Ward Mountain Trip Report

It felt very nice to finally be on a trail after all of that bushwhacking, a total of about 6 hours. As I was hiking past Laguna Meadows 1 campsite, I crouched down below the grass and growled in a low pitch as about 6 spring breakers were in the middle of a conversation. Their conversation immediately went to whispers. I stood up, made myself known and waved to them as I heard "I HATE YOU" from one of the girls at the campsite. The sign as you're entering the park about it being mountain lion and bear country I am sure gets people a little scared if they have never been to the park before. I got a good laugh out of it and headed on my way. With my water gone, I hiked the remaining 3.4 miles down the Laguna Meadows Trail with dry mouth, but knowing cold Gatorade was waiting for me at The Basin. Overall, a great two days of climbing on my last Spring Break before I graduate.

Back to the Top

Right: Cattail Canyon wash

I bushwhacked my way back up to Pt. 7070. The broad summit of Pt. 7070 proved to be a difficult bushwhack as the trees and foliage were much denser than the peaks on the southwest rim. I met up with the ridge running out to Pt. 6847 and then descended back down to Laguna Meadow to get a nice shot of Emory Peak flanked by some puffy clouds.

Below: Emory Peak from Laguna Meadows

The descent

After spending about 30 minutes on the summit taking in the awesome views, I headed on back down towards my previous summit, Pt. 6935. Before I reached the saddle, I began a bushwhack down around the lower slopes of Pt. 6935, sidestepping my way down towards Cattail Canyon. I arrived at Cattail Canyon to find the stream to be filled with quite a bit of water. No doubt a watering hole for the mountainous wildlife in the remote regions of the Chisos.

Left: Cattail Canyon before the crossing with Vernon Bailey in the background

I bushwhacked on over to the second summit on the southwest rim, Pt. 7150. This is when I got my first O sh@# moment. Pt. 6847 was not Ward and the peak was a long way away with 2 more peaks (Pt. 7077 and Pt. 6935) and a long ridge in between (see picture above). I certainly didn't want to retrace my steps after summitting Ward, so I scoped out a route down into Cattail Canyon and over Pt. 7070 as a return. I began the long Bushwhack on over to Ward. About 3 hours after leaving Laguna Meadows and after climbing 5 summits, I was standing on the top of Ward. The views as usual from a summit in the Chisos were amazing. Most of the major peaks of the Chisos were visible along with a vast view of the desert looking out towards Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Right: Casa Grande zoom from Ward

Above: Pt. 6847 from the Laguna Meadows Trail

I motored up the Laguna Meadows Trail in about 1 hour and 15 minutes hauling up a gallon of water anticipating a fairly hot day. I hiked through the tall grass of Laguna Meadows and proceeded to bushwhack up my first summit, Pt. 7140. Fantastic views of Picacho and the Sierra Quemada Range were visible from the summit.

Right:Picacho Peak (Pt. 5917) from Pt. 7140

Ward Climb March 9, 2007

Blocked by Pt. 6847 in the foreground, Ward is not visible from the Basin. Because of a mislabeled Big Bend map, I thought the climb was going to be easy as Pt. 6847 was labeled as Ward Mountain in a picture. I headed out at about 8:30 a.m. on Friday March 9, 2007 from The Basin via the Laguna Meadows Trail with Pt. 6847 in full view not knowing that this wasn't Ward Mountain and the climb was going to be a lot longer than I thought.

Ward Mountain Overview

Ward Mountain, although lower in height than the other 4 summits that line the southwest rim of the Chisos Mountains, remains the only named summit in the group probably because if its location next to the Window. The precipitous Amon Carter which forms the "gunsight" of the famous Window, is flanked on the north by Vernon Bailey Peak and on the south by Ward. Because of its precipitous slopes near The Window, the only reasonable routes on the peak are from the east making Ward perhaps the most remote peak to reach in all of the Chisos.

Right: Pt. 6935 and Ward from Pt. 7077