I decided to head out of Houston for the weekend on about tues but didn't finalize plans until about friday due to work. Being from Northern Ca. I was hurting for some Mountains so my thoughts were Colorado, which was 16hrs. . Someone here at the shop suggested Big Bend approx 10hrs. away. So considering I was not missing any work for this, I went with that plan to save some on road drive time.
I left work at about 4:30-5pm and after situating my gear and heading to the store it was about 8pm before I consider "being on the road". I ended up getting near the park about 6 a.m. . I traveled 10 west until I hit Fort Stockton then took 385 south. I think I saw about 40+ deer from San Antonio west!!
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I had to wait to get my Backcountry Permit so I decided rather than "After Hrs. Registration" I'd wait for the Headquarters to open up. I entered at Persimmon Gap and killed some time driving down to Park Headquarters at Panther Junction.
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So I drove near by and waited for the Office to open an took some pictures while the sun rose
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I noticed a rattling sound in the last few miles and here it was...
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My shock lower bolt rattled loose, all before my actual offroading...so after I registered and got gas, I brainstormed a fix...I tried to think of an unimportant bolt on the 4Runner (while being frustrated about the Toyota Bolt bin I have at home).
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I was happy when I found an easy fix and it was off to the Northen section of the park again to Dagger Flat Auto Trail (9:30am). I reserved a camp at Gauging Station (Southern End of the park) but wanted to make a full days worth of vehicle exploration of it so I figured I'd start at the top. Old Ore Road.
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