Big Bend

20 Mar 2025

Welcome to Big Bend National Park, TX!

Upon arriving at Big Bend, we headed up into the Chisos Basin to try to catch a sunset through the Window formation in the mountain range. But first we caught some bucks having dinner!

The sunset wasn't as thrilling as some we've seen, but we enjoyed seeing the mountains as the sun descended.

From there, we headed to camp to try to see some stars, as Big Bend is another park that is very dark. However, the full moon had other plans...

The next day we went down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive all the way to Santa Elena Canyon. Big Bend is one of the larger national parks, and its roadways are not particularly direct to the destinations. So this drive wound up being ~2 hours to the canyon.

We made it to Santa Elena Canyon a little after sunrise, but still in the cooler part of the day.

The hike leads up along the Rio Grande into the Canyon, following the river from up above before descending back to the river bed. So the first thing to do is to climb up.

But there was a pack of horses that were breakfasting in a wash next to the trail that we had to get some photos of first.

On the way down the Canyon, we got a great tour of all the plants that grow along the banks.

Palo Verde Calcite crystals Octillo False Agave Leatherstem Strawberry Pitaya Lechuguilla Blind Prickly Pear Honey Mesquite Big rock, Cory for scale

On the way out of the canyon, Sara found another big rock to climb up onto.

Cory tried to get up there, but he couldn't make it.

Sara was able to get some great photos from the top though!

On our way back out of the park we saw some more of the mountain ranges and stopped at the derelict Sam Neil ranch, which was built back in the 1920s.

Mule Ears Goat Mountain Homer Wilson Ranch A working windmill water pump! Foundations of the ranch house

We headed back to our campsite after the hike and drive. While only a half-day, we were pretty tired. It was also super windy, so we couldn't cook at camp.

Fortunately, there was hope in the form of Long Draw Pizza. We stopped in our first night in town as we got in almost at dark and wanted to get into the park for sunset. This was our second stop in due to the wind.

The next morning we headed toward Rio Grande Village, which borders Mexico. There's a small town just over the border called Boquillas del Carmen. We stopped by the visitor center and encountered a donkey wandering through the grounds.

Also there were things to look out for, though as per usual, we never saw any live turtles.

From there, we decided to go to Boquillas for lunch, and that was a pretty great idea, as the food was excellent.

After lunch, we headed down to a nature trail on the Rio Grande. We caught a road runner just before the trail head.

The trail wound through some low-lying wetlands, before climbing up to a viewpoint and heading down to the banks of the river.

On our way back from the trail, we spied some horses grazing in a campground.

We were really warm from the hiking and the sun, so we stopped by the camp store and found another road runner!

Finally we headed toward Boquillas Canyon Overlook, which had some great views. And yet more livestock, a cow this time on the other bank.

We headed back to camp, but there was no firewood available for a fire, so for the third day in a row, we headed to Long Draw Pizza to get some fantastic pizza for dinner.

Back at camp, we finally had an opportunity to see some stars as the moon wasn't rising until a few hours after dark, so we watched the sun die and the stars come alive. We were able to see a hint of the milky way, but apparently the brightest part of the galaxy wasn't rising until a few hours after the moon, so just a hint is all we got.

We rose well before the sun the next day to try to go on the Lost Mine Trail in the morning. Parking is limited and it's a tough hike for us, so we got an early start to beat traffic and avoid adding 2.4 miles distance and another 400 feet of elevation gain due to parking far away.

On our way in, we caught this sign about the bears and lions prowling the forest. However, that may have been what made us too late to the trail, as there was no open parking at the trailhead.

Considering the lost mine would wind up being the hardest hike we've done on the trip and we were extremely tired and disheartened, we decided to catch the sunrise and pack up early. You can see just how knackered we were from our sunrise selfie.

And on our way out of the park, we saw a Coyote crossing the road! We tried to get a picture but got mostly a blur. Here's the photo where if you squint at the pointed-out area, you can make out the canine outline.

From there we took a nap and headed out to see if we could find something fun for St. Patrick's Day at a town in the east that was recommended by some folks we ran into at Big Bend.