Way down in the southwest corner of Texas right smack up against the Mexican border sits Big Bend NP. It is one of the largest, but least visited national parks in the country. However, this is the time of year to go before it gets unbearably hot so campsites weren’t exactly plentiful. I did manage to find a decent site in a beautiful campground in the Chisos Basin. 
It’s up in the mountains so it is nice and cool when it gets hot at lower elevations, like down by the river. There was an RV park by the river, but it was full when I arrived. I found out later it looked more like a parking lot so I was happy I didn’t waste my time driving down there the first day. The Chisos Basin has a length limit of 24 ft. so I was lucky to fit in just under the wire. The weather was actually real nice – 40s and 50s at night and 60s and 70s during the day. Unfortunately, most of Texas has been under a severe drought so everything was quite dry and brown. No desert wildflowers this year. The other bad thing was that Abbey couldn’t hike on any trails in the park, but seeing that it was a little warm and there was no water on the trails it was just as well. I arrived in the afternoon so I had just enough time for a hike down a trail right from the campground to a place called “The Window”. It’s the only drainage out of the basin so when it rains there is a raging torrent that cascades several hundred feet out of this narrow opening. As I mentioned it’s been very dry here for quite sometime so there was not even a trickle. Unfortunately, my batteries died so I didn't have any good pictures of the Window, but here is one I took from the trail of Casa Grande which overlooks the campground. 
On the way back up I heard rustling in the brush ahead of me and I got a little nervous. There are signs everywhere around here warning you of how to react if you see a mountain lion on the trail. The first thing is don’t run! Yea, right! Anyways, I stopped to listen better and decided it was way too much noise for a mountain lion. It was a pack of javelinas instead. I was pretty relieved, but still wondering if they were going to charge me until I noticed that they don’t have tusks or anything. I guess I thought they were more like wild boar. They aren’t even related to pigs, it turns out. The hike ended uneventfully after all.
Since Abbey couldn’t hike with me in the park I tried to get her out as much as possible before and after I went somewhere. On Friday morning I drove down to the eastern end of the park where it meets the Rio Grande. The Boquillas Canyon trail takes you right down to the river, only a mere 30 feet from Mexico. 
Some Mexicans bring hiking sticks and other trinkets over to the US side to sell and leave them there with a sign and a can for the money. They sit on the other side of the river watching with binoculars to make sure noone takes anything. Before 9/11 they were pretty laid back about Americans going over to the Mexican side to get something to eat or buy junk, but now you can be imprisoned or fined for doing it. So I happily stayed on our side of the river. Besides I’ve heard the Rio Grande is pretty much floating sewage so it didn’t bother me not wading through it. The left bank in this picture is Mexico. 
After lunch I hiked to a hot spring up the river a few miles. A big group of young kids got there just after I did so it wasn’t exactly a relaxing soak, but it did feel good on my feet. I met a guy there who needed a ride back to the campground area, so I offered him a lift. He just moved down here from Michigan a week ago and is working in the store up in the Basin. I couldn’t believe he had no car as it is very isolated. He said before he was in Michigan he lived in Hawaii for four years working as a lifeguard and massage therapist. He’s going to work in Big Bend until he gets tired of it and then move on. I could relate to that. He was good “research” for my “career” planning. On Saturday I decided to do a long hike, about 13 miles, up in the basin to the South Rim. It’s a pretty tough trail, and longer than I had done in a while, so I got an early start hoping not to leave Abbey too long. About halfway up to the top I ran into another guy hiking by himself so I joined him ‘til we hit the rim. When he told me he was trying to get by on as little food as possible and wasn’t stopping for lunch, I knew it was time to split up. Besides, the views from my lunch spot were unbeatable. 
He was an interesting guy, though, who offered me more inspiration for my career search. He said that when he works, he works hard. But he just doesn’t like to be tied down by a steady job. He also seemed to have an amazing talent for getting by on very little money, much like my brother Michael. He likes to travel a lot and usually takes off on a long trip each year around the country, sometimes with his dog, a chocolate lab. So we had a lot to talk about, which made the uphill hiking seem a lot easier. On Sunday, it was time to head out of the NP and towards Big Bend Ranch State Park. There isn’t a lot of hiking there, but at least Abbey could go on the trails. More on that next time.