Big Bend National Park: Chisos Basin, Texas - July 24th to 27th, 2023

This is the first of three posts on Big Bend National Park. Most of Big Bend National Park is a large, hot dessert. However, right smack dab in the middle of that dessert is a small group of mountains, the Chisos Mountains. The mountains rise up over 4000 feet above the dessert, providing a cooler oasis from the heat of the dessert. Even so, the heat wave we were experiencing in Texas concerned us so we cancelled our campground reservations at Chisos Basin and made reservations for Chisos Mountains Lodge. We would not have had air conditioning in the campground since it did not have electrical hook ups.

Monday, we were up early and on the road by 9 am. We dumped our tanks at the Kerrville KOA before we left. The next three nights we were staying in the Chisos Mountains Lodge, so we wanted the gray and black tanks empty while our Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) sat for three days. However, along the way to Big Bend, restrooms were few and far between and we ended up using our own bathroom a couple of times.

The landscape west of San Antonio feels remote, isolated, and desolate. The interstate cut through the limestone of the hills. About halfway, we got off the interstate, making a diagonal cut in the southwest direction to reach Big Bend. Then it felt even more desolate as we hardly saw any other vehicles on the road, but the scenery was interesting and beautiful in a unique way.

We looked ahead and planned out our gas stops. We went into “Alaska mode” and tried to keep our gas tank at least half full at all times. We managed to stop three times for gas, in Junction, Sanderson, and Panther Junction (inside Big Bend). The only other stops we made were at the Fort Lancaster Scenic Overlook for a picnic lunch east of Sheffield, the World’s Smallest Buc-ee’s on US 90 east of Marathon, and the Fossil Discovery Exhibit inside Big Bend.

There are some ruins of Fort Lancaster, but we couldn’t spot them from the overlook. Further down the road is a turn off for the Fort Lancaster State Historic Site, but the gate was closed.

The smallest Buc-ee’s is not real, but there is a pretty official-looking plaque. The installation was first erected on April 1, 2022 and the inscription on the plaque is pretty funny.

The Fossil Discovery Exhibit was pretty interesting. There are not actually dinosaur fossils there, but there are full scale replicas of ones found in the area. It was cool to walk around the replicas, getting an appreciation for the scale. The scull of a giant alligator was impressive, it was larger than the tyrannosaurus’s skull.

The exhibit is in the desert, on the way to Panther Junction, and it was pretty hot. Past Panther Junction, we turned onto Basin Junction road to reach Chisos Mountains Lodge. The road is not recommended for trailers over 20 feet long or vehicles over 24 feet long, as it winds back and forth up into the mountains. The scenery is stunning.

By the time we reached the lodge, the temperatures had dropped to 100 degrees. However, there was a coolness to the breeze. As the evening wore on, the temperatures dropped even further. After dinner, Ann went for a walk with her camera. The setting was spectacular and the setting sun created some dramatic light on the surrounding landscape. A northern mockingbird was constantly chattering through his large repertoire of different bird songs.

Our room was a simple motel room, complete with a lumpy mattress. However, it was comfortable enough to get a good night’s sleep. However, it was a pain to get everything we needed out of Red Tail and into the room. Since we were preparing dinner and breakfast in the room, not only did we need a change of clothes, toiletries, and our all of our electronics, we needed a knife, a cutting board, plates, bowls, silverware, can opener, dish cloth, paper towels, water bottles, and coffee cups in addition to the ingredients for our meals. We made countless trips out to Red Tail and back as we would remember “one more” thing we had forgotten. Luckily, Red Tail was just across the small parking lot. Thankfully, we planned non-cook meals, chicken salad sandwiches, salad, and gazpacho soup.

Tuesday morning we hiked the Window Trail. We started right from our lodge room and were on the trail by 8:40 am. At the Chisos Basin Trailhead, there was a ranger checking in with all the hikers heading out on the trail to make sure they had enough water with them and finding out what their hiking plans were. The park service wanted to make sure everyone was staying safe in the heat. We texted our kids when we started and when we returned, but we didn’t have our Garmin InReach (paid link) with us to signal for help in an emergency. We lost it sometime after our hike at Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg the previous week (Fredericksburg, Texas - July 19th to 21st, 2023). So it was nice to know someone was keeping track of us.

