Chisos Mountains

In the center of Big Bend is a mountain range called the Chisos Mountains. Rough, rugged mountains just popping up out of the desert.

We drive to a place called Chisos Basin, right dab in the middle of the mountains. Nothing much there – a small store, a lodge where you can rent rooms and the visitor center. There are two hikes we want to do – one is the .4 mile Windows View trail (love the mileage on this one) and the Chisos Basin Loop Trail. As I said, the Chisos Basin is surrounded by the mountains, sort of like a volcanic crater. The Windows View trail takes you to an overlook where you can see a big opening in the wall of mountains. Evidently when it rains, all the water rushes down to this portal and then pours out of the basin. They even call it a pour off, imagine that.

Well, you can see the pour off in the background:

After we finished the Window View Trail, we set off on the Chisos Basin Loop Trail. I think it was 1.6 miles. It wandered through some woods, not the northern type woods, but sort of a desert type woods. I found this tree with really strange bark. I have no idea what type of tree it is.

After we returned back to the Rvs, we hung around for a bit and then headed out to the Rio Grande Nature Trail Walk. We wanted to time it right around sunset and we timed it perfectly. First you go through an area with a boardwalk over a pond. You are surrounded by tall grasses and it is a bird haven. Then you start climbing a hill until you get to the top where you have a great view. There is Boquillas Mexico on one side

More Mexico

You can see the boardwalk over the pond and then the RV park. Notice how close to the Rio Grande we are: