Window View Trail

One of the popular natural formations here in the Chisos Basin area of Big Bend National Park is the "Window". It is actually a pour-off (in essence, the top of a waterfall that pours off from the higher mountainous area on to the desert floor approximately 1500+ feet below). When it rains, most of the precipitation that falls in the mountains and is not collected or absorbed eventually makes it's way down to the window pour-off, feeding the dry desert below. It is called the window because when you view it from the basin area it is like looking through a window into the desert far beyond.

I've been posting many photos from our longer hikes, but here are a few from the short (1/3 mile) Window View Trail hike that begins right next to the visitor center and is really quite beautiful. This short trail is actually flat, paved and fully accessible and gives you a great view of the window from a distance. There is also a longer hike, just over 5 miles, that brings you right down to the actual window itself, but this shorter hike is one we often recommend to visitors who want to see the window but have small children, strollers, folks in their party with limited mobility, or either only have a limited time to see the sights or just plain don't like hiking (we do get our fair share of self-declared "non-hikers").

This interpretive trail gives you a lot of reward for very little effort and it has a nice bench at the half-way point for those who would like to just sit and gaze at the window view or listen to the birds.  Andre & I often walk this trail during our lunch break or when one of us wants to get out of the visitor center and get some fresh air.

Trail begins and you can see the "window" in the distance

Through the window you can see the desert floor in the distance

Trail also provides a great view of Appetite Hill (above) and Casa Grande (below)

One of my favorite trees on the trail

Andre and I have hiked the full Window Trail twice now and that provides additional perspective on the pour off. When it is dry (as it is at most times) you can hike right into the formation to the very edge of the pour-off. It's a bit unnerving actually, because nothing is preventing you from going right over the edge and dropping 1000+ feet, but it is an amazing view! I will post pictures from that the next time we hike it.