Disclaimer: This document is for entertainment only and is not intended to instruct or educate anyone about anything. If you choose to emulate the stupid things I do you are on your own, and I take no responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

Trip Report: This year my birthday was on the Friday before Memorial Day. Since my company gives us the day off for our birthday I was lucky enough to score a 4 day weekend.

I woke up around 3 am on my birthday and headed towards Del Rio. My first objective was to see if I could find a passable and direct driving route from the border crossing at Del Rio to Sierra Maderas del Carmen in Mexico. Maderas del Carmen is a very remote park across the Rio Grande from Big Bend. It is higher than any part of Big Bend and also wetter. It is about as remote and pristine as wilderness gets outside of Alaska. It is also populated by lots of Black Bears. In fact, Big Bend had lost all of its bears when a few wandered up from Maderas del Carmen and repopulated Big Bend several years ago.

According to my map there is a track from Ciudad Acuña to Maderas del Carmen through Santa Eulalia. On the map the road was divided into three sections indicated in order from best to worst by a yellow line with a solid black border, a white line with a solid black border and then a white line with a dotted black border. As I started heading toward Santa Eulalia I found that the "best" of the three sections was basically a road that had at one point been paved.

This road had been paved about 15 years ago, but since it serves a small and impoverished population it has long since fallen into disrepair. The primary hazards are the sharp drop offs that seperate the "paved" sections from the washed out sections. The going was actually better on the gravel because there were no deep pot holes to worry about. In one of the above pitures you can see where the locals have taken to driving in the ditch rather than contend with the baches (potholes). The whole road would be vastly improved if someone just took a dozer to it and stripped off the paved parts.

After tooling down this road for a while

I came upon the fairly squalid hamlet of Santa Eulalia.

At the entrance to the town there was some interesting signage courtesy of the local government. First there was a sign that had been erected to pat themselves on the back when they paved the road out here 15 years ago.

They should have skipped the self-congratulatory plaque and saved the money for road maintenance.

Next there was a sign informing me that good times lay ahead

I stopped in the town to buy a refresco (soft drink) from this nice lady

She told me that it hadn't rained in this town for 7 months and the cows are all getting pretty skinny so they have stopped eating them until the rains return. There were rain clouds visible to the west where I was headed but they tend to drop all of their water on the mountains leaving this area in a rain shadow.

After drinking the refresco I pointed the Soob west and headed toward the rain clouds.

Before long the road got pretty deeply rutted. Here is the Soob demonstrating the correct technique for negotiating a "high clearance mandatory" dirt track.

By the way, Subaru needs to sponsor me! To drive that point home I took the following shots.

At the 120 kM mark on this road there is a marker and the road splits. I took the left fork into Cañon del Colorado. Once inside this canyon I was rewarded with a dramatic improvement in the scenery.

As you can see in these pictures the landscape was getting greener and wetter as I got closer to Maderas del Carmen. If you are inclined to climb rocks you will also notice that I had happened upon the limestone super crag of the century. I checked out the limestone up close and it was of the bullet hard variety that is good for climbing. The limestone walls looked to be several hundred feet high and just kept coming as I drove down the canyon. Fortunately the 75 mile drive from hell required to access this area will keep these walls from being developed for climbing for quite some time. I take comfort in the knowledge that we haven't grid bolted and trashed every crag on the planet, yet.

Daylight was waning and the water crossings were getting longer and deeper. 100 miles from nowhere is no kind of place to get stuck in the mud so at this point

I decided to turn around and find a place to bed down for the night. Off in the distance beyond the puddle you can see what I believe is the highest peak in Maderas del Carmen. My map stated that it was about 8,300 feet above sea level. As I headed back up the track I snapped one last picture of this peak.

There was still a lot of thunderstorm activity in the area so I needed to find a campsite on high ground to escape the mud and the flash flood danger. The Soob wowed me with it's ability to grind over rocky off road terrain as I pulled it up on to a nice flat spot with a clearing big enough for my tent. The sunset was putting on quite a show so I started snapping away.

