February 23, 2013 Big Bend

We went up into the Chisos basin to hike the window trail. The basin was once a volcano caldera(crater) and the window is where the lava flowed out. The window faces the west, so you can watch the sunset through it.

The inside of the basin is volcanic pinnacles and hoodoos. The trail begins at the campground in the middle of the basin. It quickly drops into oak creek canyon-so named for the Oak Creek spring. At the bottom of the canyon it is lush and wooded.  

And shady. The canyon gets narrower and deeper.

And steeper. There are steps on the trail, it gets narrower and deeper still.

And narrower, and then the window. At the window it drops off hundreds of feet from this smooth, slick rock slot. I didn’t look over, I would slide out.

John in front of the window. Then back up the steps.

And more steps. In the shade the light , the textures and water marks were  beautiful.

More light, textures and watermarks. We hiked up above the window and looked over at the view.

John going up and John going down.

It was very hot in the canyon. The temp in the 60’s, but there was no breeze in the canyon, and the heat reflected off the walls. Hardly any shade. We stopped for lunch in the shade of this big pinnacle, but as soon as the sun came around it was time to keep going.

Back into the cool woods. Casa Blanca peak with a prickly pear cactus and a dead agave bloom.

Back at Chisos Basin lodge we relaxed on the deck. The top of the window, where you watch sunset is seen between John’s feet.  Some of the pinnacles on the rim on the way out.

The almost full moon rising over the Sierra Del Carmon's on our walk to the hot spring. John in the hot spring near sunset. Aaaaahhhhhhh.

Dusk on the Rio Grande. A great blue heron at the confluence of Tornillo Creek and the Rio Grande.

Agaves before blooming. They bloom once after about 10-20 years, then die. The stalk of the dead bloom. Some of these stalks are 15 plus feet high, and the base diameter 6-8 inches.  A sotal plant and a rainbow prickly pear.

grasses, pink flowers, more grass, and two different kinds of seed pods seen.

Circles seen in nature today.