After we arrive and check in, we start off on our first hike. We think we have time to make it the 5-mile round trip to the Window and back before dinner.
The lodge is located in the Chisos Mountains Basin, which tips like a bowl to the west. A narrow crack in the mountains allows the water to pour over the lip of the bowl.
The hike down is easy, but the hike back up to the lodge is suddenly steep at the end. It’s not difficult, but the old people among us had to take frequent rest breaks. Only the promise of a cold Fat Tire kept us going.
Watching the sun set through the Window (although this time of year it is a little south) is the joy of having dinner at the lodge restaurant. Tonight there was a great show of lightning as curtains of rain fell on the desert outside the basin.