Tag: camping

Buddy Trip to Big Bend National Park – Day 1

Friday, November 15th, 2019Monday, July 19th, 2021Big Bend, camping, postaday, travel, travelingSlice of Life, Traveling6 Comments

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4.5, 1/680 sec, ISO200
“Iconic Sign” Big Bend, 2019

Two friends and I began the weekend a day early to head on out to Big Bend National Park for a short camping trip. The drive started at 5 am because it takes several hours of driving to reach the park. We got there at about 2 pm and stopped by the Panther Junction Visitor Center to get a back-country permit for our next evening’s campsite, and then headed to our first trail: Grapevine Hills Trail.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec, ISO200
“Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/450 sec, ISO200
“Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/350 sec, ISO200
“Grapevine Hills Trail” Big Bend, 2019

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec, ISO200
“Balanced Rock” Big Bend, 2019

The highlight of Grapevine Hills Trail is the balanced rock at the end. It’s very cool! This trail starts easy, but includes a little bit of scrambling up rocks and could be difficult for some people. I really enjoy these sections though, so I was loving it.

Next, we drove out to the eastern part of the park to the Boquillas Canyon Trail. This is another very short trail, but the canyon is gorgeous! The Rio Grande is amazing the way it cuts through the rock to form the canyon. Nature is awesome.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/8, 1/60 sec, ISO200
“Boquillas Canyon” Big Bend, 2019

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/7.1, 1/90 sec, ISO200
“Cairn” Big Bend, 2019

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1/160 sec, ISO200
“Towards Boquillas Canyon” Big Bend, 2019

On the trail we came across this critter. I’ve never seen a millipede this big before! It was a little scary, I’m not ashamed to admit.

After the trail, we took a look at the Boquillas Overlook, where you can get a nice view of Mexico across the river.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/850 sec, ISO200
“Boquillas Canyon Overlook” Big Bend, 2019

After that we headed to camp to set up the tents and have dinner.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1.2 sec, ISO800
“Camp Setup” Big Bend, 2019

The rib-eyes and cold beer really hit the spot! After a little bit of astrophotography, we crawled into the tents to get some rest. It was a great day!

Lives On the Road

Saturday, January 6th, 2018Saturday, January 6th, 2018camping, nomads, traveling, vanlifeTravelingLeave a Comment

Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos of people who have been traveling in their cars and vans all around the world, and actually living out of them full-time. It’s an interesting concept and something I’ve actually been interested in for a long time. Maybe it started because growing up, one of my best friend’s family owned a VW van which had comfy bench seating, a sink and cabinets, and curtains. It was really cool!

Here are a few of the channels I follow:

Live, Work, Wander – These two are a lot of fun to watch. They travel around the US in their VW 4WD “Ripley”, camping, wheeling, and just having a good time. A bit over-the-top with the bathroom humor at times, and their van seems to spend a lot of time in mechanics’ garages, but the production value of their videos is excellent and it’s a neat perspective of an alternative lifestyle. Fun!
The Galavan – If you want a real feel-good and relaxing channel to watch, this one fits the bill. She is traveling mostly in the Western US in a large van (or is it a small RV?) and enjoying life. Her gentle way of speaking is refreshing.
Hobo Ahle – She’s been living out of her car and now van for a while now, and seems more like a newbie to the nomad life, but it’s nice to see how she lives and has fun on a seemingly limited budget. Her vehicle isn’t yet as built-out as others on this list so the evolution is interesting. And she has a great positive attitude!
CamperVanCulture.com – This family from the UK has some amazing overland travel videos in Europe and Northern Africa. The drone footage is excellent in their Arctic series too! I really enjoy their camping adventures, especially because they have a lot of footage of the scenery and no over-the-top dialog. Very laid back and enjoyable.
Phil and Vanessa Chan – This couple has been living out of their Honda Element in California for over a year, but just recently sold it so they could begin their European adventures in a van. Lots of great tips about daily life in an extremely small space. I can’t wait to see their next chapter in Europe!

There are many good YouTube channels like these to find and watch and it’s cool and inspiring to see people living lives outside of the “normal” rat-race. The life of a modern-day nomad is pretty intriguing, isn’t it?

On a side note, there’s been a lot of criticism lately about YouTubers and YouTube itself, but there’s a lot of great, original, independent content of all kinds to be watched. I think it’s so much better than watching corporate network television.

またね～

Camping at Choke Canyon State Park, TX

Sunday, December 7th, 2014Tuesday, August 29th, 2017camping, travelSlice of Life, TravelingLeave a Comment

The day after Thanksgiving we took the kids camping to a new place for us: Choke Canyon State Park. It’s located between San Antonio and Corpus Christi, about three-hour drive from our house. We really enjoy camping and since we have all the gear it’s easy to go spur-of-the-moment. Going the day after our Thanksgiving feast wasn’t a problem at all. We went basic with the meals, just stopping at the supermarket to fill up our cooler with steaks, breakfast sandwiches, bread and deli meats/cheese. And of course we had to have s’mores!

The campsite was pretty nice, but it’s mostly RV campers and only a couple of people in tents. But it was ok. The only downside was that most of the RV campers left the lights on at their campsites all night. Plus there was also the constant hum of electric appliances. It was kind of fun seeing all the lights strung up at the campsites (I have never camped at an RV area before). I only wish they would have turned off the lights when they went to bed. It would have made the star photos a bit better. But, the bathrooms there were super-clean since I think most of the people at the campground prefer to do their business in their RVs. Just a guess.

Anyways, the camping was fun as usual, with a nice campfire, steaks, and s’mores. I bring my BBQ grill when we go camping, so we have a nice controlled cooking fire, and then we have the campsite fire pit for the larger campfire.

I woke up at about 1:30 AM and decided to take some photos of the night sky. Luckily I remember to bring the tripod on the trip! It was a lot of fun! I wish the kids would have joined me, but I didn’t really want to wake them since they were snug in their warm sleeping bags. I did manage to get a few decent photos and see one shooting star before retiring back to the tent at 2:30.

The next morning after breakfast, we headed down to the lake and did a little fishing. We didn’t catch anything or even get a nibble, but we were able to see a huge alligator sunning himself on the bank. It was pretty impressive!

The camping trip was just one night, but it was fun and nice to visit a new place. I can’t wait for our next camping trip! Please enjoy the photos below.