Day #2: Big Bend National Park

Settling In...

• Overnight: The overnight temperature was in the low-to-mid 40's, but we slept with most of the screened windows in our pop-up trailer opened for ventilation this evening. Rather than fuss with bed sheets for the trailer's beds, we are sleeping in our ⁺15°F-rated Sierra Designs sleeping bags during the trip. We have used these bags in the summer as well as winter, and they're both comfortable and adaptable -- simply adjusting the zipper provides ample temperature regulation (OK, in the summer we tend to sleep on top of them, rather than inside them!)

• About 8 AM: One of the joys of vacations, at least as we observe them, is waking up at one's leisure. At times, that means waking up just before dawn to appreciate the owls' and coyotes' song giving way to morning songbirds. This first morning of our visit to Big Bend, however, was observed in an equally inviting manner -- we simply lounged around and savored the serenity around us. The desert is impeccably QUIET and such a wonderful contrast to the road noise, cell phones, car alarms and din of human voices we all are accustomed to in daily life.

Hiking Hot Springs

• Beginning About 8:30 AM: We left the campground and headed to Hot Springs several miles away via Rio Grande Village Drive. A sign marks the two-mile maintained gravel road that leads to the Hot Springs parking lot and trailhead. An unpaved pull-out area is provided for drivers of RVs, trailers and other wide profile vehicles who should not try to navigate the narrow and winding last 1/2 mile of roadway.

  Geologic history is evident at Hot Springs

  Copyright © Justin W. Moore See more photos at OutdoorPhoto.com

  Stratified limestone hills at the confluence of Tornillo Creek and the Rio Grande provide a stunning backdrop to the remnants of the Livingston House located atop a nearby bluff. Climbing the rock stairs to the ruins and peering through its intact window frames provided our first visual cue that people really have lived here and even thrived. The Hot Springs Trail -- which we chose for our hike -- is an easy 1-mile loop with a short, steep return section that takes you to the canyon rim, providing awesome 360° views of the Rio Grande as well as the Sierra del Carmen (Mexico) and Chisos (Texas) mountains. For a longer (3 miles one way) hike, take the Hot Springs Canyon Rim trail from Hot Springs to Rio Grande Village. Laurence Parent's hiking guide has a good description of both trails, and there is a free NPS booklet (pictured below) available at the trailhead for historical information.

  Both of the Hot Springs hiking trails begin at the parking lot and provide access to the naturally-flowing 105°F hot springs on the banks of the Rio Grande. The springs are the largest of several isolated hot springs found along this section of the river. In 1909, J. Oscar Langford and his family moved to the Hot Springs area of Big Bend to establish a health spa centered around these springs. Park literature indicates that prior to Langford settling in the area, Indians fashioned a natural stone "bathtub" out of a fissure in the rock. Indian activity in the area is evidenced by pictographs painted on the limestone cliff near the springs. In 1909, Langford improved the hot spring's appeal by hiring a stonemason to build a bathhouse over the springs. Although we did not partake in a dip in the hot springs, we saw several other couples enjoying the warm waters during our hike in the still chilly morning air. PS: Nude bathing is neither permitted nor recommended, and folks hiking the Hot Springs Trail will have cause to stare, if you disregard both of these warnings! ;) After having made several visits to Hot Springs, Arkansas -- an entire town founded on the notion that natural hot springs cure all manner of ills -- it's easy to imagine travellers in the early-to-mid 1900's travelling to this isolated outpost to enjoy a respite in the reputedly healing waters of the hot springs.

  A 1934 Langford Hot Springs advertisement touts the water's healing powers:

  The Fountain of Youth that Ponce de Leon Failed to Find -- It Has Cured
  Rheumatism, Eczema, Indigestion...Diabetes, Alcoholism, Tobacco...also Liver, Kidney and Bladder Troubles...

  Langford, himself a victim of multiple bouts of malaria, credited the springs for his eventual recovery. Langford wrote about his experiences at Hot Springs in the book The Homesteader's Story which is still in print.

  After leaving the area due to border unrest in 1916, Langford returned in 1927 and had a motel and combined post office/trading post built for his guests. The bathhouse was seriously damaged in 1932 by a 23' flood surge on the Rio Grande, and a subsequent flood in 1938 left only the foundation remaining. With the exception of the bathhouse, which was never rebuilt, all of the other Langford structures are still standing and accessible within a short walk of the parking lot.

