Big Bend: Chisos Basin to Visitors Center

Finally a decent night's sleep. I definitely got at least a 5 hour stretch of shut eye and it felt great. I think the previous to nights I had some heat exhaustion and all the hydrating and rest along with the lower temperatures up here in the basin really helped me.

We hit the trail with our headlamps on our heads again. About 1 mile into the hike at 7:00am, Patrick and I split. Patrick was headed down the hill and I took a detour to attack Emory Peak. I was able to drop my pack in the bear box at the trailhead. With 1000ft to climb over 1 mile I had a challenge ahead of me. I hit it hard and was able to really push myself now that I was hiking solo and without a pack. I finally touched the benchmark at the peak at 7:40am and sat down to enjoy the first rays of light that hit the peak (haze and low clouds on the horizon delayed the sunrise). The last little bit of this trail was closer to rock climbing than hiking. The view, of course, was spectacular. The privacy allowed for some quite reflection. My heart turned to prayer and I felt so grateful for the beauty of our earth.

I was back at my pack at 8:05am (I pretty much bounced down the hill). I took off in hopes of closing the gap with Patrick since he was slowed by blisters on his heels. The way down was via the Pinnacles trail and the constant down wore my legs out. I still averaged around 3 miels an hour though and I was out by 9:15am. After chugging some Gatorade, I noticed a note that Michel had left on the front seat of the car. He had rented a room at the motel.... that meant shower! I met up with Patrick and Michel, rushed through a shower, and was still able to catch a biscuits and gravy breakfast before the restaurant closed at 10:00. Over breakfast, we learned that Michel had had a hard time hitching a ride and he ended up hiking back up the Blue Creek Trail and down the Laguna Meadow trail on that second day. Yikes! It was good to see that he had made it safely.

We hit the road by 11:00amd, fulfilled the burger craving in Ft. Stockton and made it back into Austin around 7:30pm after stopping for dinner in Dripping Springs.

All in all a great trip even though it was painfully obvious how out of shape I have gotten myself. It was my second time hiking in West Texas. Out here the hardest part is all the water you have to either carry or cache. This time I covered ~40 miles. I am glad I made it to Big Bend before I left Texas. Although it was beautiful, I have to admit, I prefer the thick canopies of the Appalachians and pine forests of the Northern Rockies to the dry desert. It also served as an excellent training hike for the Grand Canyon next month. I fully expect that hike to be easier than what we just finished.