South Rim Trail - Chisos Mountains

Although we have been diligently working through many of the great hiking trails here at Big Bend National Park, until last week we had not yet done any of the more substantial trails. Last week we finally got to one of the most exciting trails (and views) in the Chisos Mountains, when we did the South Rim Trail. The trail, a twelve mile round trip excursion that ascends steadily upward and around the "Rim" at the top of the Chisos, yields some of the most incredible views in the park, including a breathtaking, panoramic view of the vast desert landscape all the way into Mexico.

Hike begins on the beautiful Laguna Meadows trail

View from upper Laguna Trail

Laguna ends and the Rim Trail begins

A rewarding first view of the South Rim

The South Rim is located at the southwestern edge of the high Chisos Mountains. From the rim, which is 2500 feet above the desert floor, Santa Elena Canyon can be seen 20 miles to the west, and Emory Peak dominates the northern skyline.  On a clear day, peaks to the south in Mexico are visible and are more than 30 miles away.

Looking onto the Desert below from the rim

A great Woodpecker sighting (Red-naped Sapsucker) as we started back down

Heading down via Boot Canyon and then Pinnacles Trails



The upside down "boot" in Boot Canyon

Oops, we did leave our packs unattended to take that last photo...

Startled a deer as we joined up with the Pinnacles Trail heading down

When we got back to the basin at about 5:30 pm, we had hiked about 17 miles in total. Although the south rim hike is usually 12 miles, we still felt energetic when we got to the south rim so we hiked around the southeast and northeast rims as well.  That added about 2 miles and the additional mileage was gained as we hiked into many of the back country campsites along the way to check them out. As part of our visitor center job is to recommend and write permits for these sites, it seemed a good opportunity to check them out in person. It was quite a hot day in the basin and the last few miles down the Pinnacles trail were sweaty and hot in the late afternoon, but it was well worth it. We arrived back a bit tired, but exhilarated from a great 9 hours in the beautiful Chisos.