Done with the prelude, now let me proceed to the Big Bend part, shall we?
I went to Big Bend back in January of this year. Some people might think that it is the worse time to go (is cold in January still), but that's the only long weekend that I have for a long time afterward. The weather is actually quite nice. Cool during the day, and just a little bit colder at night.
It's actually my first time visiting the national parks. At first I thought, so what, there are only mountains, nothing spectacular anyway. But I soon realize the beauty of the nature.
Here goes the road trip. Looks like the road is never going to end...
Beware, it's a pictures loaded post. Click below for more, thanks.
The view along the road.
After a few days of drive, here we are... Big Bend.
It was quite a desert. The air is very dry there, with a wind gust of 20mph at times. But as I have mentioned above, the weather is pretty nice. Cool during the day and slight colder at night and in the morning. I rather have this kind of weather than the 100+ degrees fahrenheit in the summer.
There are some oddly named animals' fossil bones too.
Everyone say hello to my trusty old snickers.
Lots of stars at night. My advice is to just watch the stars in your car if you are out on the road. I say this because there are... animals out there that are not that friendly to the human. You will know why I say this later. I did saw some foxes running in the dark, but they are too fast for me to snap a pic though.
They have side road along the way for you to pull aside for pictures taking and not blocking the road of the others.
One of the famous mountains that hikers like to get on to. I believe it's called the Emory Peak.
Signs along the road to show you the trail you are interested in with the distance to the destination.
Halfway on the trail. Now comes the scary part.
You might encounter MOUNTAIN LIONS along the road?! Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. Do what the sign say when you see a lion. They have another quite scary animal in the park too. It's the bears. These, is the reason why I ask you guys to stay in the car if you are on the road.
The only lodge in the bend. It's called the Basin Lodge. A kind reminder: book the lodge a week or two earlier during non-holiday seasons. Else, be prepared to drive about two to three hours out to a nearby town for the night stay, and same amount of time back to the mountain again. (No fun when you are racing against the time).
Look, a baby deer along the trail. (Actually two. But not in time to take the picture...)
The Emory Peak (heard that it takes about four hours to climb/hike up there O_o?!)
If you are here, make sure to visit the Basin. The view of sunset from the Basin is pure magnificent. But, make sure you leave before or at 4:30PM too. It takes about one and half hours to two hours to get there. The view then is the best by the time you reach there, and leaving you enough sun light to get back to the lodge. Max. of 15 minutes stay at the Basin, and be sure to bring torch light with you. The bigger the better. Get as many people to go with you to the Basin too. Trust me, when the sun is completely down, the view is no longer pretty, accompany with fright of being eaten by mountain lions and bears. Urgh...
On the way to the Basin. Quite a nice view, eh? There are wild boars along the trail too. I saw a group of three/five (It's been a long time, can't remember that well) crossing the trail that the rangers have set up for us one after another from the biggest to the smallest. Aww~ they are so so so so soooooo cute... Unfornunately I don't have the picture of them crossing the trail.
You can see the level of sun lights coming down to the ground.
It's quite a slippery path to the Basin, which is also one of the reason why you have to leave before the sun light is completely down. You must be wondering why do I keep giving tips on going to the Basin right? Look at the next picture.
By the time I get there, I can barely see the sunset already. This also means that we are about running out of the natural light.
You can see clearly from this picture that the SUN is out of the sight!!! I didn't leave the lodge to the Basin as adviced. So, not only did I not see the most spectacular view (don't get me wrong, the view is still great, just not as good), I have also scared my little pumping hard heart to... almost death.
There you have it, two days worth of pictures. My mozilla firefox is not working properly, so is my internet explorer, especially the pictures uploading process. I am having enough for today. So, you will have to wait till next time. Stay tune for the other half then.
Mood: ♫♪♫♪
Music: Big Girl Now - New Kids feat Lady Gaga.
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