A few minutes later I was cooking up some dinner in the fading light of day when something moving in the bushes caught me eye. It was large and black and sure enough, it was a bear. I was mesmerized and got up on the running boards of the Soob for a better look. He was sniffing around as bears tend to do and was likely just following his nose to my dinner. I snapped several pictures, but it was nearly dark so none of them turned out. Then it occurred to me that it wouldn't be a good idea to have a bear sniffing around my camp after dark so I had best establish an understanding with this critter before total darkness set in. I decided I should make him aware of my presence. My backup plan was to escape into the Soob and cower with my hammer if he decided to charge me. With this contingency plan in my mind I put both arms in the air while and growled as loud as I could. He immediately looked up from whatever he was sniffing and stared at me with his round bear ears all perked up. This was the moment of truth when he would come to a determination about my size as a fellow predator. Still standing on the running board of the Soob I repeated the arms in the air growling routine. This second time around the bear decided to bail and he proceeded to turn around and scurry up a nearby hill. What a wild, wild place.

The thunderstorms put on quite a light show and there was a pretty decent sprinkle on my tent as I was falling asleep. I had been up since 3 a.m. though, so I was sleeping like the dead in no time. The next morning there was lovely pink sunrise as I crawled out of my tent and began to cook my breakfast.

As I waited for my water to boil for my oatmeal I meandered around my camp and took some shots of some desert wildflowers.

Before long the sun was shining gloriously and I was all packed up and ready to tool on down the track.

The air was cool and the early morning light was delightful all of which made for pleasant driving back down Cañon del Colorado. A few miles from my camp I spotted this particularly attractive crag just north of the track.

When I was finished snapping these photos I noticed this little furry creature on the road in front of me.

Place names are hard to come by out here, but I believe that I camped just west of a cattle ranch designated as La Rosita on my map. The cattle out here were quite a bit healthier than they were further East and many of them had just calved, producing much baby cow cuteness.

The following shot is posted for future route finding reference. The post is unmarked but when you come to it you want to take the fork that the Soob is coming out on.

In many places on this drive the track split into 2 or more variations to avoid obstacles like mud pits and washouts. Most of these splits then converged back into one track but one of them turned out to be a track that headed up into the hills. I took this track and soon realized the error of my ways. I could see the correct track about 50 yards down hill so it was time to drop into 4 Lo and start grinding over open terrain!

A little further down the track I stopped to photograph some of the mud pit and rocky rut joy to be found on this trip. Have I mentioned yet that Subaru totally needs to sponsor my crazy ass?

All this grinding around on rocks and mud had consumed a lot of fuel so it was time to give the Soob a dose of sweet 87 octane.

I bought these military jerry cans at a surplus store and was quite impressed with them. They hold about 5 gallons each and seal up air tight. I drove around all day with them and left them in the Soob in the heat. During the entire trip I never noticed even a hint of gas fumes in the car. That would not have been the case with the little plastic jugs you can get at Wal-Mart.

Here are some reference shots of the fork at the 120 kM marker. One the way in you want to take the left fork that the Soob is on.

If you should decide to drive out here be sure to bring whatever tools, parts and know how you will need to get yourself out lest your rig end up like this

or this

or this.

La Huerfana is shown on the map, so coming across this rare place name sign is comforting.

Another point of reference is El Progresso which is where the power lines end on the way out. Once I reached this desolate semi abandoned town on the way back I knew I could just follow the power lines all the way back to Ciudad Acuña.

The cows were starting to get skinny again as I headed back east.

Then I got rewarded with a pretty close view of a red tailed hawk.

