Big Bend National Park

After spending time in Alpine, Texas, we drove the 100 miles south, to Big Bend National Park. We stayed at the Roadrunner Travelers RV Park, in Terlingua, TX, February 4th through the 11th.
The trip began with a deer darting out in front of the "bus", but Don being the great driver that he is, he was able to avoid it. A win-win for both us and the deer!
Big Bend National Park is in a remote part of southwestern Texas, with limited supplies. The Park's southern boundary sits on 245 miles of the Rio Grande River, the boundary between the US and Mexico. There are only 2 gas stations, one in Terlingua, the other in the Park. During our first few days, the Terlingua station had no gas, so we had to plan our refueling.
Big Bend National Park is a uniquely beautiful volcanic, desert landscape, with many varieties of cactus, and other plants and living things that want to stick, sting or bite you. The Park has it's own mountain range, contained within the park, called the Chisos Mountains, with it's highest peak being Emory Peak, at 7825 feet. There are Mountain Lions and Bears, but we never saw any. There are over 450 bird species, including the Roadrunner, which we had several encounters. The Chisos Basin and mountain range have a different feel than the desert below. There are pine trees and less cactus, at this higher elevation.
The Park also has a Fossil Exhibit, displaying bones of the many fossils they've discovered in the area. We were impressed with this exhibit, which is also a great place to go for a picnic.
We visited Santa Elena Canyon and Boquillos Canyon, both sitting on the Rio Grande and shared with Mexico. Both have very high walls, which make it difficult to cross the Rio Grande. While hiking back into Boquillas Canyon, we encountered several Mexican men on horseback, who routinely cross the Rio Grande and sell their wares on the US side. The Park Rangers say they just don't have the staff to stop it, but they haven't encountered any problems as of yet. Even the Mexican livestock cross the river and graze the Park lands. We encountered a couple of Burros and saw a few horses, freely grazing what they could find.
One day we drove the scenic drive, through Big Bend Ranch State Park, along the Rio Grande, to Presidio. At he beginning, the cliffs were high and rocky, but then leveled out, the closer we got to Presidio. As we got closer to Presidio, we encountered a sand storm, which made visibility a challenge at times. Because it was a flatter landscape, in this area, we were able to see towns and farms on the Mexican side of the river. On our way back, we did encounter 3 Lamas, just grazing along the road, free-range style. Its a different world down there!
One day, we rented a Jeep, to more easily get to some trails that we wanted to hike. We were told that the roads were not maintained and required a 4-wheel drive, with high clearance, so instead of risking our Expedition, we rented the Jeep Gladiator. We were able to hike up to Balanced Rock, drive out to Daggar Flat, where we saw the giant Daggar Yuccas, and hike to Ernst Tinaja, where we saw carved pools in the rock, and beautiful rock formations. It was totally worth it, because the roads were very rough! Our Image Stabilization, on our GoPro, doesn't really show you just how rough they really were.
Big Bend National Park offers a lot to do and kept us very busy. We took drives, hiked and even got to ride our bikes. Our campground was next to an authentic Mexican restaurant, which was very good, so we took advantage of it more than once. We began this part of our trip, not particularly fond of the desert landscape and all the cactus, but near the end, we developed a fond appreciation for it's unique beauty.

[@mekay235]

Wow Awesome

[@hikingwithjackieboy]

Big Bend National Park is a beautiful place

[@JoinUsOnOurJourney]

Yes! It has its own unique beauty. We really enjoyed the hikes.

[@leemeyer748]

I’ve traveled here, hiked and canoed the river. Grand wonderful place. A childhood friend had lived here and we went his funeral and after his event we visited all his friends that were there.

[@JoinUsOnOurJourney]

I’m sorry for the loss of your childhood friend. You’re right, in that it is a grand and wonderful place. Hope you enjoyed the video.