I just got back from my first trip to Big Bend, the wife and I went for Spring Break. What an amazing park. We booked the trip last January, and we were really anticipating the trip. We stayed at Chisos Basin Lodge, the wife nixed the tent.
Arrived on Sunday, late afternoon and made the Basin Loop hike. I will admit, non of our hike were real long, but the ones we went on wore us out. We tried to do the Lost Mine Trail Monday morning but there were not any parking spots left, do we went to do the Pine Canyon Trail. I think it was about a 4/5 mile round trip hike, not to bad, but pretty tough going up hill. Didn't see any critters, saw lots of bear scat and a nice rub. That evening we went to the Rio Grande Overlook and Boquillas Canyon overlook.
Tuesday morning we went to Terlingua. After looking around there we came back in at Maverick Junction and hit the Chimneys Trail. We were told by everyone that it was only a 4 mile round trip hike. It is if you start on the east side, NOT on the western side coming in from Old Maverick Road. From there is about 5.5 miles to the Chimneys. Needless to say we only made it about 4.5 miles in before turning around. We did see the Chimneys going back on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. By chance I filled the extra camelback that morning, so we both had plenty of water, because its basically a hike through the desert. One bit of advice to anyone planning a trip, buy the big Big Bend Nat. Geo map. You can get it from Amazon or the stores in the park, it is much more detailed than the maps they give you when you enter the park. We had one and learned the hard way that is the map to use after our Chimneys fiasco.
Santa Elana Canyon is amazing, we hit that on the way back.
Overall, our trip was awesome. My wife is from New York and has been wanting to see West Texas, so she really had a blast. We cant wait to go back.
These first set of pictures were from on the way in, we saw the hawk, my favorite pictures of the trip and from our Basin Loop hike, where you see the Window.
Arrived on Sunday, late afternoon and made the Basin Loop hike. I will admit, non of our hike were real long, but the ones we went on wore us out. We tried to do the Lost Mine Trail Monday morning but there were not any parking spots left, do we went to do the Pine Canyon Trail. I think it was about a 4/5 mile round trip hike, not to bad, but pretty tough going up hill. Didn't see any critters, saw lots of bear scat and a nice rub. That evening we went to the Rio Grande Overlook and Boquillas Canyon overlook.
Tuesday morning we went to Terlingua. After looking around there we came back in at Maverick Junction and hit the Chimneys Trail. We were told by everyone that it was only a 4 mile round trip hike. It is if you start on the east side, NOT on the western side coming in from Old Maverick Road. From there is about 5.5 miles to the Chimneys. Needless to say we only made it about 4.5 miles in before turning around. We did see the Chimneys going back on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. By chance I filled the extra camelback that morning, so we both had plenty of water, because its basically a hike through the desert. One bit of advice to anyone planning a trip, buy the big Big Bend Nat. Geo map. You can get it from Amazon or the stores in the park, it is much more detailed than the maps they give you when you enter the park. We had one and learned the hard way that is the map to use after our Chimneys fiasco.
Santa Elana Canyon is amazing, we hit that on the way back.
Overall, our trip was awesome. My wife is from New York and has been wanting to see West Texas, so she really had a blast. We cant wait to go back.
These first set of pictures were from on the way in, we saw the hawk, my favorite pictures of the trip and from our Basin Loop hike, where you see the Window.
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