April 20, 2008

April 20, 2008

Big Bend National Park is in southwestern Texas where the Rio Grande makes a wide U-turn. It makes this sudden course change because of the mountains here. The Mexican side of the Rio Grande is a sheer 1500-foot cliff as far as one can see. The border patrol doesn’t have to worry about this stretch of the river. We are going to hike Santa Elena canyon this morning. We drive west eight miles following the cliff. From a vantage point I notice a notch cut into the escarpment with a stream flowing from it. Wow that must be some Mexican creek to have carved a break in this barrier wall. When we reach the trailhead I see that it is the Rio Grande that comes out of this crevice and our trail follows the river upstream into this narrow slot canyon. It is very reminiscent of the “Narrows” in Zion Canyon National Park. Not as colorful nor quite as narrow but impressive nonetheless. A group of canoers paddle past us on a three-mile journey into the canyon. I am jealous. We would have to backtrack west of the park to participate.

Our next stop is the center of the park where we climb into the Chisos Mountains. There we hike the Lost Mine Trail. This trail goes straight up for nearly 2.5 miles. Despite the steepness it is easy-going and in the end gives us a spectacular vista of the surrounding mountains. It is stunning enough to cause us to sit and stare for a while. Back at the RV we continue a couple miles downhill to Chisos Basin and pick one of the last campsites there. The basin is a high valley completely circled by craggy mountains. It’s beautiful and a lot cooler than the river level. Since the region had a volcanic origin I could believe we are camped inside an old caldera. I told Aimee this would be a great place for a house if we could get rid of all these campers surrounding us.