After carefully surveying the crux pitch, we decided to rope up and plan for a rappel back down after the summit so we could leave our packs and climb the crux pitch without the extra burden.  Jeff led, followed by Ryan, then myself.  Although the pitch was quite exposed, the actual technical climbing only involved a 5.4 jam crack.  A nice tree was located at the top which would make for a good rappel anchor for the descent.  After we all three topped out, we made the short hike up a beautiful ridge to the summit.

     After reaching a small saddle on the ridge, we crossed over to the south facing side of Picacho where the climbing increased to 3rd and 4th class.  Our original goal was to ascend up to the ridge crest and follow the ridge all the way to the summit.  Instead, we traversed over and across one arete and then climbed up to the ridge crest.  After a short amount of easy ridge running, we reached the crux. 

     The hike in starts at the beginning of the east end of the Dodson Trail near the Homer Wilson Ranch.  Our start time was approximately 8 a.m.  The weather was cool and windy making the hike in very pleasant considering the amount of work we would have to do gaining elevation.  After hiking approximately 3 miles, we arrived at the junction of the Smokey Creek Trail and began hiking south.  Approximately 1/4 of a mile down the trail we began our bushwhack ascent up to the prominent ridge at the southwest end of Picacho. 

    We made one quick stop at Closed Canyon along River Road within the Big Bend Ranch State Park boundaries and hiked into this really neat canyon for about 1/3 mile until we ran into some short cliffs that looked pretty dicey as far as getting back up them.  We hiked back out, drove to Presidio, ate some good Mexican food, then began the long drive back to the DFW area to enter back into the real world.  Hopefully, we'll all get back to Big Bend National Park soon.

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     The next day, Jeff and I had plans to climb Ward Mountain in the nearby Chisos Mountains, but a combination of fatigue and bad weather in the Chisos made us alter our plans to do some less strenuous Big Bend touring.  We drove up to the Mule Ears overlook, hiked the Burro Mesa Pour-off, then took a drive on the El Camino del Rio (River Road).  This road is no doubt the most beautiful of Texas highways as it follows the Rio Grande River from Lajitas to Presidio.  The highlight of the Road is the overlook at its highest point.  Jeff and I scrambled up to the top of a hill above the highway to get these crazy shots of us (Jeff)(Barry) about 1,000 ft. above the Rio Grande River.  And yes, it is as airy as it looks!

After arriving at the Smokey Creek trail, we hurriedly set out for the trailhead before the sun got too far down.  Jeff picked up some gear he had stashed earlier on before our bushwhack began, then we picked up the Dodson Trail for the 3 mile pack out as the moon rose over the evening rays lighting up the northeast face of Picacho.