Skip to main content

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!










Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 57 - Rocky Mountain National Park

Ever since I decided to go west for my big trip, I had dreamed of high mountain lakes with snowy peaks arching in every direction, with chilly air making every moment crisp, and with clear skies bringing all into perfect focus-- pure bliss.  Today was the first of many great mountain lake days to come.  Hiking here was far easier here than in the San Juans because the snow was packed down on the trail, but I brought my mini crampons for the downhill. I made it safely past a narrow ridge with narly black peaks across the gorge (pic 1), then up to Mills Lake (pic 2) then Jewel Lake then the Loch (pic 3) then down before the afternoon rain started falling.  I hiked around some lower, more accessible lakes but the sky was now overcast and pictures no good.  I drove up the open portion of the Ridge road amid a very light dusting of snow before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime. I did manage to capture some fine Elk grazing in a meadows on the return trip and a g...
3 comments
Read more

Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park.  A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view.  Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...
1 comment
Read more

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site.  Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint.  And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...
1 comment
Read more