South Rim Loop via Boot Canyon

The South Rim Loop via Boot Canyon is the premier day hike in Big Bend National Park and one of the finest in Texas, gaining 2,200 feet from the Chisos Basin floor to the 7,400-foot South Rim where the Chihuahuan Desert spreads for literally hundreds of miles into Mexico below. The route climbs through the Chisos oak and pinyon woodland, passes through Boot Canyon -- a narrow, shaded gorge named for a boot-shaped rock formation at its head -- and emerges on the South Rim escarpment for views that rank among the most dramatic in any US national park.

Boot Canyon is the primary nesting site of the Colima warbler, found in the United States only in the Chisos Mountains. Birders seek this trail specifically in April and May to find the species and its dependably productive canyon habitat. The canyon is also excellent for Carmen white-tailed deer, peregrine falcons nesting on the escarpment, and the very occasional mountain lion that uses the high country as its territory. The South Rim itself is a sheer 1,500-foot drop to the desert floor, with nothing between the edge and the distant Sierra del Carmen in Mexico. The loop returns via the Emory Peak spur (optional add-on to reach the park's highest point at 7,832 feet) and descends the Pinnacles Trail back to the basin. Start very early; afternoon thunderstorms develop rapidly in the high Chisos in all seasons.