Further down the track I encountered six hombres in lentes oscuros (sunglasses) and sombreros driving west at a breakneck pace in a brand new Dodge dually truck. They came within about 2 feet of colliding with the Soob. Most of the ranchers around here were pretty poor so there was a pretty good chance these fellas were headed to a low water crossing on the Rio Grande to ferry a load of something illegal across. In any event I was glad they kept speeding on their way. Getting all hung up about road manners is pretty pointless in Mexico. Whether on a dirt road or a major city street traffic is pretty much a free for all. Worrying about driving "legally" or curteously will likely just get you into wreck. If you focus on just doing whatever you gotta do to get where you gotta go without getting into a wreck you should be just fine. The worst you have to fear from traffic cops is that they will make you buy them lunch, and wether or not this happens has less to do with how you are driving than with wether it is lunch time and you are driving a new car with American plates. Public safety isn't all that much of a priority down here and my impression is that authorities pretty much figure that dangerous drivers will deselect themselves in a Darwinian sort of way and end up as a flower bedecked cross on the side of the road. But, I digress.

A few minutes later I came across a man walking alone in the desert.

He told me that "los locos" had almost run him over as well, and asked me if I could spare any water. This was a heck of a long haul with out water so I gave him one of my quart bottles and told him to drink as much as he could so I could top it off from my 5 gallon jug. Apparently he was headed to one of the ranchos further west for work. It is still pretty common for rural folks in these parts to walk for several days at a time to get from one ranching job to another.

Over the next rise I encountered a gentleman named Don Rafa and his trusty dogs driving some goats out to graze.

I chatted with him for a few minutes about raising and milking goats and such before he had to amble on his way.

The last fifty miles of the drive were once again flat, bone jarring and uneventful so I was delighted when I finally arrived back in Ciudad Acuña and rewarded myself with some pollo asado (grilled chicken), mmm good.

After the chicken feast I headed south toward Cuatrocienegas. About 60 miles south of Ciudad Acuña you have the option of taking a toll road, which is always a worthwhile purchase in Mexico. At the toll plaza I took a faucet shower to get some of the dust out of my hair. This brightened my mood, but appears to have had a negative effect on my fashion sense.

As elsewhere in Mexico the toll roads are pretty much a free for all, except that you are paying to use a nice smooth stretch of asphalt. Look ma, what comes after 80?

The fact is my old bones were feeling more banged up by the 200 miles of off roading than the Soob was. I had gained a whole new level of respect for its durability and off roading prowess. On the way in to Cañon del Colorado I had torn up the exhaust pretty bad bottoming out on wash outs and hitting rocks. I probably punched a hole in the exhaust somewhere because the engine was running a bit louder, but still as strong as ever as it tore down the toll way. I was well impressed.

The drive to Cuatrocienegas took me through Monclova and several other smaller towns. Local rain gave the afternoon light a delightful hue, which lit up the Mexican small town streets in a charming way.

Here's something you will only see south of the border. It's a baby in a stroller in the back of a pickup truck. I'm not sure how many Texas laws that would violate, but like I said, the roads in Mexico are a free for all.

The name Cuatrocienages is a concatenation of "Cuatro Cienegas," literally "Four Marshes." It was named after the wetlands that are found just south of the town. The water in the wetlands comes gushing out of the ground in countless springs. The water probably enters the ground in the wetter mountains further north. This system of springs has been studied extensively but has not yet been fully mapped. All indications are that it is very complex. It was in the pozas (water holes) of these marshlands that I had come to snorkel.

I arrived in Cuatrocienegas around sunset and after 200 miles of nasty off-roading I was yearning for a hot shower and a civilized bed. So, call me a softy. I found this charming little hotel half a block from the central plaza in Cuatrocienegas.

One of the nice things about staying in older buildings in Mexico is that you get a chance to take in the many charming details of their construction. One such detail that can be found throughout Mexico is the 3 feet thick mud brick walls.

This design offers better attenuation of the temperature extremes, but is probably also the minimum thickness needed to build a strong wall out of mud bricks.

A construction detail that is more peculiar to this area is the use of reeds from the local marshes as a ceiling material.

As in any other Mexican town there as a central plaza with a cathedral across the street. In the morning hours these plazas tend to be frequented by bleary eyed, caffeine seeking gringos.

