The Lee Family: Spring Break Day 3: Hiking Dog Canyon, Big Bend National Park

We all woke up refreshed and ready to hike Tuesday morning. The Gage Hotel offered coffee, fruit and muffins, but we felt like something more substantial, although CK and I both got a cup of coffee which was honestly one of the best cups I've had in a long time! The woman in the lobby told us to go down the street to Johnny B's for breakfast, one of maybe three places to eat in town and conveniently owned by the Gage. Once we got there it was so busy that we decided to try something else. We ate at a little place that had opened a few days before called Pickle Creek Market and Deli. We all had biscuits and eggs and ordered a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our hike, then headed out for the 60 mile drive to the Big Bend National Park entrance. The drive was through 60 miles of privately-owned arid pastures with a few cows. Other than a US Border Patrol check point on the other side of the road, there was virtually nothing to see but the landscape. We made it to the Park entrance and asked about a good day hike for kids. The ranger gave us a map and suggested a short hike into Dog Canyon which was also located about 10 miles down the road.

We parked along the road and got ready for our hike, which we learned would be about 2 miles into the canyon and 2 back. We brought a backpack with water, sandwiches, sunscreen, camera, and just about anything we might need. We also brought the carrier backpack for Olivia once she got tired and didn't want to walk anymore. Sofia was SO excited to go for a hike and after posing for a picture with her sister, she ran around saying she had so much energy and couldn't wait to get started. We headed out and were passed by a few other young couples out for a hike, but otherwise didn't see many out on the trail, which was very well marked. Sofia had so much energy that she would run ahead and then wait for us, however, at one point she was so far ahead that we couldn't see her and she couldn't hear us since the wind was blowing against us. The trail snaked to a dry riverbed and a sign stated that Dog Canyon was to the left and another trail heading elsewhere was to the right. I got worried that she may have gone right instead, so CK ran ahead toward Dog Canyon while Olivia and I headed to the right. After walking for a short distance, I figured she stuck with the right direction since it didn't seem like there were any fresh shoe prints in the riverbed sand. Olivia and I turned around and headed toward Dog Canyon again. We rounded another few bends in the dry riverbed and Sofia and CK were waiting for us. We told Sofia she could run ahead but had to keep us in sight or wait for us. We only walked another 30 minutes before we were actually in the middle of Dog Canyon. Walking in the riverbed was hot so we sat in the shade to cool off and ate our sandwiches. It was actually pretty windy through the canyon, and it felt refreshing. Sofia noticed a small hill and wanted to hike up that too, so she and CK set off to investigate. Of course, once Olivia noticed they were up on a hill, she wanted to go with them, so CK helped her up too.

After that, we headed back toward the car. It definitely felt warm walking back through the dry riverbed knowing how much further we had. We walked along, this time with Olivia on CK's shoulders and Sofia with a little less steam than she had on the way in. Once out of the riverbed it did start to feel like we had 50 more miles to walk, especially since we couldn't even see the car or road and the landscape looked like it stretched on forever. At one point Olivia wanted to be on my back, so we stuck her into the backpack and I carried here. When we were maybe a mile away, Sofia started getting really tired, so I asked her how many trial markers she thought were left between where we were and the end. The trail markers were little stacks of rocks. She said 30, so we made a game out of counting them and of course, we would disagree on whether a small stack of rocks really was a marker or not. It distracted her enough. At the beginning she said her energy level was a 12 out of 10, but now when I asked she said it was a 4. We made it back to the car and both girls were shot. Sofia was so hot that she immediately took off her shoes, socks and jeans! We loaded up the girls and our stuff and decided to head back to the hotel for a shower. Both girls were out like lights and slept the entire drive back to Marathon!

The girls all ready to start the hike