October 6th – Chisos Basin Area
Benny and I have been hiking fools today. We started by leaving our campsite very early though we’ll be back in a couple of days. We were trucking along just fine until we reached the Chisos Basin Road. Whoa. We almost couldn’t get to the area. The road isn’t recommended for trailers over 20’ or RVs over 24’. We came in just under and man I was happy about that. How I missed the road restrictions I don’t know. I didn’t even notice it on the park map. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I have got to be more careful. I know stress has my dyslexia and APD acting up worse than normal but that’s no excuse, it is only more reason I should have been careful. Ah well, nothing irretrievably broken so I should count it a win.
Just to be on the safe side the first place we stopped was the Chisos Basin Visitor Center to check trail conditions and look at the exhibits. It was going to get to 91F today so everyone was being advised to take extra water on any and all outdoor activities. There was a separate stamp for our National Park passport book as well, so I made sure to get that before leaving as well.
First hike of the day was the Lost Mine Trail, a crowded 4.8 mile there and back that took us two hours to complete. I did say crowded and mean it. It was considerably different than our other hikes in Big Bend thus far. Even the colors were different.
I was anxious to do this trail because my early research said that it is perhaps the most important hike to undertake if you only have a day to spend in Big Bend. In hindsight I’m not sure I would go that far but it is certainly up there. That also explains why the trail was so busy even though it was early in the day. The trail isn’t all that long, but it certainly is better than just walking to an overlook. There’s even an interpretive guide at the trailhead for the plants, animals and geological formations seen in Big Bend and it's not too far from the main park ranger station or the Chisos Basin Lodge rooms.
While the first part of the hike starts with gentle slopes, the later part of the hike gets steep and the overall elevation change is a thousand feet, so while it is rated moderate it is certainly no walk in the park. As we hiked, on the right were fantastic views of Casa Grande Peak, a famous Texas mountain. The waypoint marked "Lookout" was a great place to take our first break. There were several rock outcroppings to sit on and enjoy views of Juniper Canyon leading to the south as well as evidence of the fine line between desert shrub and forest in the Big Bend. Towards the west was a ridge. On the south side of the ridge was sparse shrub land is in contrast with the thicker forested slope of the north side.
The terrain after the Lookout got steeper, particularly once the switchbacks showed up. Our next waypoint was "Big Rock". It was a stocky rock spire that jutted out of the mountain and marked the point where the switchbacks stopped. The climbing wasn’t over however; just things weren’t quite as steep.
There are some real idiots in the world. There was a crowd standing around “observing” a rattler that was sunning itself on one of the switchbacks. Their “observing” was a little close for Mr. Rattler and he was attempting, as politely as a rattler can, to explain to those folks that they were making him upset. I couldn’t help it.
“Honestly people, are you brain damaged? Leave the snake alone before he decides to really get pissy and strike at one of you. Medical assistance is not exactly two doors over to come to the rescue.”
I T’d off the folks “observing” but I heard a few other hikers chuckle and a couple of guys a little older than me laugh outright. I mean honestly, was the heat frying their commonsense? I wasn’t trying to be funny, but people are just so darn stupid.
I found out later that snake bites in the park aren’t that common, like one ever five years or so. Still, that looked like another one in the making and since I didn’t have my snake venom extractor with me this time, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having to play first aider.
Our next waypoint was “Alt Peak”. From a distance you think it is the top of the trail. Nope. But it is where the trail becomes relatively treeless heading towards the final peak. A few hikers act like they are dying or something at this point and give up. If they did it would be a shame because the final people is not much farther and only slightly higher.
I’d been kinda busy up to that point. The trail was crowded and somewhat steep. I decided to take a short break so give Benny some recovery time – we were hiking quite a bit today – and read the trail brochure I’d picked up at the trailhead.
Lost Mine trail got its name from a legend that suggests that a secret mine existed in the area. Workers were blindfolded before being brought to the mine to work. Thus, they could not disclose the location of the mine. Legend says all the workers were killed by local Comanche and the mine closed up to hide its location. Sounds like the plot of an old cowboy movie.
