Big Bend (Part 2): The Chisos Mountain Basin and Rio Grande Village
Friday April 14 - Saturday April 15th, 2023
In December 1997 we packed our bags and flew out from the UK to El Paso to spend Christmas and New Year camping in the national parks at Guadelupe Mountains and Big Bend. Tasha was 5 at the the time and it was quite an adventure! In Big Bend we camped up in the Chisos Basin, where volcanic activity has created a spectacular caldera. The campground is about 5,500ft and is significantly cooler than the surrounding desert. When we there in December it was decidedly chilly. On one morning the Park Service closed the road into the basin due to ice and when they re-opened it later that morning we followed a ranger down to lower altitudes and headed to Rio Grande Village on the east side of the park, to enjoy some warm air. When we came to return in the late afternoon, the road was again closed. We were separated from our tent and gear and were forced to drive out of the park to find a motel. We did find somewhere, had an excellent dinner at a restaurant in the former theatre, and the whole thing turned into a fun experience.
On this trip we also wanted to camp in the Basin but were unable to secure any bookings. Apparently, unlike the other two sites in the park, the Basin campground reservations only open two weeks in advance and are typically snatched up within minutes. In any event, on Friday, we drove up into the Basin to hike up into the surrounding mountains. We were up in the dark, drove the beautiful early morning light to arrive ready to hike by 8 am. Based on the experience on Mule Ears trail, where we found the 4 miles round trip to be quite tiring, we were a little nervous about undertaking this 10 mile hike with 2,000 ft of climbing However, it’s all about the conditions and the early start, higher elevation and cloudy skies, combined to make it a much cooler and more manageable walk than we envisaged. The light wasn’t great for photography, but the views and the atmosphere were spectacular. In my opinion the Chisos mountains are the jewel of Big Bend national park. It was awesome to be there. We saw a few new birds, but we have to confess that we failed to see the Colima warbler. These mountains are the only place in the USA where you can see this bird and people make the hike just to see it. We were even on the Colima trail at one point and totally failed. I think we were too focused on completing the hike in good time.
On Saturday we had a slow start because we need to switch campsites. One of the consequences of the recreation.gov booking system and the requirement to have a booking is that people will pick a number of odd days at different sites to make up a longer stay in one campground. When the time came for us to “move into Number 10” we literally picked up our tent and walked it down the road to the recently vacated site. Once everything was sorted we decided to take a drive over to the Rio Grande on the east side of the park. This is no small undertaking: it’s about 55 miles from the west to the east side. We made some stops along the way and on our return, headed back up into the Basin to complete one final hike. We have loved our time in Big Bend. It’s such a wild and wonderful place. With temperatures in the afternoons reaching the low 90’s it certainly felt much hotter this time than our first trip and the world of difference from when we left Massachusetts three weeks ago.
Mike
p.s. Did you know that Big Bend National Park is slightly larger than Rhode Island and that you could fit Rhode Island into Texas 222 times!
Appreciate the RI dig. Lol! Sounds like quite a place!
ReplyDeleteYou know everything is bigger in Texas and according to a friend who lived there for two years ... real men are judged on the size of their barbecues! I would also note that Denali National Park is only slightly smaller than Massachusetts. These parks are huge!
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