Stan
Well-known member
Big Bend National Park is lightly visited compared to a lot of other parks with comparable scenery and hiking opportunities. It is a combination of environments including desert, Rio Grande river valley, canyons and mountains and encompasses over 800,000 acres. It has the combined natural features of Zion, Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon and though perhaps a more modest scale (Santa Elena Canyon only rises 1,500' straight vertical from the Rio grand compared to over 5,000' ... not quite as vertical ... in the Grand Canyon), it has some of everything, in impressive proportions, to hike the Southwest for.
We stayed in Chisos Basin, in the center of the park, where there are choices of accomodations ranging from remote and backcountry tentsites, which you can reserve, to a lodge, motel and stone cottages. This location is also central to many trailheads.
We chose the classic South Rim hike, a 12 mile loop with an elevation gain of 2,000' starting at 5,400'. There are several hiking options, many loops, including one 30-40 mile packpack which requires caches of water at two remote locations. Our hike, which some do as a backpack, took us up a fairly gradual Laguna Meadow Trail. Switchbacks make the elevation gain easier and also remind you of terrific views at your back.
Laguna Meadow is about halfway to the rim and the trail levels off here. The area is lush with wildlife and we spotted some two dozen deer, white tail though they looked a lot like mule deer to me.
There are actually four "rims", southwest (which is what our route took us to first), south (perhaps the most notable), southeast and northeast, the latter two constituting an additional 3.5 mile loop but were closed due to nesting peregrine falcons. The views from all the rims, at about 7,400', extend across some lower mountains, the desert floor 3,500' below and well into mountains of Mexico where the range beyond the Rio Grande has a ridge in excess of 9,000'.
The second half of the loop took us down Boot Canyon, a modest creek mostly dry at first, which opens to more spectacular views and the boot for which the canyon is named, a free standing inverted cowboy boot rising several hundred feet from the middle of the canyon.
This takes us to Pinnacles Trail by which some hikers choose to go up. It is a much steeper approach and we had opted for the more gradual ascent. A mile long side trail with another rugged 500' of elevation gain takes you to Emory Peak, at 7,800' the third highest peak in Texas ... and I'm not even asking about "lists"!
There are serious cautions about mountain lions and black bears, the former with an average of 130 reported sightings a year and four deaths from attacks since 1984.
We met a hiker who had photographed a mountain lion on Lost Mine Trail, a short and popular hike near Chisos Basin. The lion was crossing the trail 100' ahead, stopped when he saw the hiker who "captured" it on his cell phone camera, and just stood there staring at the hiker who was soon joined by two women in his party and later by a couple more hikers.
I know cats and mountain lions are no different! This cat was standing there thinking, "Is it dinner time yet?" Then as more people arrived thoughts of culling the "herd" entered its mind. Finally, it realized it was outnumbered and after what must have been a long time for the hikers, the cat moved on.
I do not know which emotion is stronger for me, the joy of seeing this cat in the wild or the fear of seeing it. I do know the thrill of hiking this area trumps all other concerns.
We stayed in Chisos Basin, in the center of the park, where there are choices of accomodations ranging from remote and backcountry tentsites, which you can reserve, to a lodge, motel and stone cottages. This location is also central to many trailheads.
We chose the classic South Rim hike, a 12 mile loop with an elevation gain of 2,000' starting at 5,400'. There are several hiking options, many loops, including one 30-40 mile packpack which requires caches of water at two remote locations. Our hike, which some do as a backpack, took us up a fairly gradual Laguna Meadow Trail. Switchbacks make the elevation gain easier and also remind you of terrific views at your back.
Laguna Meadow is about halfway to the rim and the trail levels off here. The area is lush with wildlife and we spotted some two dozen deer, white tail though they looked a lot like mule deer to me.
There are actually four "rims", southwest (which is what our route took us to first), south (perhaps the most notable), southeast and northeast, the latter two constituting an additional 3.5 mile loop but were closed due to nesting peregrine falcons. The views from all the rims, at about 7,400', extend across some lower mountains, the desert floor 3,500' below and well into mountains of Mexico where the range beyond the Rio Grande has a ridge in excess of 9,000'.
The second half of the loop took us down Boot Canyon, a modest creek mostly dry at first, which opens to more spectacular views and the boot for which the canyon is named, a free standing inverted cowboy boot rising several hundred feet from the middle of the canyon.
This takes us to Pinnacles Trail by which some hikers choose to go up. It is a much steeper approach and we had opted for the more gradual ascent. A mile long side trail with another rugged 500' of elevation gain takes you to Emory Peak, at 7,800' the third highest peak in Texas ... and I'm not even asking about "lists"!
There are serious cautions about mountain lions and black bears, the former with an average of 130 reported sightings a year and four deaths from attacks since 1984.
We met a hiker who had photographed a mountain lion on Lost Mine Trail, a short and popular hike near Chisos Basin. The lion was crossing the trail 100' ahead, stopped when he saw the hiker who "captured" it on his cell phone camera, and just stood there staring at the hiker who was soon joined by two women in his party and later by a couple more hikers.
I know cats and mountain lions are no different! This cat was standing there thinking, "Is it dinner time yet?" Then as more people arrived thoughts of culling the "herd" entered its mind. Finally, it realized it was outnumbered and after what must have been a long time for the hikers, the cat moved on.
I do not know which emotion is stronger for me, the joy of seeing this cat in the wild or the fear of seeing it. I do know the thrill of hiking this area trumps all other concerns.
