State #35 Texas – Big Bend National Park

It was a looooonnnnggg drive from San Antiono. Big Bend National Park is in Southwest Texas and it’s not close to anything! It is a very large park and very spread out. If you’re looking for solitude, trust me, you can find it here.

So I took lots of scenery pictures. The sun felt so hot shining in through the windows.

The moon was out; big and bright white. I tried taking numerous pictures but they just didn’t quite capture the moment. I’m sorry I’m not a better photographer, if I was, you would want to pack your bags and go see this amazing country but instead you get my mediocre pictures of amazing places.

We stayed in the little town of Alpine. It was about 1 hr and 1/2 away from the park.

Marathon will get you about 30 minutes closer but it’s still a long way out a road that’s nothing but ranches except for this Target. We weren’t really sure what this was but we met some people from Fort Worth and they said it was an artisy thing and that there was another little building with Prada on it instead of Target. When you have a long drive like this, it’s the little things that keep you entertained.

I love this picture Trevor took of Mason. (Yes, I am well aware, of the dangers of taking pictures in the middle of the road. I assure you, there was nothing coming for MILES and MILES when this picture was taken). This picture is such a metaphor for his life and all of our lives. There’s a road ahead of us and we chose how to proceed; slow and steady taking in all the sights or speeding down the road missing the beauty around us to get to some ultimate vision of success. And for him, he has his whole future ahead of him. Scary and exciting all at the same time.

But finally we came across the sign we’d been waiting for….

Then it’s another 3 miles to the entrance and the first Visitor Center – Persimmon, or what I like to call “our potty break”. From there it’s another 26 miles or so to the next Visitor Center – Panther Junction. Due to the size and remote location of this park, you will find three gas stations, a couple small convenience stores, a full service post office, and a basic restaurant within the park. We stopped at Panther Junction and watched the video and then headed out toward the Rio Grande Village. We stopped a few miles down the road for a picnic lunch. Such great weather.

The boys learned about the different cacti in the park and it was cool to find out that the blind cactus only grows in the Chihuahuan Desert.

The park is over 800,000 acres and for more than 1,000 miles the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo form the boundary between Texas and Mexico, of which, Big Bend administers about 118 miles for recreational use. This allows for an opportunity to cross over into the Mexican village of Boquillas (Bo-Key-us). The Port of Entry is open Wednesday through Sunday (at least while we were there). But don’t forget your passport and birth certificates for the kiddos as this is a real boarder crossing.

With passports in hand, we left the port of entry and walked down to the Rio Grande. From there we took an insanely short rowboat ride across the river. Ok, so here’s how this works. The rowboat ride is $5/person round trip. You can walk across the river if the water’s not too high. The park ranger will let you know.

Could we have just waded the river? Yes. Would it save us some money? Yes. BUT…I don’t want to get wet and tourism is the main source of income for this tiny town so supporting them keeps this adventure going and finally it is all part of the adventure. Once on the other side, you can walk into town (about a 1/4 mile) or you can ride a donkey ($5) or a horse ($8). Anyone with kids knows how that turns out. Yep, here we are sitting on our donkeys.

Tucker never quit grinning the whole time. I think the donkeys made the kids’ day. The other thing to note is that one of the “guides” will stay with you the whole time, basically like it or not, even if you walk.

But they are really sweet. Our guide Carlos (he’s wearing the blue hoodie in one of the pictures below) told us what he could about the town in his broken English. He, of course, took us to his mother’s shop, which is also his home first. You will be offered trinkets, etc from sweet little ninos but a simple “no, gracious” will send them back home. Like I said they are just trying to make a living but we don’t have any place to any extra stuff. The town has a restaurant and a bar and most people eat before returning. Just remember you can’t drink the water. So make sure everything is bottled.

We had already eaten so we just toured the town and hopped back on our donkeys. Tuck got to see that Mexico is quite a bit different from Cozumel. We tipped Carlos for his time and rowed back across the river. We had to check back in with US Customs via phone before heading back into the park. It was a fun outing.

The park is kind of like three in one. There is the desert, the river, and the mountains. The first day we explored the Rio Grande River area.

We got a glimpse of some of the wildlife in the park. We saw some javelias (ha-vuh-lee-nuhs). Don’t call it a pig. It’s not. It is a member of the peccary family and they are tough as nails. We saw several mule deer in the evening, several road runners (this one was walking along the nature trail), and we even saw a couple of coyotes. Boys were pumped!

The next day after the long drive back to the park, we stopped at the Fossil Exhibit and had a picnic. There was a time in our lives that Mason’s life revolved around all things dinosaur. Though that love has waned, he still loves rocks and bones.

We visited the desert areas for some hiking and rock scrambling (a favorite activity of the boys). They loved the Upper Burros trail for that very reason. Just so you know – the Upper Burro and the Lower Burro trails DO NO CONNECT despite what you’re hubby thinks. The sign even says so but he didn’t take the time to read it before he took us out on this little adventure. Luckily, Mason and I read signs. Together, we work. Trev brings the fun and I keep us alive. Hahaha!

We hiked down a desert looking path before getting to the canyon area with rocks for the kids to climb. There were moments of I’m tired but in the end he pressed on an enjoyed it.

Tuck saw all the cairns along the way and decided we need to make some. For the one below he decided we each needed to pick a rock to be part of the marker. Mason was as happy as a mountain goat climbing around.

It was about 75 – 86 degrees while we were out and about. The clouds help keep us from burning up.

Tuck took some pics. He was excited about the selfie he took with me. Usually he cant get his arm out far enough to get a good picture. He was quite pleased with this one.

We were able to secure one night at the Chisos Basin Mountain Lodge. It is the only lodging inside the park besides camping. If we had been able to stay more than one night to avoid the drive, we would have. The accommodations are basic but clean. The next day we were able to go for a hike in the Chisos Mountains in the morning instead of having the long drive to the park. It was much cooler that morning (in the 50s) but great for hiking. We hiked the Chisos Basin Loop. Trev and I would have loved to do some longer hikes. The park has everything from quarter mile hikes to thirty mile hikes. I loved being surrounded by the mountains.

This view between the mountains is called The Window. I’m telling you and you’ll just have to take my word on this, in real life this view is stunning!!

Even in winter there is some color. This area had a few more hikers since you are right around the lodge. But in winter, you feel like you have the place all to yourself. I wouldn’t attempt this park in the summer. The ranger at the boarder crossing said that the valley has gotten up to 121 degrees, second only to Death Valley.

Another side note, the speed limit all around the park is like 70mph; however it is 45 mph inside the park. Park rangers will pull you over if you’re, say, doing 65 but will give you a warning the first time. Trev can give you more details on that if you’re interested. 😉

As we descended down the mountain the temperatures kept dropping as a cold front came in. It was 45 degrees by the time we stopped for lunch and 35 degrees by the time we made it to Fort Stockton to sleep.

We left Fort Stockton in the next morning and took the craziest route to our next destination. I don’t think the GPS knew that the road we were on took us through oil country. I’ve never seen actually oil fields. This was a first.

The roads were super dirty and the only vehicles we saw were tractor trailers or mud covered work trucks. We have two new chips in our windshield to prove it. 😦 We were on these roads for over two hours.