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After I drove to Castolon I continued along the road to Santa Elena Canyon. It was early afternoon. It’s the farthest west point in Big Bend accessible by a paved road. It’s a beautiful scenic area. There is a path that climbs part way up the canyon wall, and leads to the trail through the canyon. I walked around the base but did not tackle the path.

Then I backtracked along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and headed east to get to Chisos Basin Road, a winding road that ended at the Visitor Center. I walked a path around the Basin and then found a spot to watch the sunset through The Window, a gap that provided a western view.

This map shows the topography of Big Bend. You can see that Chisos Basin is full of mountain peaks as well as grassy woodlands. This is a unique area of the park.

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Detailed map of Chisos Basin. I went to the small loop shown as Window View Trail, just to the left of the Visitor Center. There were a number of other folks there and we all chatted while we waited for the sunset. It was done around 7:30 so I walked back to my truck and drove back to my RV park. It was almost completely dark by the time I got there, about 8pm.

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