This trip kind of snuck up on me, I had been wanting to hike to the south rim in Big Bend NP for awhile, but never had a good opportunity. Then having a 3-day weekend for MLK Jr. Day, couldn't have been better, but I didn't realize that specific weekend was approaching until 2 days before. So I spent the first of those 2 days deciding if I still wanted to go and then the other planning the trip. Therefore there was not a lot of prep before hand. But I was pretty excited and actually spent a good amount of time weighing my gear and trimming done the weight of my backpack, for my first real "lightweight" backpacking experience. All said my pack weighed 23 lbs without food or water, but Big Bend being in a desert and all, I ended up having to pack all of my water for 2 days; so with food and water my pack was about 42 lbs at the onset.
For those who don't know Big Bend NP consists of 2 biomes, the first and most obvious when arriving in the park, is the large desert areas, and the second is the high mountainous areas, mainly the Chiso mountains. The Chiso mountains are a small area of high mountains, the whole southern side of which is separated from the desert by huge cliffs and very steep terrain. This steep and cliffy terrain is referred to as the "south rim."
1/16/10
Woke up this morning at my apartment in Alpine, much later then I had planned after ignoring my alarm for awhile, rolling out of bed at 8:30. Fortunately I had packed all of my gear the night before, I only had to get dressed, load the car, and run a few errands before the hour and a half drive down to the park. Skipping breakfast, I dropped Tess off at Charles' house (thanks Charles) who generously offered to take care of her for the weekend. Then I stopped for gas, grabbed a crappy gas station breakfast and was off. First stop when I arrived at the park would be the visitor center to get a backcountry permit and reserve a campsite. Since you can't reserve campsites in advance, I started to wish that I had gotten an earlier start, this being one of the peak times of the year for visitors at Big Bend, I could only hope that I would get there in time to get a campsite right on the rim.
As I got closer and closer to the park, my anxiety about getting a prime campsite led to me driving faster and faster and thinking that every other car headed in that direction was a competitor for that awesome view. Finally at around 11:00 I pulled into the parking lot, only to realize that I forgot to get some cash before leaving, so my next venture was to find an ATM. A few minutes later with cash in hand I headed to the visitor center, only to be greeted by a large crowd, hovering over the desk. Well it turned out they were all in the same group, and when my turn came to talk to the ranger she informed me that there was only one site left on the rim. I immediately said "I'd take it." After all that stress it ended up working out pretty good, while not my first choice of sites, it was in my top 3, and was a reasonable distance of 8 miles. Before taking off I decided to relax a little while I made final adjustments to my pack and grabbed another quick bite to eat before hitting the trail.
As I approached the trail my excitement only grew, unfortunately I had already hiked the first 3 miles of the trail before, so none of was exciting or new to me. I ended up hiking that segment very quickly covering those three miles in about an hour and a half. Once again things worked out pretty good for me with this strategy, that large group that I saw in the visitor center was one of many that I ended up passing at this time, so that by the time I reached the new horizons, except for the occasional other hiker, I had the trail all to myself, which gave me time to stop now and then to enjoy the sights and a take a few pictures. As I slowed down, I was able to appreciate the uniqueness that the Chiso mountains are, they are covered in pines, tall junipers and oaks, and but a few exceptions are unlike any other place in West Texas, which is mostly just desert.
After coming around a bend I was greeted with live water from the recent rain, it also made me kind of sad, because instead of carrying 15lbs of water I could have brought a filter and gotten away with carrying quite a bit less. Nevertheless, it was nice to enjoy seeing a river in West Texas that actually has water in it and is surrounded by large trees.
I reached a trail intersection about an hour later, and nearly went the wrong way, thanks to a poor trail description on the sign, which called the Northeast rim trail simply the East rim trail, but after verifying this mistake with my map I diverted missing some great vistas. Further on down the trail, I approached the Northeast rim, which after hiking through the woods for awhile, all of a sudden up ahead on the right side of the trail you can see the earth dropping away rather steeply, down to a much lower part of the Chiso mountains. This I would later learn was only a taste of the magnificent views yet to come. So while hiking along the Northeast rim amazed by the view, stopping occasionally to snap some photos, I finally approached the South rim.
The first impression of the South Rim is, off in the distance is a large rock outcropping and then nothing but vast desert below. The gravity of how high this rock outcropping is only becomes more and more impressive as you approach it. Until finally you get the ledge and can look straight down for at least 1500 feet. The south rim is made even more remarkable when you look at the abrupt change in ecosystems, which goes from a mountainous pine/oak forest on top of the hill, to nothing but bushes and shrubs 1500 feet below in the desert. From this initial point where the trail meets the rim, it continues following the rim for another couple of miles. All the while you're hiking with this huge cliff only a few feet away, you can't help, but constantly stop every few hundred feet to take it all in again.
1 comment:
Big Bend looks sweet! This looks like an awesome hike.
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