Big Bend National Park

[TripLeader]

Part J [Dodson Trail]

We continued down the trail the next day.

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We flirted with views of Elephant Tusk.

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One of the springs we passed. My recollection is the park service does not want you to depend on the springs for water. Springs may be dry at times and they want them to be available to wildlife.

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Spotting Mule Ears in the distance.

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A glimpse of Santa Elena.

 

[TripLeader]

Part K [Last Night in the Desert Backcountry]

We continued past our views. Much of this part of the trail consisted of walking through dry washes.

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We made it to the Homer Wilson Ranch site. We gathered our other water cache.

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We continued on. The Blue Creek Trail would take us back into the Chisos the next day.

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There just wasn't a lot of room in our backpacks for all the empty gallon jug bottles.

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Our last campsite on the trail.

 

[MCX]

Looks beautiful! I haven't been to Big Bend, but it's on my list to get to...I might try this spring, but depends on a few other trips I have planned.

 

[WillRunner]

It's been a while since I've been on here... Below are links to the videos I made when I was there the week of Thanksgiving last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggbhhiZTBjI

 

[TripLeader]

Part L [The Final Backpacking Stretch]

We woke up the next morning. Again. To a great sunrise. Again.

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Our plan was to camp at Laguna Meadows. We hiked on.

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We started gaining elevation, as the trail took us back into the Chisos.

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We arrived at Laguna Meadows. But we were early. It was only mid-day. We did some calculations and decided to hike out to the trailhead.

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Too many photos of signs, but, oh well. We continued along and headed for The Basin.

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And we made it back to the trailhead. It was off to the Rio Grande Village campground, the only place with a shower in the park.

 

[TripLeader]

Part M [What Else Can We See?]

We had an extra day to do some site-seeing. The Santa Elena Canyon was worthwhile.

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Terlingua.

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The campground was nearly completely empty. There were a few RVs, but hardly any other tents. I had reserved a site, but it was not as flat as the neighboring site. The camp hostess was not enthusiastic about us encroaching on it, but we didn't mind doing it. (This was back in the days of using my big, cheap Wal-Mart tent to basecamp.)

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And then, a javelina prowled around later that evening.

 

[TripLeader]

Part N [Conclusion]

The next day we checked out Boquillas Canyon.

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We were out of time. We headed out after that.
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And that was the 2009 backpacking trip to Big Bend, my first time there. Thanks for reading.