Nine Nights at Big Bend National Park - Take 1

February 10, 2019

the Window

For nine nights, we camped at Chisos Basin, the campground tucked into the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park.  We can do that now with our 24’ Siesta. It handles the steep elevation change and the hairpin curves leading up to the campground just fine.  Last year, our first year owning the Siesta, was our first year staying in the shadows of Casa Grande, Mt. Emory ad Mt. Ward.  We loved the mountain energy, but only had three nights to spend there. This year we extended our stay by 6 days so were able to experience a few more hikes in the park, a couple more high-clearance- only drives in the improved, raised Mini that we tow, eat dinner at the Chisos Basin Lodge, and just in general soak in the clean mountain ambience at this 4000+ feet elevation.

First up was the Window Trail, a hike we’d done last year, and we’d liked. The Window refers to a notch between two mountains, allowing a glimpse through the mountain range surrounding the campground area.  It’s a landmark of the Chisos Basin area, and I gather from the signage at a vista on the short, paved Windows View trail near the lodge that watching a summer sun set in the Window notch is a must-do activity. From the campground, the 4 and 1/2 mile out- and- back unpaved, rocky, stepped Window trail follows a draw descending through Oak Creek Canyon to the top of the Window pour-off. The trail descends 450 feet over 2 and ½ miles.  Yes, that means the walk to the pour-off is all down and the trek back to the campground is all up. But it’s a beautiful walk through yuccas, prickly pears, cedars and live oak, along the draw, which did have a little water in it at the end of the canyon. The series of stone steps ingeniously built into the large boulders alongside the gurgling stream as it tumbles over rocks to the Window opening, is a work of art created by the CCC in the 1930s.

The Pour-off

Old Ore Road

The next day we tried out the Mini on the Old Ore Road. We wanted to put to the test Michael’s fall project of replacing springs and tires and raising the Mini three inches to give it more ground clearance. There are several back-country roads in Big Bend Park that require four-wheel drive or high clearance to traverse them. Occasionally on these roads, are marked primitive campsites for those campers who prefer the true silence and dark sky of the park. We did fine for 10 miles or so, bumping along, ever so slowly on this one-lane path, through the creosote and sage shrubs, to the section of the road where Michael had heard it deteriorates. It did. By deteriorate I mean the rocks became more like protruding boulders with the distinct possibility of scraping bottom as you edged over them unless your ground clearance is much greater than ours. So, we decided to turn back and not chance any damage. The fact that we’d gone as far as we did proved to us the Mini’s backcountry road worthiness. Besides, Michael got to talk with the owner of an outfitted Unimog truck camped at one of the campsites (speaking of ground clearance,) and, at the Ernst Tinaja primitive camping area, I spotted a vermilion flycatcher.

Camped at Chisos Basin