Tag Archives: Mexican border

My Wife Dropped me at the Mexican Border – Yuma County Backpacking

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3 Days of Desert Camping and Backpacking in Yuma County Arizona.

For this backpacking trip, I headed even farther south to a remote corner of Arizona not too far from border with with Mexico in an area known as the Kofa Wilderness.

For sleep and shelter I brought an ultralight trekking pole tent, 3-season inflatable sleeping pad, and a 40 degree sleeping bag, as the forecasted temperature range for this December adventure would range fro highs in the eighties down to as low as the upper 30’s depending on wind conditions and where I chose to set up camp in the vast array of mountains and valleys found in this corner of the American Southwest.

My choices for camping food on this backpacking trip would be pretty simple – mostly because there are no reliable water sources in this desolate sampling of the Sonoran Desert. Since I would have to pack in and carry all of my own drinking water from the start, there was little reason to spend money and effort on traditional dehydrated backpacking meals.

Instead I chose to hit the local dollar store for some calorie dense, if not nutritionally diminished, food sources. The end result? 3 days worth of calories for under twenty bucks, and no water or stove required. …there will plenty of opportunities to eat salad back in civilization. If I manage to get back there…

Trailhead Used:
King Road Access, 1/4 mile north of Yuma Customs Checkpoint on AZ Rt 95

Trails Used, Day 1

  • Horse Tanks Jeep Trail
  • None

Trails Used, Day 2

  • None
  • Random animal trail (?)
  • None

Trails Used, Day 3

  • None
  • Kofa Horse Tanks
  • None
  • King Road

 

 

A Tour of Texas – Hiking Big Bend & Mexican Border Road Trip

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Join me for a Tour of Texas, from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to a Hike in Big Bend NP, via an adventure along the Mexican border. 

For this adventure, I’ll be travelling (via air) from Philadelphia to San Antonio, Texas.  After landing, the plan will be to grab a rental car and immediately travel 7 hours west, following a route along the Mexican boarder, to Big Bend National Park.  Big Bend holds the distinction as America’s largest protected swath of Chihuahuan desert.  Another of Big Bend’s unique distinctions is that around 118 miles of the Mexican / American boarder lay within it’s boundaries, hugging the deepest point of the Rio Grande.

My plan is to arrive at Big Bend National Park before sunset on day one and make a mad scramble for the Window Trail, which is said to boast some amazing sunset views across the Chisos Mountains.  Assuming I pull this off, my next task will be to awake just before that burning globe comes back around again, and make way for the tallest peak amongst the Chisos Range – Emory Peak.  After that – a quick retreat to the car, a modest rehydration and clean up, and then it will time to hop back in the rental car once again.

Just to keep thing interesting, my plan will be to take an alternate 7 hour route, further to the north, to return to San Antonio.  At that point, I’ll scoop up Sara and head an additional 3 hours west to the Gulf of Mexico.  More specifically, the Corpus Christi region, for some beach front camping, which would be a first for us.

Of course, all of these plans assume that everything goes as expected.  I mean, they never get unexpected or sever weather on the Gulf Coast, do they?  Wait…  do they?