While the name of the hike was the Lost Mine Trail you don’t actually get to the top of Lost Mine Peak. You can see the trail's namesake to your left as you progress towards the unnamed peak at the end of the trail. The waypoint "Peak" marked the location of a real peak. The trail ended as the rock juts abruptly upward to a point. We’d reached the end.
The peak provided an excellent place at which to rest, grab a snack, and enjoy the views. Once we were finished and Benny took pictures with Little Bear and Gus the Pelican, it was time to head back down. And I do mean down. For all the up going up, the opposite was true heading back to the trailhead.
I was about to get in the van after making sure that Benny was belted in when someone said primly, “What you said was very rude.”
I turned and there was a girl, maybe a little older than me, standing there with a couple of friends to back her up in her moral superiority. I responded, “And the people that were standing less than four feet from an irritated rattler were very stupid. They were crowding and surrounding that snake and it had no place to retreat to even if so inclined. It was long enough that it could have easily crossed that distance if it decided to strike.”
“That’s not the point. You were unnecessarily rude.”
“And they were being unnecessarily stupid.”
I wasn’t fighting and I think my oh so reasonable tone of voice was throwing them off of their debate stride. They must have thought I was going to be nasty and create a fight so they could “prove” I was a loser. Nope. I was simply restating the obvious. They were lucky all I had called them was brain damaged and stupid.
They got the picture that I wasn’t budging or willing to act the fool for their pleasure and flounced off deriding my behavior and pedigree. Oh well.
“Aunt Gus, how come you told them people they were being stupid? We see people being stupid all the time and don’t tell them stuff like that.”
I gave it a thought. “Well, I guess I just didn’t want the day ruined. Had a snake bitten one of them I would have been honor bound to help which would have messed up our plans for the day. And I suppose … I just didn’t feel like seeing someone get hurt even if it would have been a just consequence of their choices.”
“Oh. So sometimes it is okay to tell someone they are acting stupid?”
Oh boy. “Er … sometimes. Just let me do the telling until you are grown up. ‘K?”
“Okay. I don’t want to talk to stupid people anyway.”
“Hmmmm … they might not have been stupid people. They were just acting stupid right then and there. There’s a difference though it isn’t always easy to tell it.”
Geez, the conversation you can have with a kid. But in one respect Benny reminded me of something I should have already known … keep my nose out of other people’s business even when they look like they are playing in the middle of a busy highway. I don’t like people in my business, I should watch my own actions. And in a bid to be transparent and set a better example I explained that to Benny as we headed to our next hike.
Basin Loop Trail was a 2.4-mile loop that was marked easy, and in my opinion was easy except for having to watch more stupid people going hiking without enough water. I had to donate one of our bottles to a family who had a little girl about Benny’s age that looked like she was about to have heat stroke. Kids that are red-faced and puking need to be gotten out of the sun and cooled down asap. Luckily we ran into them not too far from the trailhead. We were going, they were returning. When we finished the trail, there was nothing about a little kid needing medical attention so I’ve decided to think the best.
The trailhead began at the waypoint marked "Trailhead" on our map. Not what you would call creative naming but it worked for me. The large wooden sign there points in various directions to the trails that originate from this point. The trail we wanted headed to the southwest, mostly following the contour of the land, so the going was fairly easy.
The trail largely consisted of gravel and packed dirt with some rocky sections. There weren’t many places where you needed to make choices about turns and forks in the trail. One of them was at the first waypoint marked "Y-Left" at the westernmost point in the hike. These intersections typically have metal signs with directions punched out of them. People might wonder why something so fancy compared to other parks but I found out why. The punched-out letters are difficult to deface and fairly rugged when it comes to the weather. Even out in the freaking boonies apparently illegals and drug traffickers like to screw around with the signs … and the hikers that need the signs.
Despite being close to the Chisos Mountain Lodge there are plenty of plants and animals to observe. The Century Plants reminded me of some of the same type that grow in Florida. And while we didn’t see one … thank you Creator … a Mountain Lion had been spotted near, but not exactly on, the trail.
The first noticeable elevation gain occurs after the first "Y-Left" waypoint. While mild, the climb certainly could take it out of you. There is no real break from the climbing. At the second "Y-Left" waypoint the climb continues and then there is a steep section right before the waypoint "Employee Housing". There are steps cut into the slope on the left side if the trail is wet or too step to get good purchase on with your hikers. Eventually the trail looped back and it was a short distance back to the trailhead and the Chisos Mountain Lodge.
