Thursday Feb 23 - Today we stopped to hike the Lost Mine Trail on our way to Cottonwood Campground. The parking lot has spots for 30 cars, so you have to get there early in the morning to snag a spot(we were the first ones there at 6:00. We headed up the mountain at 7:00, and made it to the first viewpoint right as the sun was rising. We hiked the 2.4 miles to the top without seeing anyone else and it was a really wonderful hike, with lots of views. The 1100 ft elevation, was relatively gradual with lots of switch backs at the top. On the way down we saw people, but with the small parking lot, it really kept the crowds down (even though there aren't many people here at Big Bend, which makes this park especially great). The entire hike (4.8 miles) took a little over 3 hours, with a nice long break at the top. Then it was a 1 hour drive on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Cottonwood Campground where we will be staying two nights. The drive was really pretty with lots of desert, buttes and mountain peaks everywhere. The campground doesn't have any services, and doesn't allow generators. It seems the people who camp here love that about this campground. There are only 35 sites and it is right up our alley.
An early morning view of the mountains just before sunrise
made it to the first viewpoint just before sunrise
Emory Peak with the morning sun hitting it
more early morning views
we're getting close...
stopped for some breakfast with a view
the final push to the top
We made it!
View from the top (with scary edges I didn't want to get too close to)
LOTS of switchbacks
Cottonwood Campground-we we’re happy to find that there weren’t any bugs here either. So glad we didn’t cancel our reservations here.
Tuesday Feb 21, 2023 - Today it was an hour drive to the middle of the park and up into the Chisos Mountains. There is a ranger station, camp store, and lodge along with the campground we'll be staying at. We took a 2.5 mile afternoon hike and then a 4 mile late afternoon hike down to "the Window" (one of the hikes the park is best known for). This hike starts in the campground and descends 800 ft into the canyon and ends where the two mountains meet forming what looks like a window. When you look out the window you can see for miles and it appears to be hundreds of feet above the ground. It was scary getting too close to the edge. We were lucky to have the Window all to ourselves and saw only a handful of people coming down the trail after us. The sunset on the walk back up was amazing.
pretty purple cactus on our drive to Chisos Basin
it was a windy drive up the mountain, which said no vehicles over 24 ft. Nice bear crossing sign.
This is a view from the short hike at the visitors center out to where the two mountains come together forming the Window
more views from above of the Window
We love hiking in 70 degree weather, with no bugs!
lunch on the Basin Loop trail
hanging at the campsite until our late afternoon/evening hike...we have cell service for the first time in a few days.
Site 30
The start of the Window trail...lots of steps down
stop for a quick break
at the bottom of the trail, there was a little rock scrambling and some steps up and over tougher areas
love the trekking poles for a hike like this
we made it! Don't get too close to the edge
a short video of the window
hopefully we saved enough to get back up
we brought hot dogs and baked beans for supper on the way back
nice sunset behind us on our walk back out of the canyon
love this view of Emory peak with the prickly pear along the trail
sunset time
made it to the top just in time
Wednesday Feb 22, 2023 - This morning we decided to look online to see if maybe there was a cancellation that opened up a campsite here at Chisos Basin. We like the cool weather up here and no bugs. We were happy to find an open spot that we grabbed. We had a quiet morning catching up on e-mails and then moved to site 40, which has a great view of Emory peak. We decided to hike up to the visitors center which was 2.7 miles round trip. We thought we'd take it easy today, since we're doing the Lost Mine trail tomorrow that's going to be our most challenging yet.
nice morning with a workout and enjoying the view at our new site
site 40
new growth on what I think is a cholla cactus
another day another hike
one little purple flower. I guess we're early for many wildflowers, although I did see a few lupines on the drive to Chisos Basin, which were everywhere in June, in Alaska.
Sunday Feb 19 - It was a 4.5 hour drive from Amistad to Big Bend NP on Sunday, which is literally in the middle of nowhere. When we got there we decided to take the trip across the Rio Grande River and spend the afternoon in Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico. The NP has a border crossing in the park that is open 4 days a week in the winter. It was $5/person to take a small boat across the river and then walk the .5 miles to town. We had lunch at one of the two restaurants and the waiter sat us with another couple. We had a nice time chatting with them and they invited a single woman who was eating alone to join us. We were all campers so it was fun to swap stories. We walked around the town and bought a new change purse from one of the women selling crafts. We had two nights booked at the Rio Grande Village in the park, no services, except WiFi at the store and flush toilets (no showers).
great sunrise on our drive to Big Bend
Big Bend in the distance
The boat ride to Mexico
the road to Boquillas del Carmen. You could go by horse, donkey, truck or walk
Yummy lunch-enchiladas, tacos and a cold beer
the view from the restaurant patio
Road sign
another boat load
a javelina came through our campsite
We hiked the .75 mile round trip nature trail out of the campground to watch the sunset
And it was quite a show
the campground is in the right-hand middle of the picture
I couldn't decide which pictures I liked best, so I just threw a bunch of my favorites in
I'd have to say, it's probably the best sunset I've ever seen
This was looking east. When the sun hit a certain spot, it made a beautiful light and shadow on the mountains behind us
Monday Feb 20, 2023 - After breakfast we drove to the hot springs for a dip. There is a 5 mile hike from the campground, but we decided to drive 4 miles there and then hike the part of the gravel road that said no over sized vehicles. It was a 3 mile hike, round trip and we got there early enough that there were only a handful of people there. It had been a resort in the early 1900's, and a lot of the structures were still standing. After our soak we headed off for a hike above the Rio Grande. It was a really hot day, in the 90s and there were swarms of gnats making sitting still outside unbearable. We did a hike with our bug nets (which we were thrilled were still in the RV after our Alaska trip) and then did a 45 minute bike ride to keep a breeze on us. We're looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow where we hear it's 10 degrees cooler and there aren't any bugs. We have one night booked at Chisos Basin Campground in the middle of the mountains of the park.
hike to the springs
along the Rio Grande
the foundation of the bath house. The water temp is 105 degrees
the skinny little road back to where we parked
The Rio Grande hike with a view of the "big bend" in the river that the park is named for. It was hard to get a pic of the entire bend without falling off the edge of the cliff
