Day 4 of 2022 Big Bend National Park Trip, South Rim of Chisos Mountains and Emory Peak

The fourth day of my 2022 Thanksgiving trip to Big Bend National Park. I planned an epic hike for the day, covering both Chisos South Rim and Emory Peak.

I planned for something epic, and I got it. According to AllTrails, this is a 26.6km loop trail with 1100m elevation gain (AllTrails shows 28km roundtrip, but it's slightly shorter starting from Chisos Basin Visitor Center), covering both south and east rim of Chisos Mountains, together with Emory Peak, the highest peak in Big Bend National Park.
I decided to take the loop in the counterclockwise direction, trying to have sceneries (Lost Mine Mountains from East Rim, fields around Santa Elena Canyon from Laguna Meadow and South Rim) in the light as much as possible. It turned out to be a great choice, as I reached Emory Peak towards the end of the day when the Lost Mine Mountains to the east were a much more spectacular sight than the few nameless ones to the west, towards the sun. It would be the other way around if I took the clockwise direction and reached it in the morning.

I broke down the trail into the different sections in the following photo.

• From trailhead to Laguna Meadow (red), constant elevation gain.
• From Laguna Meadow to South Rim (purple), mostly flat, one viewpoint (orange circle) near campsite "South Rim 2" with views of Boot Canyon.
• My detour exploring around the first viewpoint at South Rim (brown), the end of which offered nice views of fields to the west, including Santa Elena Canyon.
• Trail along south rim (orange), with multiple overlooks along the way.
• A short section of trail along east rim (plum), the start and end (red circles) are probably the best views except from Emory Peak.
• East rim down to Boot Canyon (lime), no overlooks.
• Boot Canyon to Pinnacle Pass (aqua and yellow), passing Boot Cabin (green circle).
• The spur to the summit of Emory Peak (blue), from Pinnacle Pass (black circle).
• Pinnacle Pass back down to trailhead (green), passing Boulder Meadow (blue circle) with views of some rock formations.

After a short drive to the visitor center at Chisos Basin and some warmup, I started my hike at 8:20am.
Here's GPS tracking:

Between Trailhead and Laguna Meadow

The first approximate 5km of the trail followed a valley between Emory Peak and Ward Mountain, reaching what felt to me like a mountain pass at the edge of Laguna Meadow. This section featured constant elevation gain, and many switchbacks. It's still early in the day as the sun was behind the soaring Chisos Mountains. Apart from the physical workout, it felt like a chill morning stroll.

Before I headed deep into the canyon, the trail gave a preview of the few mountains that I would grow very familiar with throughout the day.

And here were some final glimpses of Vernon Bailey Peak before I reached Laguna Meadow. Laguna Meadow is a part of Chisos Mountains that isn't visible from the basin.

Laguna Meadow to South Rim

Finally, I reached Laguna Meadow at 10am, where the surrounding landscape opened up and the elevation gain eased. There was occasional bright sunshine since I left the valley behind.

 

At a notable switchback of the trail, I got a preview of the towering cliffs that made up Chisos' rims (slideshow below), where I was heading towards.

After that, the trail passed through a burned hillside, with the tip of Emory Peak popping up behind the hill in the foreground.

Then it reached Boot Canyon, but at some distance above it so I got the views of Lost Mine Peak in between its hillsides. It just felt that I never lost sight of rocks that were interestingly shaped. Later today I would be hiking in Boot Canyon on my way back, and I identified some of the trails that I was to take.

Then the trail continued, onto what felt like the "west rim" of Chisos, with views of distant fields to the west occasionally popping up between vegetation.

And here's a slideshow of the typical trail conditions in this section.

First Overlook at South Rim

Finally, at 11:20am, I reached the first overlook along Chisos's South Rim, called "South Rim Viewpoint" on OpenStreetMaps.
The viewpoint had some sort of "rim" view to the east, but nowhere as extensive as the South Rim for the next part of my hike. Nonetheless, it offered great views of numerous smaller hills to the south, albeit against the sun. I ran into another group of hikers that were taking snack breaks at the site. Since it offered the day's first views of land farther south beyond Chisos Basin, we were nonetheless all excited.

The viewpoint only offered views to the south, but since vegetation was sparse and there were more rocks than soil on the ground, I found a path (that existed on OpenStreetMaps) leading west for about 300m following the cliff, at the end of which the cliff was facing west, with views of familiar places that I visited two days ago (like the iconic Santa Elena Canyon, of which I got a preview of earlier along the trail). Since it's west of the "South Rim Viewpoint", I called that spot (and the cliffs around it) southwest rim, with some of the views in photos below.

Since the trail leading up to the "South Rim Viewpoint" was largely flat, I wasn't too tired nor hungry, so I only spent about 20 minutes between posing for photos and grabbing some snacks and rest at the viewpoint before continuing on.