  The introductory views of Big Bend's rugged and scenic landscape, coupled with the historic structures, makes the Hot Springs Trail one of our favorites of the trip.

First Trip to Chisos Basin

• 12:04 PM: We refueled our truck at the Chevron station located just past the Panther Junction Visitor Center, since we're en route to the Chisos Basin.

• 1:42 PM: We just finished eating lunch in the Chisos Mountains restaurant, savoring beautiful views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. The restaurant serves good, reasonably-priced food and we returned to them several times during our stay -- hikers, call one day ahead and request the "Traveler's Special" for a fresh, packable lunch! If the Rio Grande Village provides creature comforts, the Chisos Basin is a penthouse suite -- the Basin features a visitor center, store/post office, campground, motel and the 72-room Chisos Mountains Lodge.

  On our next Big Bend camping trip, we will definitely have to stay in the Chisos Basin Campground -- my trail notes upon seeing the campground nestled in the Basin, the Chisos peaks overlooking it in all directions, read simply: "Awesome view of Casa Grande peak and the Chisos, as well as the Window." I also noted that the peaks and Window lend themselves to evening photographs rather than morning, due to their orientation. The primary reason we didn't stay in the Basin on this trip is we wanted to use a pop-up trailer, but it's extremely difficult to navigate the roads to the Basin with a trailer; also, the Basin campground is more exposed and slightly more "primitive" than Rio Grande Village's. Nevertheless, it's one of the most popular places to camp in Big Bend, and for good reason -- I can only imagine the view of the night sky from deep within the Basin (providing the motel, lodge and store don't flood the area with lights!)

• 1:50 PM: We're just driving around the Basin's paved roads, exploring, now. After you've driven into the Basin once, you realize it is literally an emerald lying in the sand -- dirtied and scratched on the exterior, but lush and green inside. The Chisos Basin is the emerald's heart, surrounded on all sides by the naked peaks and spires of the Chisos Mountains; a look at the Window provides background into the Basin's origins -- carved out of volcanic rock by eons of stream erosion. A drive into the Chisos Basin (5,400 feet elevation) is a drive into another world, where desert cacti give way to pinyon pine, juniper and oak trees and songbirds and butterflies are more abundant than buzzards and lizards. The Basin is a place you can easily forget you're in the middle of the desert, in part because the Basin receives twice as much rainfall as the Rio Grande Village. As you ascend into the Chisos, signs warn of bears and lions -- creatures you would expect to be warned of in the Rocky Mountains, not the "deserted" Big Bend! Ah, how much we have to learn!

Exploring Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

• The Window Pour-Off

  Copyright © Justin W. Moore See more photos at OutdoorPhoto.com

  2:25 PM: We stopped to take a photograph of Casa Grande framed in a "V" on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, heading towards Castolon and Santa Elena Canyon. We didn't realize it at the time (it's our first full day here, afterall!), but the smallest of the "V" formations is of course the Window Pour-Off -- the point at which all water drains from the Basin through the Window -- viewed from outside the Basin! That's a good mental note to make, especially if one ever happens to be in Big Bend shortly after a major storm -- the Window surely must turn into a waterfall for awhile. Given the Scenic Drive is both long and isolated, looking at the Window Pour-Off during a severe storm is probably not an ideal place to be, however!
  
• 2:55 PM: Today is definitely our "scouting day" to uncover spots we plan to return to for further exploration during our trip. In light of that fact, we have been stopping at every roadside "Exhibit Ahead" sign the NPS has provided, and they have all been quite educational. For instance, one of the marked sites on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive is for the Sam Nail Ranch near Cottonwood Creek. The sign entices you to take a "short, 5 minute hike" to the homestead to explore the remnants of another early homesteading family's legacy. Sam Nail established the ranch in 1916, building a one-story adobe house (a portion of which is still standing) and digging a well with the help of his brother. In 1918, Sam married Nena Burnam and the two raised a family and operated the ranch together, tending cattle, hogs, chickens, milk cows and a garden. Two windmills still stand on the ranch, one of which continues to pump water and nourish the non-native fig and pecan trees the Nail family planted in their yard; their garden has long-since been reclaimed by native vegetation. If you sit a spell on the park bench beneath the trees, as we did, you're sure to hear and observe songbirds drawn to the homestead's lush greenery, ample tree cover and year-round water source (minimal as it is). Among the songbirds you may observe: Northern mockingbird, Northern cardinal, Bell's vireo, yellow-billed cuckoo, summer tanager and house finch.

