Big Bend National Park

So, here is my long overdue recap of my trip to Big Bend National Park.

I headed there on Friday, September 5th. The park is only about 3.5 hours from Midland, so that’s not bad at all.

Upon arrival, I checked in at the park, then headed to the Basin campground and Dexter and I found a sweet campsite.

I didn’t have a tent, so “setup” involved just putting my food in the bearproof metal container. Then I walked around the campground a little bit and saw some Peccaries.

That evening, I was hoping to hike on the Window Trail, but unfortunately it was closed due to 9 bears living at the end of the trail. I was able to still walk the short 1/4 mile Window View Trail and was rewarded with a beautiful view (although basically every view in the park is beautiful).

At about 9pm, a Park Ranger was giving a presentation on some topic at the outdoor theater next to the campground. Since I had so much, going on, I figured I may as well go and check it out. A couple who were in their 70s, and I, were the only ones who showed up. Our little “group” made small talk a little bit and then the Ranger gave her presentation. It was about the geology of the park. Once you got past the B.S. of the earth being 4.5 billion years old and the park being hundreds of millions of years old, it was an interesting talk. There are quite a few fossils that have been found in Big Bend including dinosaurs. After that event was over, I headed back to my campsite and laid out my sleeping bag on the picnic table and looked at the stars for awhile. They were absolutely amazing. I fell asleep for a couple hours, but then woke up and wasn’t comfortable at all (imagine that). I moved into Dexter’s backseat and slept for a couple more hours before having to change positions again. I didn’t get much rest Friday night, but it wasn’t terrible. Nonetheless, I was slightly dreading Saturday night.

I got up at 7am and got ready for my hike. I hit the trail by 8am. In order to understand my travels better, click here to see a trail map.

This is the trails I went on: Laguna Meadow Trail > Southwest Rim > Southeast Rim > Northeast Rim > Boot Canyon Trail > Emory Peak Trail > Pinnacles Trail

All in all, it came out to be about 16 miles of hiking I did. I started at 8am and returned to my campsite right around 4pm.

Along the Laguna Meadow Trail, there was this black rock/dirt which was from the molten lava (the Chiso Mtns were formed by volcanoes).

This was the view I was rewarded with at the South Rim:

And there was this really cool tree:

This was what the trail was like around most of the rim:

At about noon, I stopped for 30 minutes and took a lunch break, and overlooked this:

At the beginning of the trailhead, there was a sign warning of “increased lion activity” and it was highly recommended “not to travel alone.” Although it would have been exciting, I’m secretly very thankful that I didn’t have any run-ins with a mountain lion or bear, or any dangerous animal for that matter.

Besides birds and some spiders, the only animal I saw was this mule deer:

It was weird to walk by this stream at the bottom of a canyon, because everywhere else it was so dry:

Even though it was grueling to do it towards the end, I did climb up to Emory Peak:

On the way back from Emory Peak to the campground, I caught up with a group of four Hispanic men. In the first 6 hours of my hike, I saw one person (that was 2 hours into the hike), and didn’t see another soul until Emory Peak. I hiked back to the campground with these guys and enjoyed a little company and conversation.

When I arrived back at my campsite, I could barely walk. I was incredibly sore and worn out. I had originally planned on staying at Big Bend through Sunday evening and hiking both days, but after my Saturday hike, I realized that (a) Saturday night was going to be very painful and not restful and (b) I would be to sore to hike on Sunday. Therefore, I decided to head home a day early and just relax and recoup all day Sunday at home. I arrived back in Midland about 10pm Saturday night. Sunday was spent sitting on the couch watching football with ice on my very sore left knee.

Overall, it was a great trip and was a much needed time of mental and spiritual recovery for me. It was nice to not worry about anything work related and just sit back and truly relax. I look forward to the next time I can go there.

View all my pictures from the trip.