Pulliam Massif and Southwest Rim Trip Report
Big Bend National Park, Texas
March 8 and 9,2007
March 8, 2007 Climb
I set out from The Basin campground at around 11:30 p.m. A little later than I had planned but it couldn't be avoided because of the long drive in from Dallas. After dropping down and back out of a small canyon, I began bushwhacking up towards the gully. In short order I arrived at the gully and came to some gendarmes on the right side of the main gully dividing some smaller gullies to the right. I chose to remain on the right thinking this might have been our route in 1979. After about 600 ft. of climbing through some of the nastiest bushwhacking I have ever done, I came to a dead end. With rock climbing shoes and no pack, the climb would have been fairly easy, but with a fairly heavy pack loaded with water and trail runners on, it was too risky to proceed, so back down to the main gully it was.
Above: Pt. 6905 and the Gully Route (left)
Somehow after descending the slopes above in the dark of night, we arrived at The Basin at around 10:30 p.m. much to the chagrin of our Scout leaders including my dad. To this day it amazes me as to how we made it down these cliffs safely. Now in 2007, I set off to retrace our steps back up the infamous gully up to the summit of Pulliam and Pt. 6905.
Right: Gully Gendarmes and Emory Peak
Pulliam Climb History
Almost 27 years ago during a Boy Scout outing in 1979, a good friend Paul Walker and I decided not to accompany a group down to The Window, but to ascend a gully on the north side of the Basin to try and retrace his steps back up a narrow and dense gully that ascended up towards Pulliam Peak that he had done in a previous year. Unfortunately for us, we took off at around 3:30 p.m. and didn't take a flashlight. After climbing up some serious cliffs and backing carefully down, we managed to find our way up probably near the summit of Pulliam looking out over the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen to this day. The famous last words were "let's take a different way down." Not only did we take a different way down, we took a far more difficult way down and managed to descend at night.
Pulliam Massif Overview
Pulliam Massif greets the new Big Bend Visitor traveling to The Basin for the first time with an awe inspiring vertical rock face towering over 1000 ft. above the road below. Above the cliff faces, Pulliam shows a milder side with a large area of rolling hills filled with higher altitude foliage similar to that found on the South Rim. Pulliam Peak itself has an altitude of 6,870 ft. while the high point on the massif is unnamed at an altitude of 6,905. There are no easy ways to summit Pulliam, the standard route requiring a significant amount of bushwhacking up a narrow gully.
After following the east ridge down a ways and realizing a technical gap blocked my way, I ended up in a very steep and narrow gully. At first it was just steep, then it began to step down in a series of pouroffs. At least 4 different times, I was forced to take off my pack and toss it down 10 to 20 feet so I could make the technical (low to mid-5th) down-climbs manageable as some required some moves using my back that my pack would have interfered with. The last pouroff was the most difficult. Fortunately I was able to make it down without having to retreat back up as sunlight was becoming a valuable commodity. After finishing the last pouroff, I bushwhacked down and followed The Basin power-line back down as darkness fell. I was fortunate to get down when I did as my headlamp had apparently turned on during one of the toss-downs and had dead batteries. Now it was time to eat, get some sleep, then head off to Ward Mountain the next day.
Left: My Route
My descent route took off directly towards Panther Pass and the road where the Lost Mine Trail ends. My plan was to make the road, then hike down the road back to the Basin. After scouting a route down from a previous trip on the Lost Mine Trail a few months earlier, I was convinced of a fairly easy route down. Unfortunately for me, a technical gap not viewable from the Lost Mine Trail was directly between me and the road. I was forced to find a way down the complex and difficult south face.
Below: The last pour-off
After topping on the treed summit of Pulliam, I took a self-portrait, then headed off in the direction of Pt. 6905. What a difference a thousand feet makes as the foliage up there was much like that found on the South Rim. I finally made the summit of Pt. 6905 at around 5 p.m., about 5.5 hours after I left The Basin. After taking another self-portrait and taking in the awesome views, it was time to get moving as the sun would be setting in a couple of hours.
Below: Pulliam and Pt. 6905 from Pt. 6755
Above: Looking down the gully
I arrived at the Pulliam/Vernon Bailey ridge near the awesome Pt. 6755. I bushwhacked down to the saddle below Pulliam and found a cairn, probably an indication that this is the "standard" route to Pulliam if there is such a thing.
Left: Vernon Bailey after topping out near Pt. 6755
Below: Pt. 6755 (right) and Vernon Bailey from Pulliam
Above: Pulliam Dead End
After descending about 600 ft. of horrendous bushwhacking and scree, I was back in the main gully heading up. There was still quite a bit of bushwhacking to do, but nothing like it was in the far right steeper gully that dead ended. I reached a spot in the gully where a left turn up a scree slope looked like a fairly easy way to make the Pulliam/Vernon Bailey ridge. I decided to take this scree slope up since my original goal was to ascend Vernon Bailey first. The scree slope did indeed take me up to the ridge near Pt. 6755 but by the time I arrived and had wasted so much energy in the dead end gully, I decided to abort Vernon Bailey and climb Pulliam and Pt. 6905 only.