Sunday, March 14, 2021
Remote West Texas
Big Bend National Park Day 2
Highlights: Chisos Mountain Basin, Lost Mine Trail, Window View Trail, and the Terlingua “Ghost Town”
It got down to 40 degrees overnight, but we crawled out of bed 45 minutes before nautical twilight (ridiculously early) to look for the Milky Way, the only possible time to see it this time of year. The sky was still a little too dusty, so we'll try again tomorrow. It didn't take us but a minute to return to our warm bed.
Once we rose again hours later, we explored the rest of the Tin Valley Retro Rentals campground. The owner, Ronda, lives on site in a tiny house and keeps a variety of animals.
Ronda's residence
Sampson
Bargain price
Mmmmm... Bacon!
In addition to two Airstreams, Tin Valley has a couple of buses, some smaller trailers, a dry-docked yacht, and even a rotating VW Bug on a stick. The Airstreams and the yacht are glamping sites, with a/c, running water, etc. The other options are “upscale primitive” camping. You can also tent camp or bring your own RV.
Willie Bus
Senorita Mojave
The Dragonfly
Spinning Cuddle Bug
Sunflower Shower
We made the 45-minute drive from Tin Valley to the west entrance of Big Bend, then waited in line half an hour to enter the park due to the big spring break crowd. Luckily, it wasn't busy or crowded once we entered the park, and we only saw other visitors at certain popular stops.
Tule Mountain
At the Chisos Mountains Basin, a seven-mile road winds its way through a scenic valley surrounded by jagged peaks. There was a short wait to enter the valley, and a ranger told us that hiking the popular Lost Mine Trail was probably not an option because the small parking area at the trailhead stays full all the time.
Beware!
Five miles into the Chisos Basin, we came to the Lost Mine Trailhead, where, lo and behold, one of the dozen parking spaces was empty and waiting for us! The trail is 4.8 miles in its entirety, but there's a great viewpoint about a mile in. The trailhead is at 5,700 feet, and we turned around at the high point of 6,250, hiking 2.2 miles. Awesome!
Lost Mine Trail
Chisos Mountains
Majestic peaks
We drove on to the end of Basin Road, parking by the Chisos Mountain Lodge, the only lodging in the park. Quite a few hiking trails start here, and we chose the exceptionally short Window View Trail, at only .3 mile. A rewarding view for a small stroll!
Window View
Cane cholla
On leaving the park, we cruised over to Terlingua's historic district to check out the “ghost town.” Terlingua was once a thriving quicksilver mining town and home to over 2,000 people. Today, there's far fewer residents, but it's hardly a ghost town. It was a tourist madhouse! We took a couple quick pics and got out of Dodge.
Terlingua Cemetery
We got back to the Pancho Villa with just enough time to cook dinner on the Coleman stove before sunset. I fried up a bunch of bacon and cooked some accompanying shells and cheese and chili beans. We're eating like kings here!
Stargazing was outstanding tonight, the dark sky a clutter of sparkling diamonds.
Driving distance: 131 miles
|