The centerpiece of the park is the Chisos mountain range, a fairly compact range of volcanic origin that rises out of the Chihuahuan desert:
Our first hike was the Lost Mine trail, about a five mile round trip with maybe a thousand feet of elevation gain (to a total elevation somewhere between 6000 and 7000 feet). Like all the trailheads in the park, there were ominous warning signs posted at the beginning of the hike about the dangers of encountering bears and mountain lions, with detailed instructions about how to respond to each type of encounter. Unfortunately, we saw neither. Apparently, bear sightings are pretty rare since there are only about 30 bears in the whole park. Mountain lion sightings are more common--one of the visitor centers had a listing of recent sightings and there seemed to have been one sighting every week or ten days (presumably the mountain lions sight the humans much more frequently). The lost mine trail climbs gradually for the first mile or so and then begins to offer very nice views to the south, looking as far as Mexico:
The Rio Grande forms the southern border of the park. Some of the land on the other side of the river is a Mexican national park, but there is no legal border crossing in the park (although there was one some years ago). Along most of the southern border the river is a shallow stream flowing slowly through open desert, that you could easily wade across:
At the western edge of the park, the Rio Grande emerges from Santa Elena Canyon, a steep gorge over a thousand feet deep. There is a pleasant walk of a mile or so along the canyon walls and down into the canyon:
Near the eastern edge of the park the river again disappears into another deep gorge, Boquillas Canyon. Approaching the Boquillas area we were puzzled by a sign along the road:
What we found at the trailhead to Boquillas, and along the trail at various overlooks, provided the answer--small displays of hand made trinkets from Boquillas village along with hand lettered signs listing the suggested donations for different types of trinkets:
While we were there we saw one of the villagers returning across the river, perhaps after retrieving some donations. Obviously, security isn't too tight at this region of the border:
Perhaps the most popular hike in the park is The Window, an easy five or six mile walk to one of the signature views in the park, looking out into the desert from high in the mountains. The trail winds down through a canyon with lots of interesting desert vegetation:
Gradually the canyon narrows
before dead-ending (at least for those who can't fly) at the window overlook:
The very first photo in this report was taken from the desert looking back in the direction of the Window, which is on the ridge in the background seen through the notch just left of center.
Throughout the park we enjoyed the great variety of desert plants and wildflowers:
The most enjoyable hikes for us were two roughly parallel trails leading from the main visitor center to the south rim of the Chisos Mountains. These hikes can be combined in a long loop, but we elected to do two out and back hikes on successive days. Both hikes gain something like 2000 feet, ending above the 7000 level. The Pinnacles trail is the steeper of the two with hundreds of steps, originally constructed by Depression era work crews. The trail passes by the namesake pinnacles:
The other trail, the Laguna Meadows trail, rises more gradually and passes through some very pleasant woods:
Although we were day hiking, we saw a large number of backpackers on the two trails to the south rim, and passed lots of campsites, all of which seem to be on a reservation system.
After gaining elevation, you begin to get some nice views looking south over the desert to Mexico:
Something that was very noticeable to me was that there was almost no evidence of people shortcutting the switchbacks along the trail. The reason was obvious--nobody wanted to chance an encounter with the ever present cactus:
Hopefully this hasn't been too long a trip report for an area that is a long way from Portland. It is great place to enjoy warm, clear skies in late February!