  To learn more about the ecology of Big Bend National Park, Naturalist's Big Bend is a good introduction to the region's diverse species. Big Bend does everything BIG -- the region is home to 450 species of birds, 70 species of mammals, nearly as many species of reptiles and amphibians, at least 40 species of fish and a unique assortment of insects and arthropods.

Sotol Overlook & Santa Elena Canyon

• Still exploring the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, we parked at the Sotol Vista Overlook and walked to the observation point. From my trip notes: "Wow! Santa Elena Canyon's impressive even from here -- clearly a narrow, steep walled canyon, framed with Kit Mountain in the foreground. We are heading to the canyon now!" Of course, the canyon's size belies its distance -- it's a winding 30-mile drive to Santa Elena Canyon.

• 3:40 PM: We reached the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon and made an attempt to photograph its beautiful but now-shaded 1,500-foot walls. After taking some photos from the overlook, including some of a common raven, we left Santa Elena at 4:05 PM due to poor lighting. We will return to the canyon for a morning photo session and hike (.8 miles, one way). The peaks facing opposite of canyon are good for evening light photography, as we noted and appreciated.

• Cerro Castelon

  Copyright © Shannon D. Moore See more photos at OutdoorPhoto.com

  4:34 PM: Taking advantage of the warm evening light, we stopped at the viewpoint for Cerro Cestelon/Castelon Peak, an unusual and photogenic peak. Castelon Peak's cap rock is made from same lava that formed the south rim of the Chisos Mountains, and the unusual white mounds are volcanic ash deposits called "tuff".

• 5:08 PM: In the "things that occur to you on a long drive back to the campsite" category: we need to pick up fresh ice, 2 gallons of water, a writing pen and canned sodas from the Rio Grande Village store tomorrow. We'd intended to be back in town before the store closed today, but I believe they close at 4 or 5 PM on Sundays.

• We stopped to hike and photograph Tuff Canyon, one of several exhibits we chose not to stop at while en route to Santa Elena Canyon. The entire trail is less than 1 mile (.4-mile one way) and begins on the roadside, leading to the edge of a small, narrow canyon eroded into the volcanic tuff deposits by Blue Creek. There are two overlooks on the canyon's rim, and according to Parent's guide a hiking trail also leads to the canyon floor. We only hiked around the rim; in fact, I don't recall seeing the trail leading down into the canyon -- something to save for our next visit, I suppose!

• Another marked exhibit we had skipped on the scenic drive were the Mule Ears Peaks, huge volcanic dikes that have eroded into their namesake shape. Although I'd have liked to explore them, the 3.5-mile one way Mule Ears trail is something neither Justin nor I are logistically ready to hike, particularly this late in the day. According to Parent, "ancient bones of California condors have been found in a small cave on one of the Mule Ears Peaks, indicating that these nearly extinct birds once ranged to the Big Bend country." Nature and the world never cease to amaze me!

Back "Home" at the Trailer

• 7-7:20 PM: During this timeframe, in mid-October, the mountains and desert floor are painted in a subtle pink glow that intensifies to a bright pink, then orange before fading to twilight. We won't be caught driving in our car during this time during the rest of the trip! These are the moments photographers wait weeks for!

• 8:07 PM: We are settled in at our campsite once again. It's pitch black out and the bats are making their presence known -- when they buzz you a little too closely, you can even hear them "clicking", presumably an audible aspect of their echolocation abilities. I intended to stargaze this evening, but got sidetracked with cooking our soup, eating dinner and documenting our first day's travels. It's Sunday night, and we noticed a number of the existing campers left today while some new vehicles are still arriving to the park^* (mostly RVs). It's extremely quiet outside, with the exception of the bat flybys!

  I heartily recommend the method we employed to get here -- plan your drive to the park such that you arrive to Fort Stockton or at least Marathon in partial daylight with full daylight once you begin driving the long and barren roads within Big Bend National Park. We did plenty of night driving once we'd been in the park awhile, but I don't suggest towing your trailer or dragging your RV around in the inky darkness that is Big Bend -- particularly if it's your first visit!

Experience more Texas travels