The Window Trail

After a good nights sleep, we jumped out of bed raring to go this morning.  We managed to sip coffee later than we intended to, but still got a pretty early start.  By the time we drove the 25 miles to the trailhead, we were wishing we had left earlier.

Our destination is the "V" in the center.

The “window”, the destination of this hike, is an opening carved out of the rock by Oak Creek.  The hike was definitely worth the view.

The trail winds on a steady downhill grade from the Chisos Basin Campground for 2.2 miles to the opening at the window.  The trail was in very good condition and a very pleasant walk.  Even the uphill trek back to the campground was not bad because it was such a gradual climb. We had been advised to do this hike in the morning as there is no shade.  From that statement I had it in my mind that there would be no trees.  There were plenty of trees interspersed with cactus for almost the entire distance.  The trail was wide and the trees were short so they really did offer very little shade.  

We intersected Oak Creek approximately a half mile from the window and followed it down to where it fell through the opening and off the mountain.  It was a little too scary for me to get too close to the edge, but the view was awesome nevertheless.

Very little water in Oak Creek

I made a few pictures and we had a snack on the cool rock before starting the return trip.  While we sat there, the skies became a little overcast.  It was the perfect thing to have happened.  The clouds blocked the worst of the sun for our return trip.

Looking out the "window"

The Chisos Basin Campground caused a bit of nostalgic longing that tugged at our emotions briefly.  It was a pretty large campground with perhaps 50-60 sites tucked away in mountains at 5400 feet.  There were a few small RVs, but mostly tents or pop-up campers.  The road up here is paved, but relatively narrow with sharp curves and steep grades not suitable for large rigs.  Each campsite had a picnic table, some were even covered.  They also had bear proof food storage boxes.  This park has a few bears and apparently a few mountain lions.  Some of the tent sites were tucked away in the trees so well you almost couldn’t see them.   Ahh, those were the days.

It has become imperative that I do a little laundry, run the vacuum, and swish some cleaner around in the sinks.  That will be good for tomorrow along with exploring the ghost town of Terlingua.