Big Bend, Day Five: The Window

One of the weirder things about RV life is that the days can sort of blend together. Maybe it’s not RV life as much as retirement life. It’s my fault, I believe, as my days don’t really have any structure. I’m okay with that most days. Until I think about the fact that we’ve been in three different campgrounds since we left the Big Bend area on February 25 and I STILL haven’t finished sharing pics from Big Bend.

In case there are new folks reading, we recently spent 24 nights camped outside of Big Bend National Park (BBNP) in Terlingua, Texas. BBNP is one of the bigger, more iconic national parks in the US national park system, and for good reason. It’s in a pretty remote location in West Texas on the border with Mexico. It’s a vast, magical place in the Chihuahan Desert.

Dogs are not allowed on any of the trails at BBNP. That wouldn’t be an issue for us if Belle was okay with being left alone in the RV. Alas, she is definitely NOT okay being left alone. Rather than both of us missing out on some of the things we wanted to do in the park, we decided to each take turns going into the park to do some of the things we wanted to do.

One of things I really wanted to do was hike. So, for my first solo excursion, I chose to drive into the Chisos Mountains and hike to The Window. (My friend, Lynne, says “La Ventana” [Spanish for The Window] sounds much more romantic. I agree, but the hike is publicized as The Window in all the park brochures, so I’ll stick with the English label.)

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the more-unique features of BBNP is that it has its own mountain range, the Chisos Mountains. As noted on Wikipedia, “The mountain system covers 40 square miles (104 square km) and is contained entirely within the boundaries of Big Bend National Park, making it the only mountain range in the United States fully contained within a national park.”

It’s a beautiful spot.

 

On our previous quick visit to the Chisos Mountains, I’d heard the volunteer at the visitor’s center talking about the Window View Trail, which is an easy, 0.3 mile round trip, paved and wheelchair accessible trail that circles a low hill and features excellent views of the mountain peaks surrounding the Chisos Basin as well as a view through the distant window.

 

 

I explored the Window View Trail first. It took all of about 15 minutes, including photos! That’s when I decided to do the Window Trail. It’s rated moderate, has a distance of 5.6 miles round trip, and descends 900 feet through Oak Creek Canyon to the Window pour-off, framing panoramic desert vistas. During wetter periods, a creek actually flows through the canyon and must be crossed several times. Hikers are warned to use caution on the trail as the top of the Window pour-off is slick rock with no railings. The entire Chisos Basin drains into Oak Creek and out through the window. The sand and gravel carried by the water is what caused the rock to be so smooth and slick.

Footing on the trail was a little rough at times. I was glad I was wearing hiking shoes. Fortunately, there were “steps” worked into the trail to make the descent easier. I took my good, sweet time and paid attention to my footing the whole way down.

I so enjoyed getting a closer look at the mountains and all of the desert vegetation along the way.

That Agave was at least three feet (roughly one meter) wide and tall.

The closer I got to The Window, the more the trail started to feel like I was walking through a canyon.

I really enjoyed seeing the signs of erosion as I walked through the canyon. What an impressive sight it must be to see the creek flowing after a heavy rainfall!

 

 

 

It was such a cool spot. I couldn’t help but wonder what The Window looks like from the other side. I used Google when I got back to camp and found this image.

After taking some pics and admiring the view, I ate my lunch then started the return trek.

 

 

 

It was a lot easier walking down into the canyon. A 900-foot (275 m) elevation change is nothing to sneeze at, especially for one who is overweight and out of shape like me.

 

If I’d been thinking clearly before the hike, I would have realized the hike was potentially beyond my current level of fitness. I probably shouldn’t have gone to The Window — it was a struggle for me to get back — but the views were so worth it. I am really glad I pushed myself and made the trek. I’m also glad I didn’t wimp-out near the end and hitchhike from the campground back to the visitor center.

Rather than post all 50 images here on the blog, I created a Google Photos Album for those of you who would like to see the rest of the pics. There are quite a few good ones, in my humble opinion.

My other posts about BBNP can be viewed here:

•  Day one at BBNP

•  Hoar frost in the Chisos Mountains

•  Images from Big Bend Ranch State Park

•  Sightseeing on a third day at BBNP

•  Highlights from our fourth day visiting BBNP

I’ve got some more Big Bend hiking pics to share in my next post.