November 19
In the 50's again this morning.  We have a leisurely breakfast and then set our sites on Grapevine Trail, which someone recommended to Greg yesterday.  We stop by the visitor's center, and see a few deer on the way out of the basin.

A rough 7 mile road to the trailhead.  We pass the landfill for the area which is almost invisible except for signs and a big piece of equipment.  Lots of crows in the area, though, so there must be some "pickings".

We are the only car at the trailhead, so have a nice quiet walk.  Lots of neat rock formations and part of the trail follows a dry river bed until it begins to climb.  Fortunately there are trail signs because it would be easy to get lost amongst the boulders!  At the end of trail is a balancing rock formation.  We wonder around a bit, taking pictures and taking in the scenery.  After 10 minutes or so, some more hikers arrive and we have a drink and then wind our way back.

 Look closely at the above picture and you may see some hikers on the trail down in the valley.

We escape out the road with only one little scrape - Greg is great at maneuvering these roads.
We stop for fuel at Panther Junction ($3.65 compared to $2.85 at home!) and then make the drive back to Rio Grande for a shower and to re-charge the laptop while we have some sandwiches.  Back to our campsite and we decide to tackle the Window Trail - we are leaving a little late and won't have time to dally if we want to get back before dark.

The trail starts out downhill into the valley, then levels nicely.  More brush and bushes in this area, still lots of rocks.

 This trail is noted for wildlife and about half way in, we spot a mother bear (black)with 3 cubs.  This is the bear we heard about that lost a cub a few weeks ago to a car accident. Fortunately they are climbing away from us, so we just enjoy watching them for a while. There are only 20 or so in the entire park, so we count ourselves lucky to have seen them. 100 yards down the trail we come  across some fresh bear scat - we didn't miss running into them by much!

We chat with a few other hikers we encounter and hear tales of huge scorpions and a rattlesnake further down the trail, but we don't encounter either. Whew!

The trail climbs through a rocky gorge and ends at another pour off with a steep drop.  If Greg walked forward a few feet in the picture below he would have a long hard fall. This is what is called "The Window".

Not much water today but it is a beautiful site nonetheless.  I am antsy about getting back before dark so we don't dally.  We reach camp just as the very last bit of sun disappears - didn't have to resort to the flashlight!

Amazing stars from horizon to horizon, and the full-ish moon is late rising tonight so they are all the more visible.  We use the Night Sky ap on my phone to identify some of the formations and planets - Venus is prominent. Too tired to try taking photos…. we enjoy some cheese and crackers and a drink, then finish off the kielbassi and hit the hay!