Day 28 - Big Bend part 2

I must have a thing for Jurassic Park-looking places, because Big Bend has Jurassic Park in spades! Big Bend has three sections: 1 Santa Elena Canyon in southwest, 2 Chisos Mountains in middle and 3 Bouquillas Canyon to southeast. I would cover all three today.

I awoke in the morning, hopped in the van and drove from the Santa Elena section to the Chisos Mountain section in the middle, in order to secure a campsite at this central and grand location. On the drive up I passed the Mule Ears Mountains and surreal morning views.

While the river 1 and 3 sections are at 1800 foot elevation, the Chisos Mountains are at 6000 feet. I drove up and over the crazy beautiful mountain range and down steep curves into the Chisos Basin, where the campgrounds and Lodge and only-in-park restaurant are located. The mountains surround you when you are in the basin making you feel protected and special--like you are a welcome guest to the wonder. I believe this is the best campground ever. The panoramas don't capture the site so you'll have to take the next few high mountain shots and imagine sleeping with them surrounding you.

Itching for a hike but still having a minor left ankle over-use strain, I took on the famous Lost Mine Trail, a 5 mile round trip hike built nicely by the New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corp in the 40s. The hike climbs up gently, opening up to spectacular craggy peak views before peaking to a high mountain clearing between huge mountains. Pics to set the scene.

My left ankle pain went away on the way up this trail but I got a shin splint--another over-use injury from hiking 10 miles a day this month up from 3-4 in March. Undeterred, I drove an hour east to the Bouquillas Canyon section with another towering Rio Grande site in front of me (pic).

This canyon was less amazing than the Santa Elena but it did have Mexicans on horseback selling drugs--no gracias amigo. A quick off roadish journey to a hot springs and then a drive back to Chisos basin for dinner at the restaurant.

I downed a bacon cheeseburger, fries and two local beers and set out to the "window" - the lower outlet of the Chisos basin for a 3.5 mile round trip just in time to catch sunset there. About 30 minutes in a combination of shin pain and just-ate-huge-dinner-then-hiked pain stopped me. I felt sick, quite sick, so I stopped mid-trail, and rested on a rock for fifteen minutes. Feeling a bit better but still bad, I decided to turn around and return to the bed in the van. I made it back and felt much better after another hour and a nights rest. On the way back up, I took this pic of the "window". Nice!

Comments

Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 48 - Canyonlands Island in the Sky Pt 2

Mountain biking the 100-mile 4x4 White Rim Road is said to be a great American adventure. But without any water, you need a follow truck to carry your water and gear, and reservations must be made three months in advance. So I just decided to hike down 1500 feet to the white rim and hike the road a bit. Steep, steep, steep was the descent down the Goosberry trail, but I reached the rim level in only 45 minutes! I hiked further down to the white rim road and then past to the very edge. Looking around for a possible path down to the river bottom 1000 feet below was a fun task, but a hard one as the "white rim rock" has a solid sheer 50-150 feet dropoff. I found one possible path down but a lone Nalgene bottle left down below the white rocks indicated an aborted attempt down. I continued to walk the rim for a few hours, finally climbing a small Mesa edge to enjoy the high view of the other side. After a brief respite, I walked back an hour along the Jeep 4x4 road to the G...

Day 41 - Escalante Coyote Gulch

This one or two night Coyote Gulch hike was an easy test of my newly learned navigation skills. Anxious to get started I awoke at 545 just as the sun was rising. I followed an obvious landmark, a tall thin spire called Chimney Rock, northwest to Hurricane Wash (a drainage running into Coyote Gulch). After a couple of hours of walking up over and around slick rock, I entered the famous Coyote Gulch. The walls around me raised up, darkened and th water flow increased--like nature hinting at the scenic beauty ahead. The normally crowded Coyote Gulch was fairly empty on this early Thursday morning, giving the canyon a very peaceful and quiet feeling-- fragile almost. Down steam, I ran into the famous Jacob Hamilton Arch and then thirty minutes further-- the Coyote Natural Birdge. Both were beautiful due to their see through the wall character, but both would be overshadowed in my memory by the Stevens Arch tomorrow. Pics. By 1pm, I had hiked for six hours...

Road Trip Daily

Search This Blog