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Society ActivitiesAnnual MeetingAnnual Meeting 2009Welcome to Del Rio for the
NEWS FLASH! The following tours have filled up:
Information on the Thursday and Sunday Tours Major Caveat: An individual may sign up for only one tour on Thursday, and if your timing is good, for the first Panther tour and the last White Shaman tour on Sunday should you wish to take more than one tour on Sunday. Please consider (honestly) your physical condition when deciding on taking more than one tour per day. Take it from the "Old Goat" himself (Elton Prewitt) – these hikes can suck your energy more quickly than you realize. Everyone should bring ample water, good footwear, headgear and sunscreen. In particular, those on the NPS boats should disabuse themselves of the idea that headgear is enough; the reflective surface of that lake will toast your face right up under the visor of your ballcap. None of these safeguards are luxury items here, even in late October. A sturdy walking/hiking stick is very important, and no one will regret having one along. Anyone with diabetes should have their medicine along and some hard candy. Clothing: In October, expect it to still be warm, but not excruciatingly hot as it is now. But layering below a windbreaker is a good idea, just in case, on all these tours. A jacket of some sort is a must on the boats. Sturdy long pants and long sleeve shirts are highly recommended due to a plethora of cacti and thorny shrubs along the trails.
Panther Cave: Folks should carpool and convoy from Ramada Inn to the National Park Service Pecos River boat ramp, about 55 minutes northwest of Del Rio along U.S. Highway 90 West. (Time can fluctuate depending on traffic stopped at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint south of Comstock.) Two trips are planned on Thursday, October 22 (1:00 and 3:00 PM), and a pair more on Sunday, October 25 (8:30 and 10:30 AM). Travel time on the lake with Amistad National Recreation Area boat and rangers to Panther Cave is 35 minutes (including vehicle parking, boarding, putting on Portable Floatation Devices). Half an hour in Panther Cave, and possibly another 20 minutes in Parida Cave if a decision is made by the guide and the pilot to stop. In short, total time commitment from Del Rio for any one group of 25 passengers would be about 3.5 to 4 hours. Degree of difficulty or physical challenge probably a 3 on a scale of 1-10; moderate stair climbing (about two flights), safe with handrails everywhere. Only challenge might be just getting out of the boat onto the dock and back, and not very significant.
White Shaman Preserve: Again, folks should carpool and convoy, 55 minutes out Highway 90 West to the entrance to the preserve, 20 minutes to get to the trailhead, half an hour to get down to the White Shaman panel, spend half an hour there, and another half hour to get back to vehicles, and 55 minutes back to Del Rio. Or a total time commitment of 4 hours; level of difficulty estimate is 6 on the 10-point scale; lots of steep boulder-hopping, some rubble and scree, and only an occasional chain railing in steep spots, and handrails in the final homestretch approach to the panel: 15 people on each of two tours (9:00 AM and 12:00 PM) on Sunday.
Satan Canyon on Indianhead Ranch: Carpooling of no more than 18 tour participants on one tour on Thursday, another on Sunday, from Ramada Inn to a huge, high-fence exotic ranch gate at Indianhead, a few hundred meters off of U.S. Highway 277 North, about 20 miles north of Del Rio. The gate has a combination, and is timed from the second it opens to allow one or two vehicles to enter before it starts to close rather ponderously. This 10,000-acre exotic game ranch has large herds of ungulates. When folks go in the main gate, they should drive very carefully in the likelihood that scimitar-horned oryx, blackbucks, aoudad sheep or others might stroll or bolt from the brush. The last thing we need is to harm any of the expensive critters on the property, and if some are seen, folks will want to spend a minute to enjoy watching them. It takes another 20 minutes to get from the gate to the ranch headquarters, about 15 minutes at HQ for folks to "de-water" before boarding high chassis, 4-wheel-drive trucks, provided by Indianhead Ranch, for a 30-minute ride into the canyon (Indianhead Ranch vehicles only - no personal vehicles allowed). Then a steep (seems absolutely vertical) climb into the rock art shelter above Satan Canyon, about 40 minutes. Expect an hour at the panel, another 40 minutes to get everyone down to the trucks, another half hour to drive to the HQ, and half an hour to motor back to Del Rio. A total time commitment of about 5 hours; degree of difficulty is about 8; constant boulder-hopping, rubble and scree when you least expect it, and thick brush; a rope system for part of the route is very helpful. No more than 18 dedicated hikers on each of these tours on Thursday (2:00 PM) and Sunday (9:00 AM); only one each day.
2:00 PM Satan Canyon 3:00 PM Panther Cave
9:00 AM Satan Canyon 9:00 AM White Shaman Shelter 10:30 AM Panther Cave 12:00 PM White Shaman Shelter |
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