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UER Forum > Archived US: South > W. Texas anyone? (Viewed 381 times)
Abe Bandon 


Location: Mid-essa, Texas
Gender: Male




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W. Texas anyone?
< on 7/12/2005 3:17 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Does anyone ever explore West Texas? I've done a fair amount in Lubbock but I've moved back to Midland. There was a small crew in Lubbock but I was wondering if anyone's from Midland or Odessa or somewhere near. I'm tellin' ya it's like the lone indian sitting on a hill out here.

coffinnail 


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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 1 on 7/13/2005 6:24 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
there is an assload of oil production stuff and i've heard rumors of abandoned mansions. i know everything to see is very spread out. my brother did a lot of driving backroads in west texas for his job and said there's a ton of stuff i'd be interested in. sorry i don't know specifics.


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RevSM 


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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 2 on 7/13/2005 8:12 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Find out! I think seeing something out in the desert of West Texas should be quite interesting and considerably different than what's around here.

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Abe Bandon 


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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 3 on 7/15/2005 3:00 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Unfortunately a lot of the abandoned oil field stuff is just abandoned warehouses in the industrial ends of bigger cities out here. Other than that when it comes to mansions they are mostly in Midland Texas and are still inhabited. Just not by their original oil tycoons. There is no shortage of millionaires in Midland, in fact most of the people that live here are extremely wealthy even though they look like desert rats or crusty old oilmen. For a long time Midland has been in the top ten cities of most "millionaires per capita".

There are however a lot of abandoned 4+ story office buildings in Midland, Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo, San Angelo, Abilene etc... Those are what I dig getting inside of.

4th of July weekend I was at a friend's lake-house in Colorado City, TX and there were several abandoned lake-houses, and mobile homes. It's easy to tell which are abandoned because all thats in them is beer bottles/cans and fireworks. I guess that also explains one that burned down the day before we got to the lake. Not too exciting to explore really but hey it was something to do when the water was too choppy for jet ski riding!!

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 4 on 7/29/2005 4:22 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Yeah??? I would offer that there is no shortage of locations to explore there. In fact we just got back from there. Millions of square miles of abandoned stuff everywhere we went, entire towns are abandoned. There is more stuff to explore there than we could possibly do in a week.

Went to Van Horn, down to Big Bend for a couple of days, Marfa and Alpine, Presidio, Castolon, Odessa, Pecos, Sierra Blanco and Terlingua. Terlingua is about 50% abandoned. Kept getting side tracked by ghost towns, mines, adobe villages, abandoned mills, rock plants and refineries. Im going to put two locations in the DB a ghost town and a rock crushing plant but there are maybe 10 more I could add. Lots more just sitting out there waiting. Its well worth the trip we drove 2400 miles but Im ready to go again. Dont tell me theres nothing but warehouses. There are towns within 30 miles of Odessa where every other building is abandoned.

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Explorer Zero 






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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 5 on 7/31/2005 12:55 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
ooops meant to say acres not square miles...

Abe Bandon 


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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 6 on 8/2/2005 5:37 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I guess I need to drag myself out into the county roads more often

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 7 on 8/3/2005 4:32 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Im ready to go back its great exploring the big country, made me sad to come back to town. Theres a couple cool spots across the river one is a big cave that might be fun but stakes might a little higher too.

For example we found this fella camping / guarding the Mexican side, but upon enlarging the pic I have decided hes a federale not a homeless guy or campesino. Anyway we ran into a couple of lady hikers running back up the trail on the U.S. side very upset blubbering something about how he tried to "take them" or "get" them when they waded across the river. Found some references on other sites how these guys wait by the river where tourists and hikers go to wade or swim then try to extort money or personal items from them. When the gringos cross they arrest them or try to intimidate them into paying money to let them go. Anyway this guy looks more like a cop to me than a hobo or kidnapper. Probably a light green Suburban parked the other side of those willows.

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Pulpiteer 


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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 8 on 8/18/2005 6:07 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I just moved to Abilene from San Diego, and I'm completely amazed at how many abandoned buildings are around here, not to mention along the drive out here. I stopped at one little town called Toyah that had a functioning truck stop (without fuel) and a handful of inhabited residences, but was primarily about 6 square blocks of ghost town. The definite highlight looked to be the high school, a two story brick structure from the 1920's. Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures, but I thought I'd point it out. It's right off of the 20 (I think), west of Pecos.

While I'm at it, there is what appears to be an abandoned church here in Abilene (big surprise)...or if it isn't abandoned, it is in need of serious upkeep. It might be a little to in the open to access, but I'll try and get some exterior shots.

