02/06/01 Hiking Lost Mine Trail:
I'm back in the fantastic Chisos Basin. A mild night led to bright skies and temperatures in the 50's when I got up. I arrived at the Lost Mine Trail Head, a couple miles from the Chisos Basin campground about 9:30am. One car was in the parking lot as I paid my 50 cents for a trail brochure and started up the 2.4 mile interpretive trail.
The trail starts at about 5500 feet and rises 1100 feet. The brochure comes in handy because you can stop at each trail marker to read about its purpose without having to claim a rest stop. Then you can find several good spots to pee and they don't count either. And that's to say nothing of all the great views that can't be fully appreciated while moving and can't be counted as resting.
And there are plenty of great views. Casa Grande is on the right and Lost Mine Peak (ridge) is on the left as the trail winds its way upward. Casa Grande itself is closed from 02/01 thru 07/15 while the endangered peregrine falcon nests on the cliffs.
A nice view of Juniper Canyon appears at marker 12 and above. Peaks and ranges off in the distance were partially obscured by a heavy haze at 10am. An afternoon hike might be better to get those great pictures.
A number of agaves or century plants are scattered around at this level. These plants take 10-20 years to grow 10 feet, storing nutrients. Then they produce one big flower and die, leaving the seeds to feed on the nutrients. I saw my first squirrel in the mountains around 6000 feet. It must be a ground squirrel because there's not much in the way of trees at this level.
Wonderful views of Casa Grande combined with the Window appear at marker 24 when the switchbacks point to the west. The trail wound its way up a slope across the valley beside Casa Grande.
I huffed and puffed (and moaned and groaned) my way to the top in 1.5 hours. I didn't experience any dizziness at 6600 feet so that was a good thing. The climb was well worth it because I was presented with views of peaks and valleys I hadn't seen before. I found an 8 point buck laying in the shade of a tree on the slope on the way down. Seeing them way up in the wilderness is much more fulfilling than wandering around a campground or along the road.
The Lost Mine is still lost. No one knows if it is fact or fiction. Probably just a campfire tale.
02/07/01 Hiking Laguna Meadow Trail:
This morning turned out to be warm and hazy, in the 50's with a 5-10 knot wind as the sun played peekaboo. I started up the 3.75 mile Laguna Meadow Trail at 9am. .25 miles up the trail the Emory Peak Trail split off to the left while the Laguna Meadow Trail veered to the right.
A short way along provided one of the best views I've seen of the Window, the valley and the mountains and beyond despite it being pretty overcast. The trail moved along steep sloping hills of red sandstone with similar hills on the other side of the valley. The hills were pretty much covered with Juniper and Pinyon trees and 2-3 foot high bushes. This part of the trail was an easy five degree or less.
As the trail crossed to the other side of the valley I noticed the color of the soil changed dramatically to a dark gray, gravely sand like soil. Pretty much the same vegetation was growing but I couldn't see where the gray stuff was coming from. Stone walls lined the trail to keep it from washing down and over the trail. I saw lots of fresh horse or mule tracks but no horse sh.. for a change.
As I climbed higher I began seeing more cedar trees and Texas madrone trees. The older bark on the lower part of the madrone peels away to expose thin, younger bark which is reddish or pinkish to white in color. This makes for an interesting sight.
A great view opened up near the 1.75 mile mark. I could see down one valley and across the next to the far side of the Chisos Basin wall and the back side of the near wall. The view remained when the switchbacks pointed in the right direction. At a higher elevation I was looking down on the black gravel and still couldn't see where it came from. It just extended 50 feet or so in a couple of places with no apparent source.
One hour into the hike the trail varied in the 5-10 degree range and the wind continued at 5-10 knots. At 6250 feet the wind picked up considerably and things cooled off rapidly. I switched my soaked cotton T-shirt for a nylon windbreaker to go along with my Polartec sweater before I became chilled. At 6300 feet a great but brief view Casa Grande and Toll Mountain could be seen. Apparently the trail had been winding up the front of Toll Mountain without me realizing it.
I got to the top of a crest and got hit with the full force of a 15-20 knot wind. It sure cooled things (and me) down a lot. Another great view of Casa Grande, the far basin wall and the visitor center. The trail seemed to wind behind Toll Mountain (all black sand again) and seemed to be turning downward. I'd had enough ups for the day and called it quits. I found shelter from the wind on the crest behind a large nolina. This is a bulky plant with many long thin leaves similar to a Spanish dagger but without the ragged teeth on the edges of the leaves. Indians used nolina for weaving baskets and such. Anyway I just sat there enjoying the view as I had an early lunch at 6800 feet and then started back down.
