“Big Bend is named for the great curve of the Rio Grande river where by legend Pecos Bill lassoed a wild tornado and carved a series of magnificent river canyons in remote SW Texas.” With more than a million acres of public land I feel we only caught a glimpse of the “incredibleness” of Big Bend.
We stayed in Terlingua for 2 nights, this town is known for hosting the “Original International Chili Championship Cookoff” and for their Ghost town!
We started out visiting the Big Bend Ranch State Park which winds along the Rio Grande on the northern side of the national park.
The 1st day in Big Bend NP we visited Chisos Basin and hiked the Window View Trail and the Basin Loop!
In the visitors center, where you register for backcountry hiking and camping in the Chisos Basin, they have a map of bear and mountain lion sightings (there were 9 sightings)! We learned what to do if you should encounter a bear or mountain lion!
We drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and during the drive a huge dust and wind storm hit the park, it was a little scary!
We reached the Santa Elena Canyon and quickly walked to check it out but the visibility and wind were pretty bad.
We drove along the Old Maverick Road and saw Luna’s Jacal. The story about this place is fascinating!
The day after the wind/dust storm we drove to the Rio Grande Village campground on the south end of the park. We loved the campground, it was spacious, quiet and well maintained, there is access to hiking trails too! The night sky is AWESOME! On the way we saw a plume of smoke and found out there was a wild fire from the storm.
We hiked to the Boquillas Canyon, it was beautiful. The Rio Grande river is the border between Mexico and the U.S., we could throw a stone to Mexico!?!
Driving along the Rio Grande we stopped at the Boquillas Overlook and noticed people across the river on the Mexico side with a small boat.
On the U.S. side of the river we found a display of items with a little container that said “all items $6 each and the money would go to a school”. We were warned not to purchase anything from vendors along the river, items would be confiscated as contraband!
We did a short hike to Boquillas hot spring, this place was a small resort first developed in 1909 by J.O. Langford.
The hot spring is right along side the Rio Grande, it’s a comfortable 105 degrees.
We ended our visit to Big Bend National Park hiking to see the sunset! It was spectacular!
Big Bend National Park…….beautiful, unique, spectacular and massive! The night sky is unbelievable, I have never seen soooo many stars 🙂
Alpine to Big Bend National Park – 111 miles