We didn’t really take a break since it was just a few steps to the next trailhead. Window View Trail was a short, half-mile loop that a lot of people go to for sunset. That wasn’t my plan, and a good thing too after what happened later. Benny’s Junior Ranger booklet said to keep our eyes peeled for the rare gem called the Colima warbler … a bird, insert eye roll here. It is a small, brown-ish or gray-ish bird with a patch of orange near the base of its tail feathers. In the summer months, this bird can only be found in the upper elevations of the canyons in the Chisos Mountains and not anywhere else in the entire world. It lays its nests on the ground and is often spotted foraging in thick undergrowth or around the lower levels of oak trees. We think we saw one but I can’t say for sure. We took a picture, but it was too far away and we didn’t want to scare it in the heat.
Our last hike of the day I wish we had made the first. It wasn’t just the elevation gain … 1600 feet … it was that we could have hiked all the way to the Rim. I thought there might be an opportunity but no way was I going to do that to my Little Bear. It was still more than warm even a little after lunch time which is when we started this one. I packed a lot of water and had Benny wear his camelback and an extra liter of water in his pack as well. All but one in my pack was frozen but they didn’t stay that way long, even wrapped inside a small cooler I normally use when we are packing a full meal.
Laguna Meadow Trail is a 7.8 mile there and back trail that started not too far from the Chisos Visitor Center. The fall blooms made this a butterfly garden walk. After all the “desert” it was a drastic bit of strange.
Right from the start you go up. Not vertical but you don’t stop going up until you stop and come down. We should have started this in the morning, but we didn’t so dealt with things being the way they were … hot and bright. Sunglasses and hats were not just a suggestion but a necessity. Same for high SPF waterproof sunscreen.
Saw a few rattlers but they weren’t directly on the trail, so I gave them a wide berth. We also saw a few deer which was cool since they didn’t freak out at the humans, mostly flicked their ears and tails keeping an eye on us. And the prickly pear was ripe. People used to pick them and eat them in camp but they are now off-limits as they are one of the main food sources for some of the animals in the area. That was obvious as there were lots of seeded piles of digested poo. Thankfully we didn’t find any with our hikers, but we did see plenty. I’m glad I had us change into hiking pants before starting as well because of the sun and the thorny brush and cactus that hung into the narrower sections of the trail.
The climb was via switchbacks the entire way up. It took us two and a half hours going up and a little less than two coming back down. Let’s call it four and a half hours to do a nearly eight-mile hike. That wasn’t terrible by any stretch but we weren’t just gamboling along either.
The trail map I had listed a few waypoints but they weren’t always easy to match up with descriptions. For instance, there is no sign but when you get to about 3.75 miles, you are at the highest vantage point of the trail. We could have kept going but I knew the trek down was going to take some time and I didn’t completely want to wear Benny out. We took breaks but it still takes it out of you. Other hikers told us that we wouldn’t get any better views either since we weren’t going all the way to the Rim trail. I saw it on some postcards and it makes me wish we had but I was dealing with reality, not wishful thinking. The trail is used mostly as a connector trail … to the back country campsites, to Mt. Emory, to the Pinnacles trail, but mostly to the Rim trail. Hikers told us Pinnacles was a lot steeper and we picked the correct one for the climb.
Coming back down the trail we got a heck of a surprise. A big, black bear. And I’m not talking about one of Benny’s stuffies. We spotted it first and then the group of hikers behind us also did a quick stop. The consensus was to make some racket so La Mujer Gorda … it was a female bear according to the other hikers … wouldn’t get startled. Startled? The bear? Fine. But I was still picking Benny up and putting him on my shoulders.
The bear turned too look at us, dropped some scat on the trail in response, and then lumbered off and away from us. Nasty. Benny thought it was funny. I told him if I ever caught him conversing with a bear even close to his size there would be some serious consequences. I don’t know what it is about bears. Yes, I gave Benny his nickname but real live bears just kinda freak me out for some reason. Not even sharks bother me that way.