South Rim to East Rim

The next 2.5km of trail follows the South Rim of Chisos Mountains. It's largely a comfortable stroll through open fields, and at times, scorched forests. It's one of the most scenic sections of trail for the day, with vistas popping up from time to time for me to rest my legs against the breadth of open fields with gentle rolling hills to the south. Despite the trail never came with any exposure, from some of the overlooks, one could still appreciate the majesty of the cliffs.

It's worth noting that during certain times of the year, the section of south/east rim trail beyond the junction of Boot Canyon Trail was closed to provide habitat for hatching vultures.

East Rim to Boot Canyon

I reached the southeast corner of the entire loop at 12:45pm, which was an overlook with views of a ridgeline to the southeast. Together with another overlook 200m later, these were the two overlooks offering the best views of the day, apart from the summit of Emory Peak.

200m later(about 3km from the first overlook along the south rim), near the spur leading to "East Rim 3" campsite, there's an overlook with probably better views, of Lost Mine Peak in its entirety, and the southern face of Toll Mountain, gorgeously lit by the early afternoon sun. It's likely the only view of Juniper Canyon of the day, overlooking its entire length.

It's a pity that overlooks had been so prevalent along the south and east rim, that I only stayed for 3 minutes at this spot, not knowing it's the last overlook along the Chisos rim.

After that, the trail passed to the south of "Townsend Point" on maps (didn't go to the actual point, so there were no views), through a partially burned forest back to Boot Canyon.

The trail between the last overlook of East Rim and Boot Canyon lasted about 1.7km. Emory Peak was a constant sight, but not as spectacular as Lost Mine Peak from the previous overlook. In addition, the trail was from time to time a bit overgrown. On the good side, the gentle downhill meant it didn't take that much physical effort to cover. In addition, I identified parts of the trail I covered earlier on the opposite side of Boot Canyon.

Boot Canyon to Pinnacle Pass

At 1:25pm, I joined Boot Canyon Trail. The trail followed a (mostly dry) creek that originated from Chisos South Rim down into Juniper Canyon. Most of the trail was near the canyon floor, with puddles of water visible, reminiscent of The Window the previous day.

Deep in Boot Canyon, I was delightfully shocked to find autumn colors this late in the season.

Surrounded by deep forests, Boot Cabin was approximately the lowest elevation point between East Rim and Pinnacles Pass. I left Boot Cabin at 1:50pm, making my way to Pinnacles Pass.

Spur to Emory Peak

I reached Pinnacles Pass at around 2:20pm, joining what later turned out to be the day's last group of hikers heading towards Emory Peak. The spur towards Emory Peak was 2.3km one-way with about 240m elevation gain.

The trail towards Emory Peak was on a gentle incline with a few switchbacks, which seemed a bit unnecessary as I prefer a straighter and shorter path. If one can handle the rock scrambling at the end, then a slightly steeper trail shouldn't post any problems.

On a different note, the views along the trail were stellar, a well-earned reprieve from the constant elevation gain.

To reach the summit of Emory Peak there were, in my opinion, two short sections of YDS class 3 scrambling (with some possible class 4 variations). In my opinion they were very manageable, with some photos below:

Emory Peak Summit

Finally, I reached the summit of Emory Peak just past 3pm.
It's the highest peak in Big Bend National Park, the views were extensive, from Chisos Basin and Vernon Bailey Peak to the north, to Casa Grande Peak with its towering walls, and the Lost Mine Mountain that rose above Toll Mountain in the foreground, to the south rim of Chisos (despite they didn't have that "cliff" feeling from this angle), and the extensive fields to the southeast, backed by the impressive Sierra del Carmen mountains reflecting sunlight, to the various hills and cliffs to the west (that were unfortunately against the light).

Standing on top of Emory Peak, one couldn't help but feel accomplished, reaching the paramount center stage upheld by throngs of mountains at its flanks. As if for a brief moment, that reigns supreme over the Chisos Mountains.

Before leaving, I took the following video with panoramic views.

After staying about 45 minutes at the summit of Emory Peak, I started heading down at 3:50pm, reaching Pinnacles Pass at 4:25pm. After that, it's 5.5km of continuous downhill back to the trailhead in Chisos Basin.

Pinnacles Pass to Trailhead

Despite next to seemingly steep cliffs, the trail somehow managed to find a series of switchbacks and make its way down from Pinnacles Pass. Even more amazingly, there's no shortage of trees along the trail, some even in full foliage colors.

About 2.7km from the trailhead, the trail reached a place called "Boulder Meadow". It's where elevation change eased, and one entered a relatively open field with views of some striking boulders up the Chisos Mountains, ranging from Casa Grande Peak to the east and Emory Peak to the west. It's getting late and dark, so despite being against the light, the views were actually pretty good.

There were a series of campsites at Boulder Meadow, where I ran into a group that somehow recognized me from earlier today. They camped at Boulder Meadow, took the same loop as me but in opposite directions. I quite admired their outdoor spirit.

 

The remainder of the trail wasn't that remarkable. It's getting dark and the colors started to get vivid. I decided to take a shortcut at Roosevelt Stone Cottages. And with that, I got back to my car just before 6pm, about 9.5 hours after I left it, concluding an epic day.

END