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 9 on 8/18/2005 9:23 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Im going to be in Abilene some time in September and already got a few places I want to check. send a PM if you find something cool for me!

Urban Caver 

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 10 on 8/23/2005 6:49 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Terlingua is a nice place, will be moving there in a few months.. As far as west tx goes, there are quite a few abandoned things off the beaten path, here are a few pics from one of the recent trips... would add to the location db, but no access at the moment.


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The majority of the mines are sealed pretty well with iron grates, and a good deal of them are now protected bat habitats. Quite a bit to see though, old mining camps, refineries, villages, distillation areas, old equipment, and the ever present bears and mountain lions.

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 11 on 8/23/2005 5:29 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Urban Caver
Terlingua is a nice place, will be moving there in a few months.. As far as west tx goes, there are quite a few abandoned things off the beaten path, here are a few pics from one of the recent trips... would add to the location db, but no access at the moment.


41289.jpg (65 kb, 640x480)
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41290.jpg (86 kb, 640x480)
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41291.jpg (69 kb, 480x640)
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The majority of the mines are sealed pretty well with iron grates, and a good deal of them are now protected bat habitats. Quite a bit to see though, old mining camps, refineries, villages, distillation areas, old equipment, and the ever present bears and mountain lions.



cool! I wanted to see the old mercury (cinnabar)mines but it was pouring down rain believe it or not.

man Id like nothing better than to get a shot of a bear and or a big lion (with my 300mm lens of course) I made the trip from Terlingua to Presidio up hwy 150 in July woohoo, thats one balls to the walls road I ya what.

I gotta get another motorsickle to make that ride once before I die, awesome road and scenery.

Viva Terlingua!


Urban Caver 

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 12 on 8/23/2005 11:01 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
well, i should be heading back out a day or two after xmas. Figure i will pitch a tent out on my land, start working on building a kennel for my wolf, then build a shack to live in for now, can use it as a garage after i finish work on my house.

I think the major things to remember when ue'ing in southwest texas are:

1) there are loads of ghost towns, old mining camps, colonias, and just damned old structures almost anywhere you go.

2) if you are out there for photography reasons, the ue part takes a backseat to the amazingly clear air, clear skies, and awesome amount of stars in the sky at night.

3) If you hit the park (big bend national park), only half (at most) of the still standing structures are marked on a ma, and none of the graveyards are marked.

4) if you need a free place to stay, bring a tent, i have 20 acres, a jeep, an atv, and a dune buggy (hopefully will have an mx bike and another atv or dune buggy soon) ;)

we saw a bear, but didnt get a photo on the last trip (up on the crossover path to casa grande), had to leave early due to incoming storms and my land being 11 miles (3 streams, and terlingua creek) away from a paved road. Here are a few more photos of the mercury mine and 1 of the graveyards.

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Still working on getting everything ready for the trip, have to finish taking the sawzall to the jeep, then weld up some parts for the buggy, jeep, and atv... borrow a trailer, mount some hitches, etc... loads to do, plus have a wedding to work on... joy on the plus side, i get to spend 3-6 months away from the wife while in big bend

Urban Caver 

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 13 on 8/24/2005 8:43 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
btw, if it hasn't been mentioned before, good resource on abandoned areas of historic interest in texas:

http://landmark.granbury.com/

plus a guide to gravesites in and arund bbnp

http://ojinaga.com/gravesites/

(edit: added ojinaga.com addy)
[last edit 8/24/2005 8:53 PM by Urban Caver - edited 1 times]

Urban Caver 

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 14 on 9/13/2005 3:40 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
k, here it is, mariscal mine in the park

http://www.uer.ca/...ow.asp?locid=23486

Explorer Zero 






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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 15 on 9/13/2005 12:11 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Urban Caver
k, here it is, mariscal mine in the park

http://www.uer.ca/...ow.asp?locid=23486


wow I was less than a couple miles from that mine and didnt know it! just shows how big and remote everything is there

Im planning to go back when I can maybe I will take you up on the offer to camp on your spread!



Urban Caver 

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Re: W. Texas anyone?
<Reply # 16 on 9/13/2005 11:57 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
np, i will be out there from dec 26 or so until june/july of 2k6. Having a party out there dec 29-jan 1, so should be interesting. If all goes well i will also be heading up there next week to drop off some of the supplies and such for the 6 month trip.

If you want to camp on the land, just let me know a few weeks beforehand (when i get out there i will only be using the net once a week at most), and i will send you coordinates for the land and an updated map.

-edit- spelling
[last edit 9/13/2005 11:58 PM by Urban Caver - edited 1 times]

UER Forum > Archived US: South > W. Texas anyone? (Viewed 381 times)



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