After finding some coffee and breakfast I had to deal with a llanta ponchada (flat tire) from the previous day's dirt track joy.

Yet another perk of staying in a hotel was having a flat concrete surface on which to change a tire, not something that is always easy to find in Mexico.

Once the flat tire was changed and my gear was packed it was time to head south and explore the pozas. About 11 kM south of town on Highway 30 there is an information center that can give you the skinny on the pozas and swimming areas. Swimming is prohibited in some of the pozas to protect their fragile ecosystems. If you compare the swimming pozas to the non-swimming pozas you will see that this is a wise policy.

Immediately behind the information building there is a small poza with a small pier that allows a good look at many of the fish species that are found only in this unique aquatic ecosystem.

There is also an interpretive trail that follows a small waterway that flows into the poza. Along this trail you can view many of the aquatic plants that inhabit this areas

If pay a $2 entrance fee at the informations center you will be allowed to drive down a 1 kM track to the stunning Poza Azul. The vibrant turqoise part of of this pool is about 25 feet deep. The water actually flows out of that cavernous blue hole from deep within the earth. Diving down into that hole would be an amazing experience, but if it were allowed the entire pool would not be blue, but instead the milky color of the sediment that swimmers would disturb. For this reason it is an experience to be enjoyed with your eyes only.

I had a few hours of daylight left so I decided to set up camp at Poza El Becerro and do some snorkelling in the somewhat murkier (due to swimming) poza.

The water wasn't too bad. Visibility was several feet and about 30 feet below the swimmers there is a cleft in the earth's surface from whence the water in this poza gushes out. It is pretty entertaining to dive down and watch fish and sediment dancing in the current. The cichlids that inhabit these waters are remarkably unafraid of humans. There is a shallower spot where one can float quietly and watch a variety of fish swim justinches away. It was like snorkelling in an aquarium.

Later that evening I was treated to a glorious sunset before heading off to bed.

The next morning dawned clear and quiet. It was a Monday and not a holiday in Mexico so that meant no other campers and no ear splitting ranchero music.

These two dogs decided to join me while I at breakfast. Like most dogs in Mexico they mostly hang about in a semi-feral state. Based on their "activities" earlier that morning I'm pretty certain the campground will be inhabitted by a litter of puppies in a few weeks time.

Poza El Becerro was remarkably clear after the sediment had a chance to settle overnight, so if you really want to snorkel in some crystal clear water get there early in the day.

After striking camp I decided to check out the access situation for just arbitrarily hiking into the mountains. It was a little hot for such pursuits in May, but I wanted to get an idea of how easy it is to just park and start walking uphill, in case I should decide to do so on a future trip in cooler weather. Apparently it's pretty easy.

With nary a fence to be seen.

It was the fourth day of my trip and I was feeling pretty leathery,

so I decided to head to the cool confines of a local winery.

The musty smell of the decades old barrels was intoxicating as was all of the wine available for tasting.

I chatted for a while with the vintner, Señor Ferriño Vitali, who informed me that the wine on offer here cannot be purchased anywhere else. The price per bottle was a little less than $4 and the flavor and quality of the wine far exceeded anything I have ever purchased for less than $10, so it was quite a deal.

In addition to being master vintners the occupants of this vineyard are also accomplished horticulturists.

I decided to take a stroll around town to walk off the wine that I had tasted, and walked past the birthplace of Venustiano Carranza, one of the key players in the Mexican Revolution and its aftermath.

As before the highway between Cuatrocienegas and Monclova was charming, but this time I noticed that it traverses an entire system of marshlands and the verdant towns attached to them.

On the highway north of Monclova I was entertained by yet another "only in Mexico" sight.

Passing a monster that takes up two lanes is a tad spooky.

A couple of hours later I was staring down a lane and into a U.S. Customs booth bedecked with cameras hooked up to facial recognition software and all of the other technological doohickeys that keep us so very, very safe. After an uneventful border crossing I was once again in the land covered by a thin veneer of law and order and all of the soul crushing dullness that comes with it.