How to visit big bend
How I did it: The original plan was:
Friday night: Arrive at the Chisos Lodge.
Saturday, hike up towards Emory Peak, set up camp, and make the Emory Peak Trail hike unladen.
Sunday: Break camp, hike back down to the Chisos Basin trailhead area, put our stuff in the car, and hike The Window trail.
Due to a 70% chance of rain on Saturday we didn't want to take the chance of being washed out in the backcountry, so we got another night at the Chisos lodge and took the pinnacles trail up to the Emory Peak trail and did about half of it. There had been so much rain that the water was still trickling down a lot of the higher elevation trails.
We still had a nice six hour day hike and got to see a lot of cool stuff, even though we didn't get to camp.
We didn't get to see Santa Elena Canyon up close, either, because Castalon was closed. So we spent the next day in Terlingua and Marfa instead.
Lessons & tips:
- Keep an eye on the weather.
- Always have a backup plan or be willing to go with the flow.
- Don't feed the Bears/Javelina/Mountain Lions
Resources: NPS website for Big Bend National Park
