written by Julie Hackler & David Fink
February 4, 1999 to February 13, 1999
Big Bend National Park, Texas
It took over 2,000 miles and a lot of lonely roads to get here, and with hardly any problems – well maybe one. The water pump wires on the trailer were knocked loose and when Dave and I discovered that it wasn’t working we just looked at each other "what now?" We didn’t realize things could start going wrong so early in the trip but, it turned out to be an easy fix and we were back on the road. Every mile was well worth it to Big Bend. The beauty of the place is overwhelming. It’s a neat diversity of desert and river with the mountains as the backdrop. We stayed at the Rio Grande Village. One of the nicest ones compared to the three offered at the park. Since we had no hookups we had to quickly learn the value of a "navy" shower. (But at least we were clean)We had lots of fun in the park, but the best part had to be the hiking trails. No two were alike. They all had their special scenery to offer. The three highlights were to be the Window Trail (5.2 miles), the Grapevine Hills Trail (2.2 miles) and the Lost Mine Trail (4.8 miles).
On the Grapevine Hills Trail the first thing we notices as we hiked through the enormous canyons is that we could hear our echoes. It was one of the coolest things; we’d yell and listen for it to bounce back a few seconds later. As we continued along the sandy desert trail, we approached the mountainside that lead you up a rocky, steep climb to what they called the "rock window". The view was fantastic! It felt like we were walking on a piece of earth no one else had ever been.
The Lost Mine Trail was a steep 1,100-foot climb to the top of the world. The trail began with a sign to warn you of an aggressive mountain lion in the area. And warned that small children shouldn’t be taken on the trail since they might look appetizing. Well we didn’t see any mountain lions, but the view from the top of the mountain was fantastic. We ate lunch with our feet hanging off the mountain at 6,300 feet elevation. You could see about 123 miles of mountains and deserts and even into Mexico.
The Window Trail had the best ending. We hiked through the trees and desert to come to this amazing trickle of water that had smoothed the canyon walls for thousands of years, which lead us to this opening in the canyon. The opening dropped hundreds of feet and you could feel the force of the wind blow through this tunnel. We thought we were hiking at the bottom of the canyon floor which turned out to be the top of another mountain range. It was the coolest experience not to mention the scariest, just a little to close to the edge for me.
Others that were good were the Santa Elena Canyon Trail, the Boquillas Canyon Trail and the Chisos Basin Loop Trail. All in all it was a fantastic 10 days. And to top it off our nightly entertainment was the educational slide shows David was so enthusiastic about going to or we liked to watch the big Texas sky. I’ve never seen so many stars! We even saw a falling star one night -–it was quite a show. It’s a 108 miles from now where and not to mention a $900 tow charge in case you are misfortunate enough to need one, but it was exactly the right place for us to begin our adventure.
We welcome any suggestions or comments. hacklerj@mindspring.com