Score

Big Bend NP - Part 2

Sunday, 2 December

Woke up to 37 degrees and the sound of coyotes howling nearby.  Sprinty’s Alde heater worked great last night.  In preparing for todays adventures, Darrell cleaned the windshield, one of his daily chores.  He discovered several chips in the windshield.  Yesterday, we had gotten passed by a car on the entrance road to Big Bend NP which had some loose stones that got kicked up.  We heard the pelting of the stones on the windshield, but did not notice any new chips as they were behind the sun visor and behind the eagle that rides on the dash.  Oh well.  Chalk it up another preparatory event for going to Alaska.  Maybe it can be fixed once we get access to a fixing place.

After our morning routine, we left the campground and went back to the Panther Junction Visitor Center.  There we watched the park film that we missed yesterday.  The film is very well done, and told a lot about the park.  Big Bend is the only National Park that has a mountain range completely within the park boundaries.  Another feature is this National Park features mountains, desert and river, all in close proximity to each other.

After we left the visitor center we made our way up to Chisos Basin to see if we could get a campsite.  Another aspect about coming up to Chisos Basin is that there is a limitation that prohibits trailers over 20 feet and RVs over 24 feet in length.  While it was winding and steep in places, Sprinty had no problems.

Chisos Basin has 60 no-hookup campsites, of which 26 are reservable, the rest are first-come/first served.  Yesterday, the Visitor Center indicated there were six sites available at noon, and by 1pm, the Chisos Basin campground was full.  The Ranger had warned us that some of the sites at Chisos Basin were too small to accommodate an RV.  We were able to get one.  Score!  A nice back-in site, fairly level, Sprinty fit nicely into it.  All for $7 with our Senior Pass.

At the campground, we met a man who is full-time in a Roadtrek with his wife and two boys. They have been on the road for about five months and are traveling all over the country.

After getting Sprinty settled, we hiked to the Visitor Center, Lodge, store and restaurant a short distance away.  After returning to Sprinty and having lunch, we set out on the Window Trail, one of the trails recommended in the park literature.  It was listed as a 4.4 mile round trip trail rated as moderate.  The trail went mostly west and sloped down, going down about 500 feet in elevation.  

The main feature is the window where the creek/river has carved a path through the rock and descends the Window pour-off.  We were surprised to find running water in the creek towards the end, which made it challenging to complete the hike as you had to cross the creek multiple times.  

One crossing was dicey enough that Kris decided not to cross, leaving Darrell to get his feet wet and take pictures for both of us.  We learned from another couple we met who had talked with a Ranger that last year and this year have been the only two years the creek has had water in the last 12 years.

Enjoying a descending hike, we had to climb back out.  Despite the thermometer indicating it was 69 degrees, in the sun it felt more like in the 80s.  We were glad we were not trying to do the hike in the summer.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at the campsite.  The couple traveling in the Volkswagen camper van came by to chat and we gave them a tour of Sprinty.

Even though sunset is officially at 5:55pm, Sprinty was already in the shadow of the nearby peak by 5pm.