Monday, November 05, 2007

Woodward Ranch

About 13 miles south of Alpine, Texas you turn right to go to Woodward Ranch. (N 30.17396, W-103.58521)
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I have camped there on two different occasions, and I have a really special feeling for the place.
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You can camp at the ranch house where there are full hookup RV spots. (N 30.15364, W-103.60044) There is also a nice rock shop and a great old dawg named Blue. Trey and Jan Woodward own and run the place. Trey's dad was a geologist, and Trey does a lot of things including running cattle and leading rock collecting trips on their land. Jan is a teacher with a master's degree and for years was the postmistress in Terlingua. They are really nice people.
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Or you can camp out at their primitive place right next to Calamity Creek (N 30.14394, W-103.61227). I guess it is a mile or two further away from civilization. I have spent four nights there so far, and I just can't speak highly enough about the place. It is practically right underneath Cathedral Peak, sitting at almost 5,000 ft MSL.
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In west Texas one does not talk about owning acres, or hectares, rather one talks about owning sections of land, which is one square mile or 640 acres. They own enough land that they describe it in sections.
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On the Western part of their land they run some longhorn cattle. One is almost like a dog. She was bottle fed as a baby and comes when her name is called, just like a house pet. Except that she is rather large, and of course she has those giant sharp horns!
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This area of West Texas around Ft. Davis, Marfa, Alpine, and Big Bend is a remarkable part of the world. And one just can't find a better place to camp out than at the Woodward Ranch.


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