We left Brenham at 6:30 on Friday morning. We were supposed to leave at 5:30, but Harris overslept (which he completely gets a pass on because the band in which he's the drummer had a gig the night before). I had to go back to the house because I realized that I had forgotten the camp stoves that we would be cooking on at the cabin. We were all a little groggy and had all had a fairly restless night's sleep the night before.
We got started and stopped about 30 minutes later in Giddings for breakfast burritos at "the little orange Mexican burrito place" there. None of us can remember its real name. Despite getting there at a great time when there was just a short line, it still took us 30 minutes to get our burritos - the place is really good, but it's not known for being very fast. A line built up as we were standing there waiting, and we were happy we weren't at the end of it. Somehow, though, I suspect that in Giddings "I was standing in line to get a breakfast burrito at the little orange Mexican burrito place" is an acceptable excuse for being late to work. The burritos are just that good. And they had Mexican Coke. The perfect start.
While we were in Giddings for breakfast, I got a text from Kristi with a photo attached. Kayci had lost her loose tooth, and was really excited about it. We talked on the phone and she was really giggly about it. I was sad that I had missed it and that I wouldn't be there the next morning after the tooth fairy had come.
We hit Austin just in time for morning rush hour traffic, which - compared to the traffic in Houston - is really nothing to speak of. It turned out that the majority of the buildup was caused by two wrecks. As we passed by one, there was a girl in a T-shirt and pajama pants with a Texas State sticker on the back of her car sobbing uncontrollably. I imagined she wasn't even supposed to be in Austin and was going to have to explain to her parents about her wreck and what, exactly, she had been doing there. Ah, college...
Somewhere around Dripping Springs I got a text from our friend Jolie. We had been talking about the trip the day before and she had decided that since neither Mark or Harris knew Johnny, that it was going to be like the Hangover and that Johnny would end up lost with the three of us trying desperately to find him. In her scenario, I was the Zach Galifianakis character and so it would be my job to drug all the guys. So when her text came through, it read "And we're the three best friends that anyone could have..." and it generated a lot of laughs for a long time.
So it turns out that my sister, Katie, had told Johnny to be on his best behavior. Apparently, he can be quite crude with his buddies when he wants to be and she was worried that her choirboy brother might be offended. But Katie, having never been a guy, didn't realize that when guys get together that sometimes the language and the subject matter just naturally gets downright raunchy. So Johnny was on his best behavior for the first few minutes of the trip, until the jokes started flying. And then the best behavior went out the window and he joined in. And I'm glad because that dude is funny. When we stopped in Fredericksburg at Wal-Mart, I called Kristi to say hi and told her to tell Katie that I was offended and taken aback by Johnny's foul mouth. Within seconds, he got a text from Katie that read, "What did you say!!???"
We stopped for lunch in Ozona and then stopped again a few hours down the road in Fort Stockton, after which we would lose cell service for the rest of the weekend. As we turned south from Fort Stockton, the road was long and straight. The mountains in the distance renewed our excitement for the upcoming weekend. We had been in the car for about 7 hours at this point, and we were ready to be there.
We stopped once again in Marathon, where we were suddenly astonished by the gas prices. There were only two gas stations in town, so we really had no choice. There's gas available inside the park, but it's typically a lot more expensive than anything you'll pay anywhere else. So we topped off the tank and headed towards the park. We didn't know it at the time, but we actually did well by buying gas in Marathon. Gas was $3.99 on the highway in Fort Stockton.
A long 45-minute drive found us at the entrance to the park. Naturally, we stopped to take some photos in front of the sign.
