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The Window

Big Bend

Getting There
Hot Springs
Chisos Mountain Loop
Rio Grande
Longhorn Ranch
San Antonio
We highly recommend you begin your Big Bend visit by hiking to the Window. This 5.2 mile round trip is a good conditioner. You will descend 985 feet over 2.6 miles, then have to gain it back on the return. This is a very scenic hike concluding with a magnificent view out over the desert below. You're going to hike it in the summer, when Oak Creek is dry, but during the rainy season the creek shoots out the Window in a spectacular waterfall. Every drop of water that falls in the Basin or on any of the slopes surrounding the Basin ends up flowing out this opening. There are some precautions to take here. Start right after breakfast so you can get back no later than early afternoon, before the hottest part of the day. Apply plenty of sunBLOCK, preferably 45 pf. This is no place to work on a tan. People receive severe burns here, bad enough for hospitalization. You can burn quickly in the high thin air. Take plenty of water, either two Nalgene bottles or a hydrapack. Talcum your feet and socks. The hot rocks and sand will cause blistering more than the cool forest trails back home. Wear sunglasses to avoid headaches. Carry Lekki or some other brand of hiking sticks to navigate loose rock, stream beds and rough terrain.

The trailhead is at the lower loop of the campground, across from the bathrooms. It begins dropping right away, through scrub oaks, pines and junipers. But you'll pass extensive stands of Prickly Pear Cactus and Havard Agave. If you make the trip in June, some of the bright yellow flowers should still be on both. In about a mile, you'll drop down to the creek, and begin following alongside, and sometimes walking right in, the bed. If you look ahead toward theWindow, the sharply pointed peak to its left is Carter Peak, the rounded mountain on its right Vernon Bailey Peak. Behind you, Casa Grande, Toll Mountain and Emory Peak tower against the morning sky.

Especially if you're hiking before 9 a.m., you should see plenty of wildlife, beginning with the small deer. These are Sierra del Carmen White Tailed Deer, the smallest of the North American deer family. They look pretty delicate, but they survive under harsh conditions by eating rough forage and avoiding Bear, Mountain Lion and Wolves.

Listen and watch for the piglike Javelina, noisily rooting and grazing on roots and grasses. They will usually be in small groups of three or four. Rock squirrels will be up on the cliff faces. Gray Fox, Ringtail Cat, Mountain Lion and Black Bear will probably be in the brush and trees, if you can pick them out. But they avoid people and the heat, so you'll have to look carefully. Find shady nooks under rock ledges, boulders, or large trees. Most of these will probably be against the southern faces, because the sun has a direct angle on the northern faces.

You should have a much easier time spotting the various reptiles scampering back and forth across and along the trail. Skinks, Fence Lizards, Horned Toads, and Gheckos will all be present. None of these will bite, but the Horned Toad will squirt blood out of the corners of its eyes if you try to pick it up. (It's not really blood, but a dark red fluid which stings the eyes, nose and mouth of predators.)

You're hiking through an amazing ecological phenomenon. You have desert floor plants like cacti and century plants growing next to mountain forest trees like oaks, sumacs, pines and junipers. What's happening is that the stream and springs provide enough water for the trees, while only a few feet away from the stream the soil is dry and sandy enough and the climate is hot and sunny enough to support the cacti. Right along the stream bed the really thirsty trees like mahogany, buckeye, and sumac can survive, spreading their branches to create shady nooks. Originally, much of what is now desert floor was covered by forest. As the climate dried out and warmed up, the trees retreated back up the slopes and the cacti began extending their range. The trees could hang on along Oak Creek, while the cacti could colonize the ledges and sandy ridges.

You'll eventually come to the Oak Spring Trail cutoff to the right.

After you pass the cutoff, the main trail will simply merge with the creekbed. You'll find several series of steps carved into the rocks. This was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which built almost all of the trails and buildings in the park. You'll see where minor repairs have been done over the 70 years since, but the basic steps are still in place. Hiking this trail in the morning will usually avoid the problem, but if you should try this trip in late afternoon, you might be partway down when a storm comes up. If rain begins to fall, turn and get back to camp as soon as possible. You must get out of the canyon before the creek begins to rise. One hour of rain can create a raging torrent that will wash you and everyone else out through the Window and over the waterfall. On a clear day, the Window makes a great lunch stop. A cool draft blows steadily up through the opening, and the smooth rock floor and sides offer comfortable niches to settle into for a nap.

If you can arrange a shuttle, you can make this a through hike of twice the length. After enjoying the Window, return to the junction and take the right fork. You will descend gradually to Oak Springs. The trail becomes a little hard to follow in spots, but if all else fails, just remember the trail roughly follows the creekbed and sometimes merges with it. Eventually you'll come to an old road. You can take it on out to Castolon Road, where someone waiting with a van can taxi you back to the campground in about 20 minutes. Or you could split into two groups, starting at opposite trailheads and trading keys midroute.
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