By Steve Butrym
Austin American-Statesman

It was only the first day of my trip and already I was questioning the idea of spending five days camping in the desert. Although I had camped all over the United States and even spent some time in the rain forests of Venezuela, I had never camped where there wasn't at least a spring, creek or well for as far as you could see.

We stopped by the Panther Pass Ranger Station to secure a permit for primitive camping, choosing a very remote site with no facilities so that we could experience the whole park. We even changed sites daily to see as much as we could in the short time we had.

The sweet smell of flowering honey mesquite trees greeted us at our campsite. Hundreds of buzzing bees were gathering pollen from the trees and blooming cacti across the plain.

We decided to take a short hike to the top of one of the small mountains nearby. The temperature was cool with a slight breeze from the west.

There were no formal hiking trails in the vicinity of our camp, so we headed up the mountain on foot, armed with three quarts of water, sunglasses, hats, strong hiking boots and, of course, my camera.

The first half of the hike went well; the grade was not too steep. But, I was not prepared for the aggressiveness of the plant life. Everything has spines, needles or barbs, sort of semi-offensive weapons and the variety of flowers was surprising.

After climbing higher it was easy to see why in Comanche folklore Big Bend was created last by the great spirit: ``It is said that when the Great Spirit finished making the rest of the world that he dumped all the remaining rocks on Big Bend."

Everywhere we looked there was nothing but rocks -- layer upon layer, big ones and tiny ones. There was no exposed dirt -- only rocks, rocks that shifted and slipped with every step. They moved under our feet, slowing our progress and wearing us down.

Halfway through our water we decided to start back, having failed to reach our destination. Two hours later we dragged ourselves back into camp just in time to save our tarp from being blown across the desert by an incoming wind storm. It was the only shade we had seen since leaving camp.

After our first day, we learned to travel when the animals do -- the mornings and evenings -- but not in the middle of the day.

We traveled to Santa Elena Canyon where you can drive first to an overlook and see the Rio Grande with the Sierra Del Carmen mountains towering above it.

We decided to take in the Hot Springs, which are at the end of a short path easily reached by most people. The spring water is a constant 105 degrees year round, fed by underground thermal ducts. The springs, which have early cave paintings on the walls, have been used by man for over 10,000 years.

We also visited the "Window," a rock formation at the end of the Chisos basin. All of the spring runoff from the basin is funneled through this opening. You have to travel down a pretty tough trail for about two or three miles to get to the window. There are horses available for a nominal fee (worth it because the trail is rather steep going back up).

The basin is referred to as an island in an ocean of desert. It is always much cooler there with its circle of mountains to regulate the mean temperature and humidity. The walk down to the bottom of the basin was rocky but the numerous switchbacks evened out the grade. We even met a couple who had come down earlier in the day. He was 72. She was 68.

After working our way back out of the basin, we went straight to the Hot Springs for a short soak before heading back to camp.

Cost: Primitive camping site passes are free, first come, first serve. There is a one-time entry fee of $5 per vehicle to the park that is good for seven days.

Accommodations: Big Bend, for all its rugged beauty, has ample creature comforts. At the Chisos Basin, there is a nice motel-like lodge, a good restaurant and gift shop. There is also a convenience store at the campground at Rio Grande village, one of the three major campgrounds in the park, with coin-operated showers and laundry machines.

Trailer hookups: The only travel trailer hook-ups are at Rio Grande.