Rio Grande Village and Boquillas Canyon

Wednesday we had not planned much because we thought we would be groggy from a late night of star gazing. (I'll refer you to my previous entry to catch up on that story.)

After a breakfast of cold cereal, we finished unpacking and we watched the sights from our balcony. We had a clear view of the whole Chisos Basin, The Window, and Emory Peak, the highest point at 7825 feet.  

Chisos Basin as seen from Emory Peak.
Our room was on the second floor corner of complex B.

When the road opened at 11 we were in line waiting to go down with the first wave of cars. In a 30 mile drive, we traveled from 5300 feet in Chisos Basin, descending to 1844 feet at Rio Grande Village. Lunch was simple sandwiches and chips with root beer after which we explored the surprisingly clear water of the Rio Grande. What a difference from the water of the Rio Grande than I had seen in Albuquerque in my childhood. Wow! Beautiful!

From there we drove to Boquillas Canyon and hiked in to sit by the water and enjoy the views. Many people were there. We saw a family with a young girl about Darcy's age wading down river from us. We spotted various birds, seeing a pair of black towhees, and also a pair of turtles.

Everywhere we hiked we found little trinkets and items displayed on rocks for tourists to purchase on the honor system. Select your items and put your money in the jar. There were small roadrunners and scorpions made of copper wire and beads, embroidered tortilla warmers and aprons, ceramic cups and the like. We could look across the water and see makeshift structures where the artists were likely watching us to see if we would leave our money for them. In one place the park ranger was also watching to see if we would leave our money. Unfortunately, I had not brought any cash with me on this, our first day of exploring. (Lesson learned!)

On the drive home we saw two wild horses which explained the poop we had to step around during our various hikes. They seemed fat enough but did not live up to my mind's picture of "wild" horses. Granted, it was siesta time.

"Wild" horses! (A better name would just be untamed ponies.)

We also saw two hard core runners and one cyclist even though it was very windy across the desert and pretty chilly. I was glad to be riding at that point.

Heading back up the road to Chisos Basin I took these pictures of the snow that lingered from the storm several days previous to our arrival. I thought that it would be melted by the next day, but it did not noticeably decrease. More on that in a later post.

The foothills of the Chisos Mountains.

After a relaxing dinner we each settled in with our books and enjoyed a quiet evening. Chisos Lodge has rustic rooms where the prominent appliance is the mini-microwave! No TV or cable, no pool or exercise room, and no free hot breakfast! No frills whatsoever. There was, however, hot water and the wall heater worked efficiently and quietly. It got cold at night and I was thankful for the heater.

When the darkness had completely fallen and the stars had come out, I tried again with my camera to get a picture of the shining stars over Emory Peak. But apparently there is too much light pollution for my camera to work like it did the night before. And we were bewildered by lights on the trail after dark. We could see them weave back and forth on the mountain from our window that faced the basin. We agreed that coming down that trail with a headlamp in the dark had to be a huge challenge bordering on foolishness. "Why would someone do that?" Butch reasoned that perhaps because of the road closure that limited when hikers arrived in the basin affected the timing of their hikes making it necessary to return after dark. All I could think was, "That's not going to be me!"