| Article Index |
|---|
| Big Bend - Nov 07 |
| Hike to the 'Window' |
| Hiking Emory Peak |
| All Pages |
Thanks to the freezing cold night, it was painfully difficult to wake up early the next day. The temperature at 8AM was a biting 28F! With great effort we managed to wake up, get freshened up for what was by our standards, a mammoth task. We decided to hike to the Emory Peak: the highest point in the Big Bend. It was a towering 7845ft above sea-level. Chisos Basin is at about 5200ft. So we were gaining over 2500ft in 4.5 miles. It was a 9 mile round trip hike. Thanks to the preparatory 5-mile hike to the 'Window' the previous day, and a good night sleep, we were in a position to do this one.
The biggest adversary in hikes like these is not the distance (coz' its short), not the incline ('coz its not too bad); the worst is the altitude and the rate at which the altitude increases. The air is pretty thin (compared to seas level), and keeps getting thinner as you go up. So you are constantly out of breath. But the time you are acclimatised to a particular altitude, you have hiked higher, and so you are still out of breath.
We had to stop every 50 steps or so to catch our breath. I was not a happy camper about that. But each rest stop gave us something beautiful to admire. Like this view of Casa Grande:
The Berries:
We even had fall colors there!
We finally got to a point above Casa Grande. Emory Peak wasn't too far off.
After rock climbing the last 60 ft. we go to the top of Emory peak. The view from above was breath taking! To the south was the vast expanse of Mexico.
To the west, down below was our campsite, barely visible from this height:
To the north was the vast expanse of the Chihuahuan desert:
To the east was rest of Texas:
[Click Here for the panoramic view]
Two hours later, we were back at our campsite and it was 5:30 in the evening. Close to sunset.
Another cold night (this time braving 20F) later, we were up at 8 in the morning and headed out. Back on the road. Back on the flat roads of west Texas, back towards hill country, and then College Station. Back towards civilization.
