Danine and Elise are laying at the bottom of the pour-off.
Today was another big hike, four miles roundtrip. Although this one was shorter than yesterday’s (by .8 miles), we were all more tired at the end of today’s hike. Cumulative effect, I suppose.
Pine Canyon was today’s adventure. To get there, we had to off-road again. This time we had to take Glenn Springs Road about two miles, then Pine Canyon Road another four. Six miles at less than ten miles an hour takes a while! Luckily we had Treasure Island playing and that helped pass the time.
The Lost Mine Trail and the Pine Canyon Trail basically lie on the west and east sides, respectively, of Lost Mine Peak. The two hikes couldn’t have been more different. The first mile today was through the desert. Cacti, creosote, sotol, and tall grasses all around. (I picked up a walking stick for this hike, too, and Bobby pocketed a couple rocks in case we came across a mountain lion.) The temperature was in the high 50s and when the sun broke through the clouds, we all warmed up nicely. Elise claimed to be tired from the get-go. As a bee buzzed near her she wished it would sting her so we could go home! After walking for about an hour (the minimum you have to hike with Bobby if you want a snack!), we found a tree to rest under in order to refresh ourselves.
A very twisted version of Bobby’s new favorite tree, the Texas madrone
Soon after we started again, we entered a forest that reminded us so much of home that Elise grew nostalgic and mopey. It looked like fall in the Shenandoahs. Tall evergreens and oaks with golden leaves arched over us as we made our way through dried out creek beds filled with colorful boulders. We had left the desert floor and were now at the base of the Chisos Mountains. Fifteen thousand years ago, the climate here was wetter and cooler and the forests extended as far as the Rio Grande. Climatic changes caused the lower elevations to become drier and warmer, leaving the forests only at the higher elevations. The Chisos really are a mountain island surrounded by a “desert ocean”. I don’t ever remember switching environments so quickly or drastically before.
Our truck is no worse for wear after several trips on primitive (rocky) dirt roads.
Our destination was the Pine Canyon pour-off, still another mile up the trail. This uphill was certainly more arduous than walking across the desert floor, but the terminus of the trail was breathtaking. The trail ends, not because there is nowhere else for you to go, but to go there you would have to climb 200 feet up a cliff face. When there is sufficient rain, water pours off the cliff in a waterfall. Today (and most days), it was dry and we had the chance to do some scrambling on the boulders at the base of the cliff. Have you ever seen a movie or TV show where people are in some tropical location and they are all by themselves, swimming in a private lagoon surrounded by cliffs and vegetation on all sides? That was us today. Minus the water, lush vegetation and tropical location. But hopefully you get the idea. We never saw anyone on this hike, from beginning to end. We didn’t see a mountain lion either.
Elise and Bobby pay homage to my brother Shawn.