If you hike the trail in hot weather, keep in mind that it is all downhill to the Window, but all uphill on the way back, with the steepest, most exposed section of the trail being at the end. If you want a shorter hike, cutting the elevation gain almost in half, you can start and end at the amphitheater. We were on that final, steep section during the hottest time of our hike, as the temperatures warmed up for the day. However, the temperatures only approached 90 and there was a cool breeze which kept things quite comfortable. That was the first day in weeks for us where the temperatures were not in the triple digits. Finally, what a relief!

The trail was gorgeous. Yucca, agave, prickly pear cactus, along with many other plants for which we don’t know their names, lined the path. Many of the yucca plants had tall shoots rising ten or more feet up into the air with blossoms on the end. The prickly pear cactus were covered with fruit. We’ve never seen prickly pear cactus that prolific before. Lizards scurried down the trail in front of us. Bees and wasps feasted on the prickly pear fruit. A vulture soared overhead.

The trail descended down into a canyon, with interesting rock formations surrounding us. Eventually the trail joined the dry stream bed before reaching the Window. The Window is where the stream falls over a ledge to the valley below, with steep rock rising up on both sides, framing in the view of the valley. We’re not sure what times of year water actually flows along the stream and over the waterfall, but it definitely wasn’t when we were there. There was absolutely no water in the Oak Creek, not even a single puddle. You actually can’t see the waterfall from the Window as you are standing at the top of it. It isn’t even safe to get a close look at the top because the rock is slick and starts sloping downward before you reach the edge. That’s not a place you want to slip and fall.

By the time we returned to the trailhead, the ranger was starting to worry about us because we were gone so long. They were keeping track of everyone on the trail. There weren’t many people on the trail. On our way down, we passed a family of four on their return trip. Near the end of our hike, we passed a group of four just starting out, then another group of three. The group of three had not gone past the ranger wherever they joined the trail and did not look like they had much water with them. The ranger sent somebody out after them to check on them.

We covered 6 miles with an elevation gain of 1014 feet in four hours and 22 minutes. That time includes sitting down at the Window, enjoying the view and a snack for a while and talking with the ranger upon our return. We were only actually moving for three hours and 15 minutes. We counted it as hike number 36 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2023 and hike number 35 of our National Park Series.

After our hike, we bought a couple of cold Cokes and bags of chips and sat down in the shade to refresh ourselves. Later we went back to the store for ice cream treats. The rest of the day we hung out at our lodge room. It was actually pleasant enough to sit in the chairs in the shade outside our door. We were treated to a roadrunner who passed by our room. He hung around for a few minutes and gave us a little show.

At sunset, we walked over to the Window View, along a short loop trail. The sun set right down in the slot created by the Window, before dipping behind the mountains in the distance. A gorgeous setting.

As we were sitting up in bed that evening, Keith noticed a scorpion crawling up the side of the night stand. He smashed it with a shoe before Ann had a chance to get a picture of it. We like seeing different animals, but having them crawl into bed with us is not a wildlife encounter we care to experience.

Wednesday we went for a short hike in the morning, the Basin Loop Trail. Since it was short and temperatures were barely breaking into the 90’s, we slept in a little later and got a later start. It was 10 am before we hit the trail.

As we were getting ready for our hike, we reached into the bin for our granola bars…and pulled out our Garmin InReach! That was one place, obviously, that we had not looked. How did it get in there? The only thing we can think of is that one of us had the InReach in our hand, then grabbed the granola bars that we hadn’t eaten during our Enchanted Rock hike and stuck them back into the storage bin, forgetting we had the InReach in our hand as well. We’ll claim we were mentally handicapped at the time due to the heat. Keith was rather disappointed that we found it because he had already started researching the latest model with all its cool, new features.

We stopped and chatted with the ranger again, both at the start of our hike and at the end. While we were standing there in the shade of the ranger’s canopy, a roadrunner passed right by us. According to the ranger, it was a female. There was a roadrunner couple, a female and a male, that hang around the area. They have two chicks, but he hadn’t seen the chicks in a while.

The trail was about two miles long with an elevation gain of 325 feet which we completed in one and a half hours. That included about half an hour of chatting with the ranger. It was such a short hike, that we did not count it towards our 52 Hike Challenge.

