The hub of Big Bend National Park activity is found at the Chisos Basin area which is surrounded by the Chisos Mountains. In fact, many visitors explore nothing past this area with its visitor center, campgrounds and lodge. We even had trouble finding a parking place.  We enjoyed the view of the Chisos Mountains while eating our picnic lunch. Surprisingly, the mountain range is not the tallest in Texas. That honor belongs to several summits in Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Davis Mountains State Park.

There are two trails with the name Windows. The Window Trail is 5.6 miles so we weren’t taking that one. The other is the Window View trail. It’s paved and considerably shorter at 0.3 miles.

The trail was so short that one of my daughters and I decided to walk the 1.8-mile Chisos Basin Loop Trail. I liked that it took us into the basin and we could enjoy walking among what we had seen from above on the Lost Mine Trail. Even though it was the same Chisos Mountains, the lower altitude vantage point made a difference.

At times it was hard to decipher which direction to take but we made it back. What I really liked is that we were hiking among the base of the Chisos mountains that we had seen from above on the Lost Mine Trail.

While we hiked, my husband and other daughter sat outside the gift shop at the lodge. The Chisos Mountain Lodge seems rustic and blends into the scenery. There is not a lobby per se, but a building with the gift shop, restaurant and patio overlooking the basin. Although there are three campgrounds within the park, the Chisos Mountains Lodge is the only hotel/motel type accomodations inside the park.