Mule Ears Trail, Big Bend National Park
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Mule Ears Trail
After crossing typical Chihuahuan Desert land of dry washes, cactus flats and small ridges, with views of the volcanic Mule Ears Peaks, this trail arrives at Mule Ears Spring, a cool, cottonwood tree-lined oasis
Length: 1.9 miles, to Mule Ears Spring
Elevation change: 200 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Type: One way. Path continues another 1.5 miles to a junction with the Smoky Creek Trail
Usage: Low to medium
Season: Fall, winter, spring
Trailhead: End of a spur road off Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive
Rating (1-5): ★★★★★
Elevation change: 200 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Type: One way. Path continues another 1.5 miles to a junction with the Smoky Creek Trail
Usage: Low to medium
Season: Fall, winter, spring
Trailhead: End of a spur road off Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive
Rating (1-5): ★★★★★
For a close-up view of the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park, the 3.8 mile (round trip) Mule Ears Trail is a good choice. It doesn't really pass any 'spectacular geology', as promised by the NPS park brochure but the scenery is interesting enough. The usual destination is the spring of the title, a year-round water source at the center of an oasis of cottonwood trees and bushes - quite a contrast to the hot, arid surroundings - although the path does continue, meeting a much longer trail that connects the Chisos Mountains with the Rio Grande.
The land in this part of Big Bend National Park is low in elevation, below 3,000 feet, with no shade, and temperatures are likely to rise above 100°F most of the time from May to September so the trail is best avoided during the middle of the day in summer.
The Mule Ears Trail starts at Mule Ears Overlook, an elevated viewpoint at the end of a short spur road off Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, 8 miles north of Castolon. The ears are twin pillars of black igneous rock, rhyolite, part of a dike near the core of an ancient volcano, that now rise above the desert, 2.5 miles southeast. Most of the land hereabouts is undulating, stony hills with sandy ravines, all covered by well-separated desert plants - at least a dozen species of cacti plus the usual sotol, lechuguilla and yucca.
The path descends a little, traverses a gently-sloping hillside then crosses barren stony flats, almost level for much of the way. Scattered specimens of the Texas barrel are the most prominent of the cactus species. The Mule Ears become temporarily hidden by an intervening mound, as the trail drops down into a wide watercourse, just downstream of Trap Spring, its small water source hidden amongst a tangle of trees and bushes. After climbing a little up the far side of the drainage, the route continues across a flat plain, with better views of the Ears, and of Goat Mountain to the north, this an outlier of the Chisos Mountains.
The trail crosses a second dry canyon, on the far side of which is Mule Ears Spring, at the center of a larger area of greenery. Nearby is the remains of a stone dwelling, with old pipework leading to the stream. Clear, drinkable water always flows, but the volume is reduced to a trickle in dry weather, with a pool a few inches deep. The stream usually sinks below ground after a short distance. From the spring it is 1.5 miles along a lesser-used path to a junction in the wide valley of Smoky Creek, from where one route heads north to the mountains, the other, south to the Rio Grande.
The land in this part of Big Bend National Park is low in elevation, below 3,000 feet, with no shade, and temperatures are likely to rise above 100°F most of the time from May to September so the trail is best avoided during the middle of the day in summer.
Trailhead
The Mule Ears Trail starts at Mule Ears Overlook, an elevated viewpoint at the end of a short spur road off Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, 8 miles north of Castolon. The ears are twin pillars of black igneous rock, rhyolite, part of a dike near the core of an ancient volcano, that now rise above the desert, 2.5 miles southeast. Most of the land hereabouts is undulating, stony hills with sandy ravines, all covered by well-separated desert plants - at least a dozen species of cacti plus the usual sotol, lechuguilla and yucca.
The Trail
The path descends a little, traverses a gently-sloping hillside then crosses barren stony flats, almost level for much of the way. Scattered specimens of the Texas barrel are the most prominent of the cactus species. The Mule Ears become temporarily hidden by an intervening mound, as the trail drops down into a wide watercourse, just downstream of Trap Spring, its small water source hidden amongst a tangle of trees and bushes. After climbing a little up the far side of the drainage, the route continues across a flat plain, with better views of the Ears, and of Goat Mountain to the north, this an outlier of the Chisos Mountains.
The Spring
The trail crosses a second dry canyon, on the far side of which is Mule Ears Spring, at the center of a larger area of greenery. Nearby is the remains of a stone dwelling, with old pipework leading to the stream. Clear, drinkable water always flows, but the volume is reduced to a trickle in dry weather, with a pool a few inches deep. The stream usually sinks below ground after a short distance. From the spring it is 1.5 miles along a lesser-used path to a junction in the wide valley of Smoky Creek, from where one route heads north to the mountains, the other, south to the Rio Grande.
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