11/02/2019

The weather has been still warm-ish and colder in the nights, so last weekend it was time to go to one of my favorite places: Big Bend National Park!

It was only a weekend trip, and I had been to Big Bend before, but I decided to do some of the trails that I hadn’t done before. The wind was very harsh the first night, and all the campsites, which are first come first serve, were full so I slept in my vehicle. It was fun to sleep in the trunk area in my sleeping bag, I felt like a kid!

I woke up to this view by the visitors center, which was wonderful:

I spoke to the volunteer rangers inside who gave me a map and helped me pick out my hikes for the weekend:

First I went and found and paid for my campsite for the weekend, then had a proper breakfast inside the Chisos Mountain Lodge restaurant. They have great views like this to dine by:

And then it was time to start the Lost Mine Trail!

The views going up and up the the trail are absolutely spectacular, and I was glad I brought a trekking pole with me.

But it was so worth it to make it to the top, which my geo app said was at 6796 ft:

It was just past noon. While up there, I caught snippets of conversations of people: a college professor and his artist girlfriend (*swoon*), a trio of college students who were studying geology (awesome), and just groups of friends that were resting up there and enjoying the sun.

I talked to a guy wearing a Channel Islands T-shirt who told me his tale of taking the boat there to Santa Cruz Island and how fun it was. After taking in a snack of beef jerky (my traditional favorite when I hike), it was time to descend. It was much easier coming down. I also got compliments on my Snoopy attached to my backpack. 🙂

After the trail, I went to enjoy a cheeseburger back at the Chisos Lodge again:

Then I returned to the campsite to pitch the tent at the site. The weather was so nice and warm that after the tent went up, I inflated my sleeping pad and laid down for a quick nap.

I woke up feeling much more refreshed even though my air pad was slightly deflated (which I bought used) still had a leak in it even though I thought I fixed it with a kit.

Since it gets dark kind of early, there was just enough time to go see the sunset at the famous Window, where 2 peaks meet in a V shape, and the colors were worth the 1 hour wait to see the colors change.

Now it was definitely cold and time for camp style food-in-a-bag dinner of three Mac and cheese, which warmed the belly just right. I listened to the group of guys in the site talk about some kind of hunting problem, then texted my daughter for a bit and bundled up in the bag for the night-but not before a got a view of the insane amount of stars you can see out here.

11/03/2019

Daylight savings time meant another hour of sleep for me! And waking up to a very deflated sleeping pad. I’ll have to fix that for sure when I get home.

Time to do the Window Trail! The trail begins descending and then you are treated to the views of the desert and its plant life:

This roadrunner was cooing in a tree and caught my attention:

Coming towards a mini-canyon area, I heard people singing a Christian song, and the echoes were beautiful. I was careful to walk quietly until they finished, then clapped for them. They said they could hear the echoes in the area when they talked, and they felt like they had to sing!

Towards the end, you can hear water babbling, and the water takes you to this area just before the end of the trail, where I also saw the tiniest fish swimming:

The way back to the trail head is the same way you came, so back up the trail. A deer ran right across the trail right in front of me though! It felt a lot harder making that last half mile up, especially during the ascent.

Time to make it back home! But first, a stop in Fort Stockton to a place called Sagebrush Cafe and Gifts and had this green Chile chicken plate, which I wish had been spicier:

I enjoyed the desert drive back home, and even made it back before dark.

Until next time!