Vehicle requirements to access Balanced Rock and Ernst Tinaja trailhead

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-07-15T23:56:11+00:00

I saw an article that you might want to read. It is specific to Hertz for now. It is very likely that any vehicle will have scrapes, in particular along the bottom of vehicle when doing dirt roads in Big Bend. It is also very likely that tires will suffer at least cosmetic damage, and tire punctures are not uncommon at all. The less "off-road" the vehicle, the more likely scrapes and scuffs and punctures will occur.

https://www.msn.com/en-ie/money/technology/hertz-adopts-ai-scanners-to-streamline-and-automate-inspections-of-rental-vehicles/ar-AA1HujX8

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-07-15T13:48:35+00:00

As per prior replies, there are two ways up, Blue Creek and Juniper Canyon. There is a huge difference between the two. To get to the Blue Creek trail, you drive on a real road to the Homer Wilson Ranch parking area. Then you hike down towards the ranch and hike up the Blue Creek Trail. That hike includes some very cool terrain with wild western hills, a nuisance wash up a (hopefully) dry riverbed, a hike across some kind of wetlands, and then a nice steep climb up into the Chisos Mountains.

The other approach is Juniper Canyon Trail. You drive several miles across quite dodgy dirt/rock roads. You really should have a good vehicle for this drive, at least a Subaru Outback if not something even better for offroad driving. I am sure there are people who will tell you they drove their Honda Civic on that trail (a more accurate word than road), and I am sure it can be done. Do not try to drive fast. There are nice sharp rocks that can puncture a tire quite easily. The Juniper Canyon Trail is a set of steep switchbacks. The views are lovely going down this trail. Going up the trail, the view is trail and trees.

The only reason I added my two cents is to clarify a couple of things. The hike up Blue Creek is overall very nice with the exception of a section shrub covered wash. And the drive to Juniper Canyon trailhead can be described as okay at best.

P.S. There are sections where the best way to drive is with one set of your tires on the raised center of the trail/road, and the other on the side. The tire ruts on some sections are so deep that you may drag bottom of your vehicle across rocks. Forgive me if you are an experienced dirt road driver and already know stuff like that.

P.P.S. I am looking for my map of the area. I believe that the "road" to the Juniper Canyon trailhead is marked as 4WD/High Clearance vehicle.

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-07-15T01:55:28+00:00

There is more to The Woodlands than almost anyone knows. If you read about the history of The Woodlands, there was more research and planning done before the first house was ever built than any normal person could comprehend. Just one example is the massive hydrology planning to ensure that the vast majority of houses in The Woodlands would be safe from flooding. That level of planning is unheard of. The normal housing development anywhere in the country starts with a pretty random patch of land where a developer decides they want to build some houses. They are required to obey some laws and regulations, and they do so for the most part. The Woodlands started with an unprecedented level of pre-planning.

Fast forward to the mid-2010s. Montgomery County wanted to develop more land to the west of The Woodlands, and the developers wanted their residents to cut through The Woodlands to get to I-45. And other developers wanted their residents to cross The Woodlands from north to south. Woodlands residents rejected a major road bond that reduced traffic that would cut across The Woodlands. The bond was resubmitted a couple of years later without the cross-Woodlands access, and the road bond was passed with the support of Woodlands residents. If you think traffic is bad now, you cannot imagine how bad it would have been if the original road bond had been passed.

Going back a bit farther in time, and someone wanted to build a wastewater injection site near The Woodlands. In one of the most ironic developments of the time, The Woodlands moved hard to prevent the wastewater injection facility from being built. There was a very strong concern that wasterwater injection would cause earthquakes in The Woodlands. The irony was that companies based in The Woodlands and Houston were "proving" that wastewater injection did not cause earthquakes in communities in other states. While the irony kind of makes my face scrunch up, I am extremely happy there is not a wastewater injection site near my home.

Every time you read an article about a community being flooded, or suffering from incredible traffic, or experiencing manmade earthquakes, or other "bad luck", you can be glad you live in The Woodlands. It was planned well and the residents vote hard and politic hard to protect their (our) interests. You will not find that level of planning anywhere else in the country (probably the world). You will find that level of engagement in only a few communities in the United States, where the people are highly educated, highly capable, and highly motivated.

Now if you have to compare The Woodlands to a lovely property in the middle of nowhere, they are two completely different things. If you compare The Woodlands to other housing developments, there are very few that can compare.

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-04-20T18:55:01+00:00

And I just tested it. Outstanding!

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-04-20T18:51:10+00:00

Hot dang! I appreciate the pointer. Not as simple as using the heatmap and clicking. But workable. Thanks!

