Lost Mine Trail; This One Deserves Its Own Post

The Lost Mine Trail is one of the most popular trails in Big Bend National Park and Jack really wanted to take me on it. “I’m serious about a 5:45 AM start.”, he told me. It’s 30 miles to the trailhead and there is limited parking. Jack wanted to be at the trailhead no later than 6:30. So I knocked on his trailer door at 5:44, and woke him up! His alarm had been set to silent. I waited in his truck while he splashed some water on his face, threw on some clothes, grabbed his hiking boots and daypack and we took off. We arrived under a westering full moon…

at 6:27, and though there were plenty of people already there we got a spot.

We started hiking at about 6:40 using head lamps.

The eastern sky was just starting to get light.

By 6:50 I was able to walk without the headlamp. Another couple walked by and he was using a red headlamp, which you can see ahead on the trail.

As the light increased the dramatic landscape of the Chisos Mountains began to appear.

It wasn’t long before we were walking through beautiful vistas.

We could see towards the east, where the impending sunrise began to paint the sky. Notice the pinyon pine; up here in the Chisos Mountains there is more moisture and the desert drops away. They call these mountains an island in the desert.

The trees get pretty tall.

Everywhere I looked I was arrested by the beauty.

This was looking southwest,

towards the setting moon.

Suddenly Jack stopped. This bird was right on the trail in front of him. We have since identified it as a Mexican Jay. Jack says he never sees them except in the Chisos Mountains, but does see them every time he hikes up here.

Most of the trail was like this. Not at all difficult, but going pretty steadily uphill.

My progress was impeded more by frequent viewing stops than by the physical effort. This is looking down towards the Chisos Basin, where there is a lodge and campground. We aren’t high enough to see into the basin, but you can see the road as it passes over the last ridge.

We were still in the shade, but the rising sun was starting to light up the cliffs in the distance.

Minute by minute the vistas unfolded.

There was plenty of beauty close by, too.

It was hard to keep your eyes on the trail, which you sometimes needed to do.

At 8:02 AM we met the climbing sun.

At this point we were walking along the top of a ridge.

There were higher mountains around us…

But we could see a long way down.

We were headed east, towards the end of the ridge.

Jack…

and I both stopped to take videos.

This is what I recorded.

Near the end of the trail was this rather dramatic knife edge boulder.

And then this rather dramatic neck of rock to cross. It sloped steeply to the left and dropped off abruptly on the right. Not a place you’d want to slip and fall.

But we both made it,

and were well rewarded for our climb.

We’d come up over 1200 feet in a bit less than two and a half miles, but none of it was arduous. This view alone would have been worth it, but the views were gorgeous the whole way.

Coming back down was much faster, but I still had to stop to catch some shots, like this where you can actually see into Chisos Basin and see the campground down there. The V shaped notch in the far mountains is the famous Window, and we hope to hike to it tomorrow.

The play of Sun and clouds caught my eye here.

We met what we think was the same Jay on the way back down. This is Jack’s picture of him.

And now that I was returning in daylight I saw the valley we drove up to reach the trailhead.

The first rock formation I noticed on the way up impressed me again. What a spectacular hike, no wonder it’s so popular. Thanks Jack for missing your morning coffee to get us to the trailhead for this.