Hiking
Come experience the Big Bend National Park trails system that the Annual Ride for Trails helps support. With over 200 miles of regularly maintained trails through the Park's three major ecosystems - river, desert, mountain - there are trails of all lengths and difficulties. Always hike with a map. Detailed maps of trails are available at all Park Visitor's Centers. If you plan to camp overnight, you must first obtain a camping permit from Park headquarters at Panther Junction. A sampling of visitors' favorite hikes is below:
Easy
■ Boquillas Canyon: A 0.7-mile, one-way day hike into the entrance of Boquillas Canyon, one of three major canyons in Big Bend National Park carved by the Rio Grande. Trailhead is 2 miles down the road at Mile Marker 19 just before Rio Grande Village (marked).
■ Lower Burrow Mesa: This 1.0 mile round-trip trail to a desert pour-off offers much to hikers interested in the geology of Big Bend. Burro Mesa is a down-faulted block, a large landmass that dropped along a fault line approximately 26 million years ago. The extent of the displacement is more than 3,000 feet. Trailhead is off the highway (marked) at Mile Marker 7 along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.
■ Grapevine Hills to Balanced Rock: The Grapevine Hills formed when a mass of granitic rock weathered and eroded into unusual shapes. The rocks are igneous in origin and were created when molten rock intruded into overlying sedimentary rock. The magma cooled and hardened into a large dome-shaped body called a laccolith. Eventually erosion stripped away the softer overlying sedimentary rock and exposed the granite that we see today. Most of the giant granite boulders in the area were once rectangular and blocky, but as water seeped into fractures in the rock, the corners eroded more quickly than the sides, producing the rounded shapes that are throughout the Grapeville Hills. A 4.0 mile mostly flat trail takes you to a major Park must-see. Trailhead is six miles down an all weather dirt road at Mile Marker 4 (marked) near the Basin Junction.
■ Santa Elena Canyon: This hike takes you into the mouth of the westernmost of the three major canyons of the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park. Because the 1,500-foot-deep canyon is spectacular and the hike is easy, this trail is one of the most popular in the park. The roundtrip hike is 1.6 miles. Trailhead is at the end of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, 8 miles past Castalon (highway, marked).
Moderate
■ Lost Mine: This is one of the most popular trails in the Park. Most hikers in good shape can do the round trip in 3 to 4 hours. For those without the time to hike to the South Rim, this trail is an excellent substitute. People with even less time or energy may elect to hike only the relatively easy first mile of the trail; on clear days this provides beautiful views of Juniper Canyon and south into Mexico. Midway up, the Window and Chison Basin comes into view. At the top, hikers can appreciate Crown mountain and the South Rim.The 4.8 mile round trip begin from the parking lot at Mile Marker 5 on the way to the Chisos Basin (marked).
■ Mule Ears: The Mule Ears trail showcases the unusual beauty of the Chihuahuan Desert. Various cacti and desert plants border the trail as it winds through dry washes and across rolling desert terrain. During years of plentiful rain, springs and seeps stand out as verdant patches of lush vegetation, where cottonwoods, cattails, and willow trees shade pools inhabited by leopard frogs. As you follow the trail across the desert, enjoy the ever-changing views of Mule Ears Peaks and the southern extension of the Chisos Mountains and the Sierra Quemada (Spanish for “burned mountains ”). This trail is 7.0 miles long and mostly flat. The Trailhead is located at Mile Marker 18 along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive en route to Castolon.
■ The Window: The Window Trail leads to the Window, a large rock canyon cutting through the Chisos Mountains rim that allows drainage from the Basin. It frames panoramic desert vistas and enhances spectacular scarlet sunsets. The hike offers good wildlife viewing opportunities and an introduction to the geology and plant life of the Chisos Mountains, along with great mountain scenery. Near the end of the Window Trail, a side trail that goes to Oak Spring leads 0.25 mile to a high perch offering outstanding views of the desert far below. This is a 5.5 mile roundtrip trail. Trailhead is at the Chisos Basin, though hikers may prefer accessing the trail from the Campground, which makes it .5 miles shorter and saves .5 miles of the steepest climbing.
Difficult
■ Marufa Vega: An up to 14-mile round-trip backpack or strenuous day hike through the Dead Horse Mountains to the rim of Boquillas Canyon or the Rio Grande. The Marufo Vega Trail offers a strenuous but spectacular trip with a variety of hiking options in the Dead Horse Mountains, including the rim of Boquillas Canyon and the Rio Grande. Trailhead is located in a large marked parking area approximately 2.0 miles down the road to Boquillas Canyon (en route to rio Grande Village). Parts of this trail are unmarked - note warning signs at the trailhead.
■ Emory Peak/South Rim: The newly reconstructed Emory Peak Trail is longer, but less steep than the previous trail. Still, it takes nearly 5.5 miles of climbing to summit. The rest is all downhill, unless hikers elect to continue from the base of Emory Peak Trail around the South Rim (coming down the Laguna Meadows Trail), adding 5 more miles to the trip (for a total of 16 miles). Emory Peak is an 11 mile hike. Trailhead is at the Chisos Basis, and is accessed from the Pinnacles Trail.
