Hiking in the Chisos Basin, Big Bend NP

Awoken again very early by the bloody step, this time after a little effort he managed to unplug the wire once the steps was in, it meant that we could go for a hike today after all, the downfall was that once the step was in that we had to climb in and out the motor home, since the opening was about 80 cm off the ground. But better this than not be being able to drive at all. In spite the early wake up call, we drove off kind of late and by the time we arrived at Panther Junction the visitor centre was open all ready. Finally we picked up our brochure and map. Just before the basin we stopped at the Lost Mine trail, nearly 5 mile round trip to the top of the mountain, with an elevation gain of 1100 feet. The trail was easy to follow and not that strenuous, only the last bit was a little more steep, but oh boy what a treat at the end, a grand view of the mountain ranges surrounding the top of the trail. Since it was cloudy the temperature was some what moderate and it looked for a while that it could have rained, but it did not. We stayed at the top quite a bit to admire the view, luckily we had the place to ourselves, a bus load of kinds just had started their descent.

After the trail we drove to the basis where we had an ice-cream and had a quick look at the visitor centre. Around 14:20 we hit the trail again, this time the Window trail, it starts with a descent through desert area, later going though a forest area and finally along the wash to the Window. This trail is about 5.6 miles round trip with an elevation loss of 980 feet, with at the end you have to climb back up. The view at the Window was nice, but we both had anticipated an arch like window, not an opening with cliffs on either side. The was a lovely cool breeze, because the temperature had gone up again in the high 80´s of maybe even the lower 90´s. The hike back was some what grueling because my feet were killing me big time. It took us about an hour and half to get back a the motor home, we drove straight back to the camp ground, both a little peckish so we dove into a bag of Jalapeño tortilla chips, we had bought some Salsa Verde and guacamole with Jalapeños, man that was hot!!!! Afterwards we both we too tired to do anything and laid down on the bed for a while, unfortunately not a breath of fresh air came in. Where is a hook up when you need it! (Just kidding)