Sunday 2/25/24
It’s been extremely hot down here for this time of year. Temps have reached the high 90s down by the Rio Grande River and high 70s up in the Chisos Basin. The land in between has been mid 80s. Elevation makes all the difference. It does cool at night, I’ve woken to high 40s to mid 50s, so sleeping is not a problem.
With full sun, even high 70s seems intense walking through the desert, so I decided to get an earlier start today. I was packed up and ready to leave Paint Gap 2 at 8:30am. It didn’t happen. My neighbor in Paint Gap 3, which was 100 yds away, walked over and asked if I had cell service. He had a dead battery. I forgot to charge my lithium jump start device, so it didn’t have enough juice to get him going. We jumped in my truck and headed back out towards pavement. I was hoping to run into someone with jumper cables driving in, which we did within a 1/2 mile. Back to the dead truck, setup the jump and viola, it started. It was now close to 10 am by time I got to the pavement and close to 11 am by the time I got to the trailhead for Mule Ears Spring. Best laid plans, right.
` ` The Mule Ears
Mule Ears Springs is a 4 mile round trip with a slight elevation gain, but I managed to consume 1 1/2 liters of water in the 1 1/2 hours it took to do the hike. I don’t seem to tolerate the heat any more, so I decided to skip another hike and drive the 50 miles to Rio Grande Village and take a much needed shower before checking in to my next campsite there. It was 93 degrees at 3pm.
I hung out for awhile, using the wifi at the store, then reading in the shade of Enzo with a beer. Finally, I decided to jump in the truck, blast the AC and go for a drive. Since I was driving anyway, I decided I needed a destination. The Restaurant / Bar in Chisos Basin seemed like a good idea. Less than an hour later I was sitting at the bar with a cold draft beer, cheese burger and fries. Life is good if you remain flexible. I got back to my campsite at 8pm and it was a wonderful 72 degrees plus I saw a Coyote and a Fox cross the road on the way back.
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