Travels with Homer: Day 5. Camp De Leon on Old Ore Rd and a hike to above Ernst Tinaja

Day 5. Camp De Leon on Old Ore Rd and a hike to above Ernst Tinaja

We took our time leaving RGV this morning. We only have 7 miles to drive today. However 3 of those miles are on Old Ore Road, a primitive gravel road. On our many visits to BBNP over the last 44 years we have most always found the first 3 or 4 miles of Old Ore Rd starting from the south to be in pretty good condition, with the exception of the first ¼ mile starting from the paved road. There is a pretty steep climb for the first 200 yards and then a very rough, bumpy and rocky drop for the next 200 yards. As long as you have decent high clearance on your vehicle (or careful driving of car) the road is fine.

On the way out I did get a picture of a car which made it down the hill w/o any problems. He did drive very slow and carefully though.

I meant to take a picture of Homer going down the rocky section, but forgot.

The next 3 miles were easy driving, with just a few bumps. A little narrow in places where the brush lightly rubbed the sides of Homer, but nothing that put on any scratches.

It took us about 25 minutes to drive the 3 miles to the turn off to Camp De Leon campsite.

In the background are the Chisos Mtns.

We found the parking area to be too small and unlevel for us.

So we parked on the short road leading to the campsite

The road only leads to the campsite so we are not blocking a road which anyone would use.

The campsite has a very nicely laid out tent site for tent campers. The campsite is really not set up for vehicle camping.

A wide angle view of the campsite and Chisos Mtns.

Camp De Leon is named for the nearby grave site of Juan De Leon. Juan was a 26 year old young man who was shot and killed near his gravesite. His body wasn’t found for several days and was badly decomposed sitting in the July heat. He was buried near where he was found. More details at BBNP’s website here .

De Leon’s grave with Chisos Mtn’s in the background

Many people have left coins and colorful items on the grave.

We had beautiful views of the Chisos Mountains from our campsite. Photos from morning & midday. No sunset photos. There were no clouds to make for a pretty sunset.

Shortly after sunrise. From left to right is, East & South Rim, Emory Peak, Crown Mt, Lost Mine Peak and the lower magma intrusion in front of Lost Mine Peak is Nugent Mt.

Clockwise from the center bottom, Nugent Mt, Crown Mt and lost mine peak. The valley/canyon in the shadow of Crown Mt is Pine Canyon. In Pine Canyon there is a beautiful hike through a Texas Madron forest and pine trees to the bottom of a usually dry waterfall.

South & East Rim, Emory Peak & Crown Mt

Chisos Mt, late morning

During the afternoon that we camped at Camp Del Leon, I hiked a primitive trail to the canyon wall overlooking the upper end of Ernst Tinaja.

Looking back down the trail. You can see were Homer is parked in the upper left of the photo. Look for “RV->”

Looking down into the canyon from the canyon wall

Looking back towards Ernst Tinaja

Ernst Tinaja is a very popular short 1 mile round trip into a very colorful canyon with a “Tinaja” in the rock bed. A Tinaja is a naturally occurring rock basin which is usually filled with water. Ernst Tinaja is very large and deep, being about 15’ in diameter and about 6-8’ deep when filled.

The pictures below were taken from previous trips to BBNP.

Looking downstream at Ernst Tinaja

Looking upstream at Ernst Tinaja

The canyon walls reflected in the water in the tinaja

Animals may use the tinaja’s for drinking unless the water gets too low. Occasionally an animal will fall into the tinaja and drown. The steep, mostly perfectly vertical sides, make it very difficult to climb out of.

There are scratches on the wall in the following photo. I can’t be totally sure that they were made by an animal, or were made by a hiker to look like a deer was trying to get out. They do look like scratches a deer would make trying to get out.