2003-11-07 Lost Mine and The Window 2003-11-08 Pine Canyon and Ernst Tinaja 2003-11-09 Cattail Canyon 2004-11-04 The Journey 2004-11-05 Casa Grande and Lost Mine 2004-11-06 Cattail Canyon 2004-11-07 Santa Elena Canyon and Cattail Falls 2005-06-01 Chisos Mountain Lodge 2005-06-02 Emory Peak 2005-06-03 Desert Views 2005-06-04 The Window at Sunset 2005-11-03 Cattail Canyon 2005-11-04 South Rim 2005-11-05 Santa Elena Canyon by Canoe 2005-11-06 Santa Elena Canyon by Canoe 2002-11-08 Emory Peak and South Rim 2002-11-09 Cattail Falls and Santa Elena Canyon 2002-11-09 Terlingua and Lajitas 2002-11-10 Old Ore Road and Hot Springs 2002-11-10 The Window at Sunset

Day 1 (Friday, 11/5/2004)

Those who read the photojournal from 2003 will recall that my dance card for this year was already full.  I just had to see the top of Casa Grande Peak and the top of the Lost Mine Trail, since both had been socked in in 2003.  Robert G. and I were also obsessed with the idea of finding the correct way up the talus field to the Cattail Canyon overlook.  And this year, the river had more than enough water to do a canoe trip, which Dave had tentatively booked for Sunday.

I had two victims ... urr ... volunteers to help me make the assault on Casa Grande Friday morning:  Larry and Robert H.  Casa Grande, the fourth highest peak in the Chisos range and a prominent feature in many photographs of the Basin, towers more than 2000 feet above the campgrounds and village below.  The sheer cliff wall that faces the campground makes for a nearly vertical view from the top, giving the illusion of flight (or so we had heard.)  Casa Grande is technically a trail-less peak, but enough people have climbed it that there is a fairly well-beaten path to the top.  The standard route breaks off from the Lost Mine Trail about a mile in and follows the ridgeline up to the base of the mountain, where the path then goes basically straight up the eroded scree and talus slope visible in image #1068 below.  The rock is very steep (40-45 degree slopes) and loose in places, making the trail a bit terrifying but doable.

We reached the top after about two hours of hiking and scrambling.  From the Basin floor, Casa Grande appears to be a flat-topped rock tower like Devil's Tower in Wyoming.  But in fact, the top of Casa Grande is a talus crater, formed as the mountain slowly eroded over eons.  The standard route to the top ascends through a break in the crater wall, and once inside the crater, one can follow its gentle slope up to several vantage points on the rim.  These vantage points provide one with spectacular and terrifying aerial views down the sheer cliff face to the Basin floor directly below.  They were right-- it does look like you're in an airplane.

We ate our lunch at the top of the world and then proceeded down, intending to complete the Lost Mine Trail if we had both the time and energy.  We had plenty of time and barely enough energy.  The Lost Mine Trail continued up for about a mile and a half after our diversion to Casa Grande, and the view from the top was definitely much better without the fog.  On the way down, we ran into Rae Lynn (Robert's wife) and others from the group who were on their way up.  I'm not sure what transpired, but somehow we ended up going back to camp in a different vehicle.  We arrived at camp well and truly spent.