BBNP Part 4 1/26/21

First, I’ll answer some questions which have appeared from readers. 

1- The tie down tree is named as such because native peoples tied down a young tree to make a landmark. The tree points towards a reliable source of water. Cattail falls.

2- Mask wearing is mandatory in all indoor places, in fact the little store in Chisos Basin, not only requires masks, but limits 5 people in the store. I had to wait a few minutes to enter. Lots of people mask up as we approach each other to pass on the trail.

3- I have Verizon and yes coverage has greatly improved over the years, albeit not in campgrounds, except the Chisos, because of topography. Best coverage is found when hiking or a few pullouts along the road at either high spots or in the middle of large expansions of desert not surrounded by mountains.

4- Yes, I am very happy Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl again. My campsite reservations all end on Super Bowl Sunday. I was debating whether or not to continue my road trip, but have decided to go home at least for a day and watch the game. Tom and the Buccaneers will have there work cut off for them. KC is a much better team, but underdogs do win.

I am very grateful this trip, it has been wonderful and very up lifting. I have talked briefly to lots of folks on the trail, at summits and in camp. It has restored my faith in my fellow Americans. There are no politics out here, people are happy, in the moment and joyous. I plan to carry this feeling with me when I leave. I also think I turned a huge corner with my grief and am settling into this solo travel lifestyle. 

I also feel I’ve been very lucky. My luck continued on Sunday. The desert was very foggy after leaving Cottonwood Campground. I fueled the truck in Panther Junction, and headed up the Chisos Basin road about 9:30am. Sunday is the only day the road is totally open without construction. There is a very small parking lot (13 cars) at the trailhead for the Lost Mine Trail, which is about 3/4 of the way up the road. I decided that if I got a parking spot I would do the hike. I approached the parking lot at about 5 MPH, it was full. As I was passing the middle of the lot, I saw the backup lights of a car. I stopped, backed the truck up, they left and I squeezed into a spot.

Lost Mine Trail is 4.8 miles RT with a 1100 ft elevation gain. It would be a good warm up for Emory Peak, which I planned to do on Monday. The trail begins in the woods and then climbs to an open ridge. Many people stopped here, probably due to the exposure and windy conditions, I continued to the final summit and had the place to myself for 45 minutes. I had lunch, and then headed back down.

                                             From the summit of the Lost Mine Trail

I arrived at my campsite and was a bit confused until the host arrived. My parking spot was on one side of the campground road, while my picnic table was on the other. I found two large 4 inch thick, flat rocks, shifted into 4WL and drove up on the rocks and was perfectly level. Although I had quite the step up to Enzo's first step. The walk back and forth added some more training steps and the view from the picnic table was incredible.

                                                                               My site

                                                               My view from the picnic table 

Monday, I hit the trail a 8am heading for Emory Peak. Leaving from the campground adds 0.4 miles each way, but it also met I would be able to just walk back, and relax without having to setup camp. What the hell, Emory Peak is a 5.5 mile hike one way from the trailhead, in for a penny in, for a pound. I was another beautiful day. Morning temp was about 45 degrees and the high was predicted to be low 60s. Perfect for a big hike. It took 3 hours and 15 minutes to summit. I passed a number of folks along the way, most were my age or older. I declared it to be Medicare Monday. Later, some younger folks passed me. The last 150 ft or so is a vertical scramble, I rated it a 5.0 climb. There are two peaks, both have antennas and solar panels, probably radio repeaters and not cell towers. I stayed on top for about an hour and a half, including both summits and the pre summit area below the vertical summit scramble.

                                              Early morning on the lower trail to Emory Peak

                                                   The East Summit from the West Summit 

                                                                      East Summit Selfie

                                                                     The West summit

                                                            The West Summit, looking east

I got back to camp at 3:45pm, pretty tired. The last 3 miles of the return trip really kicked my ass, 11.3 miles was the longest hike I have done since Nancy was diagnosed. But all I had to do was wash up, grab a beer, and relax. I had planned to cook a nice steak dinner, but opted for leftovers, just to tired. Tuesday was a rest day and I move to my first backcountry campsite.

Its 9am as I finish typing this post, the Chisos Road is closed until 11am, I don't have to leave my campsite until noon, so I'm in no hurry. My legs are very tired but not sore, so I'm happy about that. I have no clue as to if I will have coverage in the backcountry site. 

Tight Lines and safe travels