Big Bend

As I was pulling out tent stakes, Jean returned unexpectedly quickly to the campsite. After rummaging through her backpack for a second she came up with a towel. Tucking it under her arm she said cheerily, "I haven't showered in so long I've forgotten how!"

It was day five of our trip to west Texas and that many days without a shower. Some six months ago our friend in Houston, Ben, began planning a group camping trip to Big Bend National Park. He had researched everything carefully except he had overlooked the detail that the campground he'd booked didn't have any showers. Finding his error a couple of months before the trip he found another campground with showers but had push the date back a month to get the site.

However, as I see it, one great benefit of not being at work plus being on a camping vacation is that irregular and/or not bathing at all is seen as reasonable and marginally acceptable. So, Jean, who works from home and thus already enjoys this benefit, and I took a solemn vow not to use those showers.

It was a about a seven hour drive from Austin to the park entrance. We checked in late in the afternoon. From there it was about another hour drive through the park to our campground. Cruising south through the Chihuahua desert the Chisos Mountain range rose up before us. We soon turned southeast heading away from the mountains and finally arrived at the Rio Grande Village Campground.

Just past five the weather report said it was 95°, about 15 degrees warmer than the high in Austin. Our site was in grassy field occupied by several towering Cottonwood trees and just a few hundred feet from the Rio Grande river. As we unloaded the car a sole javelina wandered out of the underbrush to nibble at the lush grass. As dusk crept on a cool breeze whipped up and soon there was a whole herd of javelina grazing around us.

Ben, and his posse (Daniel, Alex and Le) rolled in as night was falling which we be a reoccurring trend over the coming days. We dined on red bean and rice and marveled at the night sky.

Day 2

The next day was forecast to be close to 100° at the Rio Grand Village. Fortunately, in the nearby and several thousand feet higher Chisos mountain range it was only going to reach the mid 80's. We had a leisurely breakfast and towards mid-morning left out for the Lost Mine Trail in the Chisos Basin.

There are various stories about the lost mine peak but one is that prisoners were taken blind folded to work the mine. Comanche Indians, tired of the incursions into their land, killed all the miners and their gaolers and sealed the mine.

The trail was a good five miles round trip with 1000 feet of elevation gain. We had lunch and a little siesta on top but couldn't find the mine. Alas! Over the course of the hike I managed to finish off a pair of hiking shoes that had been holding together reasonably well with Gorilla glue.

Day 3
I've often been accused by friends and family of choosing particularly grueling hikes, walks, and general lifestyle and so I think my wife likes to use me as a scapegoat. There were a couple of ideas floated for what we should do on day 3:

• Do a short hike, watch the video at the Ranger station, read a book and play board games
• Hike the 12.5 mile south rim trail

I'll let you decide for yourself which one was Jean's and which one was mine.We woke up just before dawn. A steady breeze blew through camp signaling the leading edge of a cold front. We quietly packed up lunches and then headed out for the Chisos Basin.

When we got out of the car 40 minutes later, it was cold. I put on every article of clothing I had and borrowed Jean's extra jacket. Packing our daypacks, Jean and I realized that our hiking trousers were a pit over sized and we had both left our belts in Austin. I cannibalized the shoe strings from my blown out hiking trainers for a makeshift solution.

We passed a few bird watchers early on the trail but soon we were on our own slogging up the mountain. With the exertion of upward travel it quickly warmed up enough that I was down to a T-Shirt. Several hours and countless switchbacks later we made it the the south rim. Standing on a rocky precipice, looking out across the wide expanse the miles felt worthwhile. Jean and I had stood in this very same place a few years back on a trip with Jean's parents. It was good to be back.

Day 4

The steady breeze from yesterday morning had grown into gusty gale that went on all day, continued through the night and howled into this morning. We returned from the south rim yesterday to find our tent collapsed and had to cook dinner huddled against the brush line.

This morning Ben and his group were headed back to Houston but before that there was the not so small feat of fitting all their gear back into a mid-sized Sedan whilst leaving room for them. Ben took on the challenge while Jean, Daniel, Alex, Le and I went off to explore the nearby hot springs.

The front had dropped the temperature enough that venturing into the hot spring fed pool was actually comfortable. After the Houston crew departed, Jean and I did a couple of short hikes during which I may or may not have made an illegal river crossing to Mexico. Towards mid-afternoon we were dithering about whether to head back to Austin or camp out again. We went back to the Chisos Basin in search of a campsite with some good shade for book reading. The pickings were surprising slim for a Sunday afternoon.

We left a little dejected. Returning to Austin now it would be past midnight when we got in. Filling up at a gas station we struck on an idea. What about the Davis Mountains State Park? It was a over a hundred miles away but in west Texas that might as well be next door. We lit off for the park and arrived in the early evening.

The park was pretty empty and we had our choice of sites. We found one with some good shade and two well-placed trees for stringing up a hammock. We had rice and vegetables cooked over the fire and played board games late into the night.

Day 5
After a short sun rise hike it's time to, pack up, take that long delay shower and head for home.