Mountain biking on the Rio Grande

Mountain biking on the Rio Grande

Here is a great story about two guys mountain biking along the Rio Grande.  Due to homeland security you probably would not be able to pull off this type of adventure today.

http://users.hal-pc.org/~lfa/KB01.html

There are a few photos of the adventure and some great stories about the hospitality of the people who live along the Rio Grande.

Botanizing on the Miller Ranch

Near the town of Valentine is a huge ranch owned by the Miller family for the last few generations.  They are nice enough to open their property up to the public a few times a year.  Here is the next opportunity to visit the Miller Ranch and learn about some of the plants that are native in the area.

September 12- Botanizing on the Miller Ranch, Valentine L.C. Hinckley was a renowned botanist and chairman of the Department of Biology at Sul Ross for many years. Between 1941 and 1947 he studied the vegetation of the Clay Espy Miller Ranch in the Sierra Vieja Mountain Range and produced a plant list. Hinckley has been honored by having many West Texas plant species named for him. The Mountain Range that parallels the Rio Grande has four deeply eroded canyons and on the north and east contains pinion juniper woodlands and good grasslands where the western sides consist largely of desert scrub. There is a permanent stream in ZH Canyon with riparian vegetation. Patty Manning will guide our field trip and teach plant identification using the Hinckley report as a tool. The cutoff from Hwy. 90 to the ranch road is ¾ mile past Valentine, just before the Prada building. We will carpool for 11 miles on dirt road, following the fence over two cattle guards and through the Chilicote Gate. Bring a lunch to eat after we climb to the spring. Carpool from Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis, times TBA.

To find out more on The Native Plant Society of Texas, Big Bend Chapter log on below:

http://www.npsot.org/BigBend/programs.html

 

Enjoy, Derrick

New Geocache

There is a new geocache in the area.  This is just one more reason for people to visit the Chispa Road.  You can view the cache at:  http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=16134d32-2f83-4317-b417-fa1da03f97b9

For more information on what geocaching is visit.  www.Geocaching.com

Take Care

Derrick Perrin

New photos

I just uploaded a bunch of photos from the last trip out west.  Take a look if you like.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28077113@N03/sets/72157606338893495/

Thanks

Derrick Perrin

Baldy Tank, Empty

While on a quick trip to my ten acres in West Texas my buddies and I decided to hike around the land.  Our first destination was the  Baldy Tank on the USGS Ninetysix Ranch Quad.  We reached the site and were dissapointed.  There was no water.  In the last few satalite images they showed the area tanks to be filled with water.  We hiked over the damn and found the trees to be nice and health around the rim of the tank but no signs of standing watter.

Baldy Tank

After hiking to the tank we continued on our 5 mile round trip.  We were looking to make it to the North Rim but did not make it this trip.  We will try again soon.

Thanks

Derrick Perrin

July trip to West Texas

It was a quick trip but I made it out to West Texas this past weekend.  Along with me was Mando, Ben, and Riley my dog.  We had a good time and almost had to stay an extra day due to being flooded onto the property.  The land is mostly rock but the creek washes are Benoite clay.  The clay is nasty when it is wet.  There is a section further south on the Chispa Road known as the bog.  The bog is konwn to eat cars.

Our land is located a few miles east of the Chispa Road.  It is part of the W.J. Cathey 1009 Survey.  I will post a lot of pictures later but here are a few.  We had a good time hiking and finding a safe way out of the property.

This creek runs just west of our property

Creek on land

PVC Shelter

Thanks

Derrick Perrin

Great place for Texas information

If you are wanting to know something about Texas a good place to start is the The Handbook of Texas Online.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/index.html

They do a pretty good job of listing a lot of history.  And if it is not enough information for you you can always use it as a place to start your search.

Thanks

Derrick Perrin

Valentine Military Operations Area

RePosted from:

http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA139581

Accession Number : ADA139581

Title : Seismo-Acoustic Effects of Sonic Booms on Archeological Sites, Valentine Military Operations Area

Descriptive Note : Environmental research papers

Corporate Author : AIR FORCE GEOPHYSICS LAB HANSCOM AFB MA

Personal Author(s) : Battis, James C.

Handle / proxy Url :
writeHandle(“http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA139581″);
http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA139581 Check NTIS Availability…

Report Date : NOV 1983

Pagination or Media Count : 35

Abstract : Seismo-acoustic recordings of sonic booms were made at two sites in the Valentine Military Operations Aras (MOA). Each location was selected as representative of a class of significant archeological sites found within the MOA. These studies indicate that sonic booms are unlikely to cause damage to the archeological finds. The expected motions are, at worst, 8 percent of the limits set by strict blasting codes and comparable to velocities that could be produced by local earthquakes which have occurred in the Valentine area. At these levels of motion, competent rock will be unaffected by the transmission of seismic waves. The predicted velocity levels are unlikely to initiate either fracture or spalling in rocks. However, it is possible that in rocks where natural meteorological action has initiated these erosive mechanisms the sonic boom induced motion accelerate the processes to some small, and probably insignificant, degree.

Descriptors : *SEISMIC WAVES, *SONIC BOOM, SURFACE WAVES, DAMAGE, ACOUSTIC WAVES, TEXAS, ADMITTANCE, NEVADA, ARCHEOLOGY, STRUCTURES, WAVEFORMS

Subject Categories : HUMANITIES AND HISTORY
SEISMOLOGY
ACOUSTICS

Distribution Statement : APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE

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Members of the public may purchase hardcopy documents from the National Technical Information Service.

Environmental Assessment, Valentine Military Operations Area, Texas

Posted from http://www.stormingmedia.us/22/2209/A220962.html Environmental Assessment, Valentine Military Operations Area, Texas Authors: DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE WASHINGTON DC

Abstract: The U.S. Air Force proposes to continue using the Valentine Military Operations Area (MOA) in southwest Texas for supersonic operations. The 49th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Holloman Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico, has been flying supersonic operations above 15,000 feet (ft) mean sea level (MSL) in the MOA since January 1985. The majority of the operations will continue to be conducted in the F-15 aircraft. Occasionally, other fighter aircraft may use the airspace but their usage is negligible in comparison to the F-15s, and consequently, would result in no appreciable change from the evaluation and analysis for the F-15 aircraft. Limitations: APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Description: Final rept. Pages: 173 Report Date: DEC 89 Report Number: A220962 Keywords relating to this report: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS SUPERSONIC FLIGHT

Fort Holland near Valentine Texas

This site has a lot of good information about ghost towns in Texas.

RePosted From:  http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/tx/fortholland.html FORT HOLLAND

NAME: Fort Holland COUNTY: Presido ROADS: 2WD GRID: 2 CLIMATE: Cold in winter, hot in summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Anytime

COMMENTS: No residents. Located about 6 miles west of Valentine, Texas on the Chilicote Ranch road. Old Fort Buildings and site of the last indian battle in the US. Located on private property, but owners will allow visits. REMAINS: Old Fort buildings still standing.

Fort Holland was built in the early 1900’s to defend against Pancho Villa and his bandits. Fort was closed after the end of World War I.Also the State of Texas installed a historical marker, marking the site of the last indian battle in the US between the US Cavalry and the Commanche indians. Submitted by: Clarence Louviere