Day 29 - Big Bend part 3

I gave myself two very different options this morning: Option 1- if my shin pain was gone and I felt good I would ascend the Chisos mountains tallest 7900 ft Emory Peak and then while up high hike to the south rim of the range-- a total journey of 16 miles with 3000 vertical feet gain/loss-- a tough day hike, but Grand Canyon rim-river-rim and Superstition's Battleship hikes had been tougher. Option 2 was a complete rest day-- no hiking, just reading and relaxing in the pleasant Chisos Basin.

I took Option 2. I needed option 2. I walked up to a park bench overlooking the "window" and read The Wise Man's Fear-- a lord of the rings-style fantasy novel for five hours. I brought snacks with me and enjoyed this peaceful shaded spot alone-- amazed with how few people came by. It was great. See the bench and the view behind me.

At 2pm, I decided I would drive back along the scenic road to Santa Elena and hike the 1 mile hike there in daylight. After six miles of driving though I noticed that my right shin, the one giving me pain, was hurting. I tried using my left leg to brake and felt the same muscle pain point. Aha. The shin splint was from driving 1000 miles a week (with hiking not helping). I pulled over, enjoyed the view for a while, and then drove back to Chisos. No more driving today either.

Then I found wifi! Yes, by the restaurant there was a reliable and fast connection, so I camped outside on the patio and checked email, sent some updates, a little news, then started creating this blog. I had wanted to create the blog as the first 25 posts were just emails to family only-- but didn't have time or wifi. This was the perfect time, so I researched blogging, settled on blogger and created some posts from my emails. Three hours later I had 15 posts up and going (only using my phone) and then the sun started setting. More people had come for dinner, slowing the wifi down to nofi, so I left and went back to my bench for the perfect view of the sunset. Pics below. Tomorrow I leave early from Big Bend and head north to Guadalupe and Carlsbad.

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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 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...

Day 42 - Escalante Stevens Arch

The Stevens Arch is so massive that legend says daredevil pilots would fly through it. I was excited to see it! Having napped most of the afternoon, I awoke promptly at 545, packed up my things and hiked down to the Escalante River as the first morning light was pouring into the canyon. Hiking around more waterfalls and ledges and along the stream before anyone else was up was nice. My written directions said to look for sandy hill to my right which led up to my only exit from the canyon-- the Crack-in-the-Wall. I ran into the confluence of the Escalante River, a point which my guidebook noted was passed my exit route, requiring a ten minute backtrack. This was fine though because I had tons of time and wanted to see the Stevens Arch. I crossed the knee-deep Escalante River several times before the Arch came into view. Like a window in the Roman Colloseum, the Arch seemed almost engineered by man in this tall curving canyon wall. I hiked under the arch and couldn't eve...

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