More details:
Day one was almost entirely driving. While we were unpacking the trailer to set up camp in the Chisos Basin, a gust of wind smacked the trailer door into my face, stunning me for a bit. not fun.
We also got hailed on, and my glasses got chipped.
Great first day!
Day two:
We tried to do the Santa Elena Canyon Trail. The Santa Elena Canyon was cut by the Rio Grande, so one side of the canyon is Mexico, and the other side is the U,S, and A.
There was a river crossing along the trail where you have to wade through the Rio Grande(not to Mexico, it was to the US side of the canyon, since the crossing was at a Y in the river).
Although, since it had rained so much, the river was flooded, fast moving, and strong.
We tried to see if we could cross with out trekking poles and whatnot, but it was too strong to risk it, so we turned back.
The Rio Grande is enormously muddy, and because of the color and consistency we called it "chocolate milk".
I also made the mistake of wearing jeans for that hike, so they got filthy with mud. About 25 feet of the river bank was "peanut butter mud", that was very slick and extremely sticky.
So we tried another trail, called something like the Mule Ears Peaks Trail. They're called that since the peaks look remarkably like mule ears from a certain angle.
We hiked along that trail for a while, partially to dry of our clothes, but eventually turned back early since one one of us was getting very heat exhausted, and there was almost no shade.
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Further details:
Day 3 we did the Lost Mine Trail. Legend is that the Spanish discovered gold and silver, and enslaved the local Chizos tribe to mine it for them.
We couldn't find the mine.
I was hopin' to strike it rich!
It was a brutal 5 mile round trip hike, with the entire hike there almost completely uphill, and partially because we were packed in simulation for our backpacking trip the next day, with just about all the needed gear, except not as much food and water.
It was grueling.
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Day 4 We left ~9ish for the backpacking trip, which was ~5 mi. ONE WAY!
What can I say? It was kinda miserable, that's what.
We guzzled more water than expected on the trip there, so we ended up at camp with enough water for the return trip, but not enough to cook our dehydrated meals. Thankfully the leaders took our empty water bottles and found a spring nearby. They filled them up, and then we used iodine tablets to purify the drinking water. The cooking water would be boiled anyway.
We also saw a deer that evening, and we named it Jordan.
Then on Day 5 we saw a BUNCH of deer hangin' around our campsite. The deer weren't even very scared of us! We took a different route back, that was ~1 mi. shorter, but with the first mile mostly uphill. We got going about when the sun was coming up, so it was nice and cool most of the way. The last part of the trail was infuriating because every once in a while we could actually SEE our van, but the trail kept wandering all over the place.
Then we got back to Base Camp and basically just relaxed by drinking Gatorade, eating snacks, and enjoying the shade. Later that afternoon we drove a little ways and we all took showers, which felt SOOOO GOOD!!
And we also did some prepacking for the trip home.
Day 6 was almost entirely driving home, playing
Super Smash Bros.
---------- Post added at 09:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 AM ----------
Is that enough details for y'all?
I would post pictures, but I didn't have a camera with me out there.