Basin Loop Trail is not as spectacular as Window Trail, but it is a nice hike, with some views of the surrounding mountains, including out towards the Window. It was also much more shaded than the Window Trail. The temperatures were very comfortable with a nice cool breeze.

The rest of the day was spent catching up on chores. We took showers and ran a load of laundry through the single washing machine and dryer available for guests.

Keith spent some time figuring out where to mount the DC to DC charger he bought as a back up for the Balmar alternator. Due to the recall issues and safety concerns, we haven’t had the Balmar plugged in since we left Natchez Lake State Park on July 5th. We’ve had electrical hookups all the time since, so charging the batteries while we’re on the road is not that important right now.

We’ve heard Winnebago has finally come up with a solution for the Balmar recall, but parts and trained technicians to install the fix are not available yet. We’ll probably not get that installed until we get back from Season Five, possibly making a trip up to Forest City to get that work done. So, we’ll need to install a back up to get us through the rest of Season Five.

We also took advantage of having a room with a small fridge and freezer. The fridge and freezer in Red Tail desperately needed defrosting. Ann had purposely run out of Blue Bell ice cream and had not replaced it just to allow us to defrost the fridge. We loaded what we could into the fridge of our motel room, then put the rest in the sink of Red Tail. First we put the ice cube trays on the bottom of the sink, loaded the remaining items on top of the trays, then topped it off with three bags of frozen veggies and covered it with a dish towel. That should hold for a little while.

Ann was concerned defrosting would take a while. She removed almost all of the shelves, then started chipping away at the ice at the back of the fridge with a plastic putty knife. She remembered that she was able to remove large chunks the last time by trying to run the putty knife up behind the ice from the bottom. It worked like a charm. Since the fridge had already been off and open for a little while before she got started, she was quickly able to break off the majority of the ice in the fridge in two large chunks. The rest went pretty fast as well. In no time, she was wiping down the fridge and freezer to remove the rest of the moisture and turning the fridge back on. Warm air temperatures surely helped speed things along.

As we were checking out of the Chisos Mountains Lodge Thursday morning, a creature greeted us right outside our room door. It looked like a large scorpion. We learned it was a vinegarroon, or a whip scorpion. It is not a true scorpion. Even though it looks scarier than a scorpion, it is harmless to humans. When attacked, they discharge an offensive, vinegar smelling liquid from their tail.

In the morning, we hiked the Lost Mine Trail. The trailhead is just a mile down the road from the Chisos Mountains Lodge. We arrived early so we could hike in the cooler temperatures. There were only three other vehicles in the parking lot when we arrived around 8:40 am.

Unlike the Window Trail, the Lost Mine Trail ascends up to a peak, then you get to descend back to the trailhead in the warmer part of the day. The opposite of the Window Trail. The Lost Mine Trail also seems less exposed than the Window Trail, although there are some exposed sections. However, even some of those were shaded in the morning by the mountain on the way up.

There is no mine. It is still lost. There is some doubt about whether it ever existed. However, there are gorgeous, panoramic views of the mountains and the desert valley below.

When we reached the top, we perched ourselves on some rocks to enjoy a snack and the view. It was in the sun, but the temperature was comfortable along with a nice, cool breeze. While we were sitting there, a couple of hawks flew overhead. One of them was a black hawk.

As we were about to start heading back, we noticed that there was a trail that continued on. Ann checked the route on AllTrails. It showed another quarter of a mile to a peak, so we ventured on. We’re so thankful we did. The views were even more spectacular.

We completed the five mile trail with an elevation gain of 1129 feet in three hours and 48 minutes. It was hike number 37 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2023.

Even though we had already checked out of our lodge room before our hike, we returned to Chisos Basin Visitor Center to have a picnic lunch. We sat at our usual picnic table under the shade structure, with the familiar view from the past few days. We were in no hurry to drive down to Rio Grande Village, where it is usually 20 degrees hotter than Chisos Basin.

Chisos Basin was a pleasant surprise for us. It provided a desperately needed escape from the heat we had been experiencing for weeks. It was actually pleasant enough there, especially during the night, that we would have been fine in the campground without air conditioning. But we enjoyed our stay in the lodge.

Check out our related video: Big Bend National Park: Chisos Basin, Texas