Big Bend: Juniper Canyon to Chisos Basin

What a great day! After 2 hard days, this one made it all worth it.

Patrick and I woke up @ 5:00am, broke camp and made it on the trail by 5:45. That was such a relief after getting out so late yesterday. We hiked the first hour or so with headlamps but were soon able to take them off. After a few miles of hiking up the canyon wash, we finally started the 3000ft ascent. As the morning went on I felt stronger and stronger. I had made a point to hydrate as much as possible last night and it seems to have had a positive effect. On the downside, I never slept more than a 45 min stint last night. This bout with insomnia really got annoying last night. I ended up snoozing the best laying outside on my sleeping pad and taking in the stars. Anyway, none of that effected this morning's climb. There was a beautiful cool breeze and our decision to hike early really paid off. By 9:00 we had finished more than half of the climb. Along the way we ran into a number of critters (including people for the first time since the Dodson trailhead) including deer, a black squirrel, and a rattlesnake!



We finally reached camp by 11:00am. After setting up camp and resting for a bit, we headed over to retrieve our water cache (2 mile round trip) since we both had just run out... good timing.

This campsite and basin is beautiful and is especially so in contrast to the desert we spend all yesterday in. We see deer every hour or so. There are big trees providing shade and the temperatures are far cooler. Needless to say, I am much more comfortable.

After lunch and a few hours of rest (to avoid the early afternoon sun) we headed over to the South Rim. SPECTACULAR! That view alone made the whole trip worth it. You could see well into Mexico and the huge mountains that are just across the Rio Grande. I could have spent all day sitting there and soaking it in.


Tomorrow is our last day. We have a 4.5 mile hike to our car and I am going to take on a 2 mile (roundtrip) hike up Emory Peak. So we should be out by noon. The plan then is to shower in Marathon and a Triple Hunger Buster at DQ in Ft. Stockton..... ahhhh yeah!