The speed limit inside the park is 45 MPH, and it was about 40 miles to Panther Junction, the center of the park where the headquarters are. So it took us a looooooooong hour to get there. I had only been to Big Bend once before, in college. On that trip we both arrived and departed at night, so I never got to see the desert in the part of the park. It was beautiful and desolate in places, but amazingly teeming with life and plants. We saw small animals and birds everywhere. The little desert hills were inviting, and had I been on my own, I probably would have stopped to hike a few. In the Chisos mountains ahead of us, we could see that it was raining. We weren't quite sure what to expect or what that meant for our accommodations. When we finally reached the park headquarters at Panther Junction, we got out of the truck excitedly, but were met with something none of expected - dead calm. There were no birds chirping, no wind, so sounds of any kind. It was just completely silent, which was both eery and beautiful at the same time. The temperature was around 80 degrees and there was a hint of rain in the air. The park ranger checked us in and gave us some pointers for not being eaten by bears or mountain lions and we were on our way.
The drive up to the Basin in the Chisos Mountains was amazing. As we drove, the temperature dropped into the mid-70s and craggy brown rocks began pushing up more and more around us as the road twisted and turned.
We reached the Lost Mine Trail parking area and stopped to take pictures. Ahead of us was a mountain that was glistening with fresh rain. There was a mist in the air, which gave it a somewhat ethereal, almost painting-like look.
We got checked in to our cabin and headed down to the cooking area to make dinner. By now, it was about 6 'o-clock and we were getting hungry. Next to the Chisos Mountain lodge was a huge pile of boulders that somehow didn't look real. It was just too perfect. I think it must have been the inspiration for the Runaway Mine Train mountain at Walt Disney World because it looks as if it had been placed there just so. We cooked sausage wraps and Ranch Style beans for dinner, had a cold beer, and then headed back up to the cabin.
It was 7 'o clock and the sun was beginning to get low in the sky. We wanted to watch the sunset at "the window" - a place in which the sun sets directly between two rock formations. It was a 2.8 mile hike down to the window from our cabin, so we got moving. As we hiked, it was becoming more and more clear that we weren't going to make it in time for sunset. As we hiked, there were signs posted about bears active in the area, and we stopped briefly to talk to two hikers who had seen a bear up ahead just off the trail. As we descended into the canyon, we got the distinct feeling we were being tracked, but by either bear or mountain lion we didn't know. It's not a great feeling either way.
We got to the window well past sunset. In fact, it was more like civil twilight, and it was getting tough to see. We lingered for a few minutes, took a few photos and then began the hike back. It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously. There were some storm clouds approaching and some lightning off in the distance, which we were growing more and more concerned about, especially considering that we were basically hiking along a creek bed. And dark doesn't even begin to describe how dark it was. The stars were coming out, but the moon wouldn't rise above the mountains for a few hours still, which made everything pitch black. Luckily, we had brought some lights, which we used to see the trail in order to hike out. We hiked in silence, listening to the bugs around us and for movement anywhere off the trail. After an hour or so, we made it to a fork in the trail, which we decided to take to the Basin campground and a paved road to hike along, rather than the dark wilderness trail. It was a good decision for the most part, except that we had to hike up this huge hill at a very steep incline that was clearly meant for vehicles, and not hikers. It really took a lot out of us (well, most of us... it turns out that Johnny is in peak physical condition and wasn't really phased by the hills or the hike at all).
We came to a fork in the road and weren't sure which direction to go. We noticed a guy sitting in his car at a parking area, so we went over to ask directions. Many of you will no doubt note that many a horror movie starts this way, and with good reason. The guy sitting alone in his car wasn't all that helpful, was kinda weird and gave all of us the creeps. We dubbed him "creepy guy" and went on our way.
We finally made it back to the cabin, somewhat exhausted and ready for a nice, cold beer. Above the Basin is a large mountain that we though was called "El Capitan." It turns out that its name is actually "Casa Grande," but we wouldn't discover that until the next day. There was a glow coming from directly behind El Capitan, which was the almost full moon rising. Johnny and I set up our cameras and tripods hoping to catch the moonrise over El Capitan. We stayed outside for over an hour waiting for the moon to crest over the peak, but it never did. Finally, we got tired and went inside to sleep. It was a great end to a long first day.
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