Said goodbye to Marfa this morning. Drove to Presidio, then down the river to Lajitas, then Terlingua and Study Butte. Entering the park from the west, the Ranger station was closed. Evidently Columbus Day is a federal holiday and the park is operating on a skeleton crew. So we started to go to the basin but the sign said no openings! So we pulled into the main center at Panther Junction. According to the very helpful ranger there has been no communication between any of the campgrounds today, so no one really knows if any spots are open anywhere.

In the end, we decided to roll the dice, now or never. We had several campsites to choose from and ended up in #22, a decent mix of shade and proximity to the bathroom. We then visited the camp store, which had a good selection of everything one might forget to bring. Like instant decaf coffee, for example. Pricy, but essential.

We then hiked around in an attempt to find the Window *View* trail, a short paved loop supposedly connected to both our campground and the group area. Big fail. We'll see if we can locate it tomorrow afternoon. Either way, we got some good photos, including one of an inquisitive little tarantula visiting our picnic table area.

Now we will go back to the lodge/store area for a quick wifi connection (and to post this) and then a bit of night-time driving looking for critters.