Big Bend National Park

 

Scott and I on the trail to Santa Elena Canyon

A view up the Canyon from the end of the 
trail.

This was our second visit to the park. Three years ago on our first cross country trip with Baby during the pandemic, we spent 3 nights at the Terlingua Ranch about 40 miles away and then 2 nights in Big Bend State Park. Two full days were spent exploring the National Park. But this time we finally scored 5 nights right in the park, 1 at Cottonwood Campground and 4 at the Rio Grande Campground.  And that was at the last minute as our 6 month ahead reservations were canceled by the Park due to tree work at our site! They notified us two weeks before our arrival! Luckily Scott managed to get us new reservations through a APP on the phone that checks cancelations and notifies you. 

Looking down the Santa Elena Trail towards the Rio Grande. Way off in the distance on the other side of the river you can see some of the artists.

Another view of the trail and the river, looking back.

Here you can see the artist's painting and the
subject right ahead!

These campgrounds are all bare bones but our Rio Grande site allowed generator use for several hours a day. That allowed us to beef up our batteries and charge our electronic devices. There was no cell service but we were able to use the wifi at the Rio Grande store for awhile each day and keep up with email. This park is enormous! Exploring the park means hours of driving and it's 60 miles from the nearest big towns, Alpine and Marathon. It's located along the border with Mexico and the Rio Grande River. We could have taken a little ferry over to the small town across the river but we didn't bring our passports. 

Our first day we hiked into the Santa Elena Canyon. A group of artists were spending a week doing plein air painting in the Park and we ran into them there and in several other places during our stay. It was fun to see their varied takes on the same spot. The canyon is spectacular. The trail crosses a dry stream bed and then climbs up to a viewpoint over the river and into the canyon. Then it descends and runs along the bottom of the canyon on the U.S. side. Right across the way is Mexico but the cliffs there are straight up. 

It was very hot during the days at the Park. The top temp was at the Rio Grande campground on our second day - 99. But it cooled down to the 60 range at night.

These displays of souvenirs from Mexico are 
in a number of places along the river. There is
a tin box with a slot for payments - honor system!

There is a large assortment of goods!

The fellow we met on the Boquillos Canyon trail and bought tamales for a snack.

The view up the Canyon from the beach at the end of the trail. 

The next day we moved over to the Rio Grande campground and hiked the Boquillos Canyon Trail. We ran into several Mexicans on horses that come over illegally to sell souvenirs and food. The area is so vast that the Rangers can't patrol everywhere so they manage to come over and back most days. We bought 6 tamales ("Made by my wife this morning"), still hot. They were good. This trail goes over a ridge and then down to the beach along the river, just before it descends into Boquillos Canyon.. Later we attempted to drive down the Old Ore Road, one of the "four wheel drive, high clearance roads" that a Ranger recommended. Although it was not scary like our experience in Canyonlands it was so rough that we worried about our tires and our spines too from the bouncing. So thought better of it and turned around. 

We saw a variety of wildlife at our campsite -
these Javelinas, some in groups of 6 or more, 
roamed around our campsite.

Road runners were everywhere - boy can they
move fast.

That's a roadrunner right on the top left edge of
our rug. 

And cattle too grazed around the RVs!

A later trip to Dugout Wells was more successful and it was very interesting to read the history of these small settlements that somehow survived for many years out here in the desert. Our last full day in the park we spent up at Chicos Basin. There is a campground there but the road up is so steep, narrow and winding that there is a limit of 20 feet on an trailer.  We packed a lunch and did the Basin Loop Trail. This had beautiful views and was just the right length for us now - 2 miles with elevation changes. We took our time too! We were able to help a young couple that had come up the road on their e-bikes and her's was out of battery power. We had a battery charger in our truck for our e-bikes and charged up her battery while sitting and enjoying their company. 

A  view from the Basin Loop Trail up hill - two trails head out west from the Basin. We went up the Laguna Meadow Trail, across the Basin Loop and down the Pinnacle. 

Another view back to the Basin from the trail

A section of the Basin Loop Trail. We stopped along the way and had lunch. The temperatures up at the Basin were milder than down at the Rio Grande. It was a high of 80 at Noon. 

The beginning of the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail is on boardwalks crossing a marshy area. 

Then it climbs up to an overlook of the river and marshes.

That afternoon we finished up our hikes with a surprisingly lovely and varied trail right out of the Rio Grande campground - the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail. The next day we were off again north and then west to Van Horn, TX. On the way we passed through several charming historic towns. The first, Marathon, population 477, had the lovely Gage Hotel built in 1927, and the French Grocer. Food & Wine magazine says "Calling it a grocery store wouldn't quite do it justice." It's an amazingly well stocked  country store with a music venue out back. We walked around town and chose (from several good alternatives) the Oasis Grill - good hamburger and chicken fried steak (Scott of course). 

We drove through Alpine and Marfa next and both are worth more time, but we didn't have it. There is a big art community in Marfa - it's very upscale for this section of the state. About 10 miles out of town is the famous Marfa Prada Store. Built in 2005 by the Marfa Arts Community as an art installation. The products were donated by Prada! It is in the middle of nowhere and locked up tight.  It's really quite a sight. But we had miles yet to go and continued on to Van Horn. More in my next post!

The Prada Store art installation.

A closer up

It seems that putting your lock on a fence is 
everywhere - all over Europe and now in the 
most remote sections of the USA

There wasn't a lot of merchandise in the store, 
but what there was, was choice.  (that's a quote
from Pat and Mike, Spencer's character, well
not quite, the quote says "cherce")