving down from Stockton and just happened to see it off on the side of the road.