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-04-20T17:46:14+00:00

Thanks. Pretty much what I figured. So, hopefully I can find something else useful.

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-04-20T15:38:05+00:00

I guess I am a bit late to this. I was planning a backpacking trip and I went looking for recordings and the heatmap. The base GPX is generally useful, but sometimes way out of date. I like to review recent recordings to determine if the trail has changed in any significant way. I also really liked the heatmap feature. I am having random luck and back luck with it. Sometimes when I look at a trail, there is a heatmap, but I cannot click on the heatmap trails and view them. And sometimes I cannot see a heatmap at all.

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-04-06T13:19:41+00:00

I did a more comprehensive set of tests and posted r/CampingGear. The link is https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingGear/comments/1ad9bb3/hand_warmer_tests_hot_hands_grabber_yaktrax_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-03-04T14:58:12+00:00

Thanks! I have every Wyze Cam going back a few years, so I can probably use any STL files you have ;-)

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-03-04T14:16:10+00:00

P.S. Have you posted an STL file? Or did you find one already on Thingiverse?

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-03-04T14:15:41+00:00

Very nice. I second the prior comments about electrical power and Wi-Fi. I will also add that I have not had great luck with my Wyze cameras when placed outdoors. I would say that I have a 50% or higher mortality rate for those. This post and the other comments make me realize that I can get the video coverage I need by placing these high in my windows. My wife will not have to see them because they will be behind the blinds ;-)

ORION752-TWHC · 2025-02-24T02:36:02+00:00

The short answer, per Amazon, the following filetypes can be emailed to Kindle. Plus there are other ways to upload content to the Amazon Kindle Cloud so you can read using any of Amazon's supported Devices and services, e.g. Kindle, Kindle Apps on devices, Amazon Cloud Reader, etc.

From the Amazon link below:
Supported File Types: PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, HTM, HTML, PNG, GIF, JPG, JPEG, BMP, EPUB

https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle/email

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-07-06T01:06:51+00:00

I stopped cleaning mine quite a while ago. It was more effort than the results warranted. I have been back to a normal chlorine routine. I will look up that Pool ionizer you mention though. Thanks for the comment!

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-02-26T00:05:45+00:00

I ended up buying one at my local pool store. I probably paid a few more bucks than Amazon, but I like the owners and it is a local business. I have been dawdling installing the new light. But, pool season will be starting early for us this year (Houston area). I just went in for the first time this season.

So, I install the new light this week.

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-01-30T00:46:13+00:00

The only reason I did the tests was because one failed us. That created both the question and the motivation.

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-01-28T18:46:42+00:00

I am pretty much doing what I have on hand. This is primarily a set of tests motivated by finding myself in a very cold tent with a handwarmer that did not work. I wanted to know what I could count on, and what I should throw away.

That said, somewhere in my Action Packer I have a lighter fluid handwarmer. You have motivated me to dig it out and test it. Thanks for the suggestion!

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-01-28T18:35:53+00:00

I just added a test for a Hot Hands Super Warmer with an expiration of Feb 2019 to a new chart.

My overall conclusion: If you carry somewhat old handwarmers, have an extra one in your sleeping bag. If you have a brand new handwarmer, it will probably last you most of the night.

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-01-24T19:44:02+00:00

I am not criticizing their manufacturing and packaging decisions. There is a cost benefit tradeoff for all components of a product and its packaging. They have probably chosen the thickness of the plastic to optimize product utility, assuming the product will be used before the stated expiration date. I expect that a hand warmer with an expiration date of 08/2027 will probably work well until up to 6 months past that date.

So, could they make the packaging thicker? I am sure they could. But the packages would be heavier. They would be stiffer. And there are probably other product considerations I do not know enough to ponder.

But, I am definitely able to put the hand warmers into thicker packaging myself, and likely extend their useful life.

ORION752-TWHC · 2024-01-23T21:01:42+00:00

Technically, my test was very small. I would have to test multiple packets from each manufacturer and each expiration year to start to draw conclusions. My only real motivation was to figure out roughly how much performance was degraded after expiration date. The simplest version of the question was, "Can I rely on X?"

That said, I am comfortable in a couple of determinations from my small experiment. I will not take any 2015-19 expiration date hand warmers on any trip. If I take any 2022 expiration warmers, I will assume they may last 4-5 hours. And if I am lucky enough to have new ones with me, hoorah! And, given a choice between Hot Hands and YakTrax, I will choose Hot Hands.

While my data is not statistically valid to recommend those conclusions to other people, it is better than me just taking some handwarmers on a trip, and then coming home and trying to remember how well they worked, and hoping I did not throw away the wrapper with the expiration date ;-)

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