Monday, October 24, 2011

Big Bend: Third Time's the Charm

The weather finally cooled off a bit, so I took the opportunity to drive down to Big Bend National Park for my third visit. Packed up the night before, then left straight from work on Friday. Got to the Chisos Basin campground with enough time to set up, eat dinner and relax a little. Last time I was at Chisos Basin, everyone had hammocks. This time I brought my own.


That night I slept for eleven hours.

Saturday I drove around the park and did a bunch of short hikes. The stand-out feature was Santa Elena Canyon:



I spent the afternoon reading in the hammock, surrounded by mountains. Very relaxing.

Sunday I did the Window Trail hike. It's a nice hike down a dry stream bed that cut a "window" into a cliff.


As usual, more pictures here.


Monday, October 3, 2011

Road Trip to Arches

After working a 10-day shift, I took off for a four-day weekend to meet my parents at Arches National Park. They were on the southernmost point of a two week trip, but it still took fourteen hours of driving to get to the rendezvous point. I had never been to Arches before, but I've wanted to go for awhile. The rock formations were worth the drive.




We also saw a big-horned sheep, which apparently is a pretty rare treat:


All told, I drove 1660 miles, getting 38 miles per gallon in my little Honda Civic.

View Arches Road Trip in a larger map

More pictures in my Picasa gallery: