Big Bend National Park- Day 2

We kind of had a late start on our second day at the park. If you missed our blog post on day one you can read about it here.

We had a lot of things we were planning on doing but we didn't end up getting to all of them. We decided to start off by heading to the Chisos Basin area and hiking part of the Lost Mine Trail. This part of the park is Bear and Mountain Lion country.

Mountain lions and bears...oh my!

Once we turned on Chisos Basin Road we had to stop and get some pictures. It was a beautiful drive. The road has some steep grades and turns. If you are planning on camping in your RV and taking this road, it must be under 24 feet and no trailers larger than 20 feet.

I couldn't resist

Lost Mine Trail

This trail is considered moderate and is a 4.8 mile round trip.

It started off with a couple more warnings about the mountain lions and bears and what to do if you encounter either of them. It also mentioned to not bring small children on the trail. As we were hiking though, we of course passed a family with small children, lol.

We didn't have much time and heard that at the 1 mile marker there were some beautiful views of Casa Grande and Juniper Canyon so we stopped there.

Not bad

Chris approved.

We didn't see any mountain lions or bears but saw a couple butterflies. Not quite the same.

Chisos Mountains Lodge Restaurant

We were hungry and there really aren't many restaurants in Marathon so we decided to have a late lunch in the park. I had a veggie burger and Chris had a blue cheeseburger.

The food was just okay but the view from our table was pretty nice.

They have this old phone booth in the shop on the way out of the restaurant. The blue sign said it was for "entertainment only". I decided to amuse myself by getting a picture with it.

My "hold on I'm on the phone face"

Fossil Discovery Exhibit

This is a new exhibit that just opened in January 2017. We didn't know what it was but we decided to stop and check it out on our way out of the park.

We found out that around 130 million years ago Big Bend was a giant shallow sea. It kept evolving over time and around 70 million years ago it was a swampy environment inhabited by dinosaurs and giant alligators.

Fossil of the Deinosuchus  which means terrible crocodile.

According to their website "Big Bend National Park has over 70 Cretaceous era fossils, the most of any national park in the country".

There was a small trail to an overlook where you can see the mountains.

The layers of the mountain depict a timeline of the different periods (see pictures below with the  explanations).

Even though we had two days to explore, we feel like we just barely scratched the surface.

We would love to go back and stay at the park sometime. Have you been? If so what were some of your favorite things?