02/10/01 Hiking Mule Ears Spring Trail:
Yesterday I drove from the Chisos Basin to Study Butte, a tiny town outside the park, for gas and an ATM visit. What a drive! Then I drove back down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Castolon and the last of the three Big Bend Campgrounds. Again, what a drive!
Volcanic mountains, huge limestone walls, giant piles of sand, gorges, valleys, arroyos, peaks, mesas desert, volcanic ash piles. And it just goes on and on for the entire 40 mile drive. I could even see the mouth of the 20 mile long Santa Elena Canyon where the Rio Grande enters the park. The desert is just beginning to wake up from its winter hibernation too. Yucca trees are starting to flower, bluebonnets are everywhere and some of the cactus have flower buds.
I took the 1.7 mile Santa Elena Canyon hike yesterday too. The Rio Grande is only 30-40 feet wide at the canyon mouth. The canyon itself is 100-150 feet wide and 150-200 feet high. The walls prevent much sun from penetrating to the canyon floor and it was 15-20 degrees cooler down there. I coughed once and that echoed quite a lot through the canyon.
I've been trying to get a shuttle for paddling the 20 mile Santa Elena Canyon but no luck so far. I've seen very few canoes or kayaks being cartopped. I'll have to go back and see if I can paddle up to the canyon. The current is in the 2.5-3.0 range but inside the canyon it seemed pretty sluggish.
02/10/01:
12-15 javelinas came wandering through the Cottonwood campground last night. They emerged from the brush and came right through a three strand barbed wire fence just behind my campsite.
Cloudy, slight wind blowing, temperature in the lower 50's. Pretty good hiking weather, if not for pictures. The Mule Ears are a pair of peaks or pinnacles rising up from a tall hill. One does look like a mule's ear, the other looks like a mountain lion has been after it.
Hitting the trail about 9:30am (it's not fully light around here till 8am) I was pleased with all the flowers along the first part of the trail. Lots of short yellow ones, kinda like a pansy, small marigold type flowers, bluebonnets and some plants with purple and white flowers on the same stalk.
This is an easy trail as it meanders up and down many hills, none very steep nor long. Mule Ears pokes up in the distance half the time but intervening hills obscure it the other half. Less than an hour into the hike I came to the Smoky Creek Trail fork bearing off to the right. A few steps to the left brought me to the Smith Springs. A trickle of water comes down from somewhere above and flows into two small pools, one below the other.
I followed Smoky Creek Trail for another 45 minutes or so. A high hill presented a nice view of the bigger of the Mule Ears but it blocked off sight of the other. I had an early lunch and started back.
Right at the springs are piles of rocks that look like lower part of a fair size two room house. I could see no wood posts, beams or other man made stuff (except for a pile of man made sh..) so assume this must be some sort of old corral or something.
I checked the Rio Grande currents at the take out and at its exit from Santa Elena Canyon. At the take out the current seemed to be running under three knots. I thought I should be able to paddle upstream the .50-.75 miles to the canyon mouth. At the canyon, however, I saw the current was still running 2.0-2.5 knots. That would be just too much to have an enjoyable paddle. Sigh!
02/11/01 Hiking Tuff Canyon Wash:
Today the temperature is in the 50's with the sun trying to dominate the clouds. I didn't feel like driving 10-15 miles to a trail head. Instead I went to Tuff Canyon, one of the many overlooks and decided to go down onto the canyon floor and then go as far as I wanted up the Blue Creek dried up creek bed.
Tuff Canyon is 40-50 feet wide and high. Tuff is layers of volcanic ash deposits, kinda like the ashes in your stove or fire place when they get wet and then harden. Rocks get mixed in the lava flow and ashes during one of those maelstroms. Since the rocks are much heavier than the tuff, they tend to fall out of the tuff when enough erosion makes them top heavy. That leaves lots of holes in the canyon walls where the rocks were.
The canyon is only a few hundred feet but very interesting. Beyond that are large reddish lava boulders with a few small pools amongst them. Bluebonnets were in full bloom wherever they could find a little soil to grow in. The lava boulders soon prevented further progress. Looking around I found a way up but it took a little serious scrambling. The climb was only 10 feet or so but it was in the 5.1 rock climbing range.
Once on top of that plateau I saw a solid wall completely across the canyon with no easy access. It looked like tuff and seemed very weak and crumbly. I didn't want to cause any unnecessary erosion by climbing on it. More importantly I didn't want it crumbling away on me and breaking any of my already crumbling bones.
So I turned back. That was only 30 minutes or so but it was interesting and a totally new experience. Since I couldn't go that way I turned around and went down the wash the other way. When I came back out of the canyon the sun had finally overwhelmed the clouds and things were warming up nicely. I only got a mile or so on the squooshy, gravely creek bed when I thought it would be a good idea to just stop, lie down and take a nap. And that's what I did. Two hours later I called it a day.