It is 62 degrees this morning. We decide to drive up to the lodge/store and do the Basin Loop Trail which begins near the store. We check out the store and buy some jelly for PB&J - which I forgot to pack.
The fog is rolling and blowing over the mountains the morning light, though it doesn't reach down into the basin.
Despite the lion and bear warning signs, the only wildlife we see are these deer having their breakfast.
on the scene, giving the rocks a golden glow. From here we can see the v-shaped "window". At certain times of the year the sun sets through the window, but not in the Fall.
We see a lot of birds flitting in the brush/trees. Quite a flock of noisy blue ones, I think Mountain Jays.
On our way out we stop by the lodge. No cell service still, but you can get wi-fi in the gift shop, so we send a few messages and then leave the Chisos, heading for Cottonwood and the Rio Grande.
Low clouds continue to flow over the mountains, sometimes dipping into chasms and canyons.
The road to Cottonwood is scenic. We have done most of the trails along here, except for the Mule Ears Trail which we will get to later. We decide to get a campsite first and arrive there about 1:45. It is 90 degrees down here (Chisos is always about 10 degrees cooler.) Only one other camper, so we get a nice site under some big cottonwood trees.
We drive a short way to the Dorgan-Sublett Trail which visits the sites of some early settlers' homes. This area was farmed in the early 1900's, using water from the river for irrigation to produce cotton, sorghum, wheat and melons. Once abandoned, around 1938, the juniper, mesquite, grasses and cacti soon reclaimed the land. I call this our "R" trail, as we see a Roadrunner, a couple of Rabbits, lots of Rocks and several Ruins of stone and adobe buildings.
Next we stop by the River take-out area where a guy from Desert Sports of Terlingua is waiting for canoers to arrive. Depending on water levels, they run canoe and raft trips. The water now is exceptionally high due to rains upriver. When talking about rivers and Big Bend, it will always refer to the Rio Grande, which forms the southern border of the park and also the border between the US and Mexico. (Would hate to see Trump's wall mar this landscape, though it probably wouldn't be too difficult to cross.) We see an occasional border patrol vehicle but not often.
Back at the campsite, the wind has picked up considerably but Greg manages to cook some hamburgers on the grill. Several other campers have arrived, mostly tenters. One is a tracker here for an event tomorrow tracking and observing wildlife, another group are getting ready for a river trip.
As darkness falls we can see some flashes of lightning to our southwest. The storm approaches and we have some torrential rains, lightning, thunder - the works! later on. So glad we are not in a tent, as I think some of them ended up in their vehicles. We had seen great horned owls and javelina here before, but nothing this time....maybe due to the weather.
We set an alarm to get up early in order to drive to Santa Elena Canyon for sunrise.
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