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Winter trip 2026 - Day 7: Rocks and more rocks

Our site was down in between several hills, so it was tough to get a good view of the sunrise. Neither one of us is quite sure what time it is. My body is on eastern time, my watch and phone switched over to central, and for some reason Joe has been on mountain time. Good thing for us, we got nowhere to be.

We headed back to the center of the park to do a hike in the Chisos Mountains. There's a lodge, visitors center and camp store all grouped together, and we parked there to get to the trailhead for the Window Trail. 
Round trip was 6 miles, out and back, and it was all downhill to get to the end of the trail and an awesome view. 
We headed back, trying to make good time because it's only getting hotter as the minutes tick by.   There were many places for shade breaks for the first two miles back, and we stopped at one for a snack and 4 Mexican jays kept us company.  The final mile, also the steepest part, was pretty grueling and full sun.  
Back at the van, we had some food and hung out with a roadrunner. 

Our site for tonight, Robbers Roost, was the most secluded of them all. We decided to get there early and have time to just hang out and relax. We left the main road and it was 75 minutes to get to the site. 
Secluded for sure. We sat in the shade of the van, swatted flies, played games, and enjoyed the view. 
We did some housekeeping, organized our food, cleaned out spills in the refrigerator, and realized that everything is coated with a layer of dust, all of the counters, dishes, food, us. This is a dry place.
Just before the sun set, the wind died down and it got so quiet. For sure one of the quietest places I've ever been. This continued into the rest of the night. I could hear a mouse squeaking, chewing on something and knocking over rocks. 
A tiny sliver of moon was up in the low western sky and it set below the mountains before long. We enjoyed another clear night. 


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