Big Bend National Park

Clayton and I drove to Big Bend to rest for a few days before the holidays and it was just what I needed to hit reset after a long 2020.

View from Sotol Vista

Big Bend National Park is in southwest Texas and includes the entire Chisos mountain range and a large swath of the Chihuahuan (Mexican) Desert - so says Wikipedia. The park is a 7 hour drive from Austin and we rented a cabin at Teralingua Nights Cabins for $135/night, before taxes and fees. You can camp at mountains at Big Bend or rent an overpriced but really cute Adobe styled house in the area if you prefer. 

To be honest, the cabin was smaller than expected, the bathrooms, microwave and grill are shared and the wifi connection leaves much to be wanted. However, the view and location made up for it as it is centrally located to anything you would want to do in the area.

We got to Terlingua at about 3pm, faffed about for a bit then headed to the famous Starlight Theater for dinner. It is located in Terlingua Ghost Town and as the name implies, used to be a movie theater. The restaurant opens at 5 but there is usually a line out the door by then so it helps to get there early so you are guaranteed a table when they open. We got there at 4:30 and were seated by approximately 5:20.

We shared Salsa and Chips ($4) with Magaritas ($11 each), Fried Brussel Sprouts with Bacon (($10) and Mixed Grill of shrimp, quail, rib eye with veggies ($45). Aaron Lacombe was playing that night and except for a little hanger induced temper tantrum by yours truly, we had a fantastic time!

After dinner, we walked next door to Terlingua Trading Company, which is housed in the old company store of the Chisos Mining Company. You can sit outside to watch the sunset, play the guitar placed for that reason or just talk. 

View from the front porch of the store

Terlingua Tranding Company contains various artisan pieces including jewelry, rocks, local food products, souvenirs, cigars, incense etc made by people who live in the area.

Day 2

There aren't a lot of restaurants and stores in Terlingua so we were mindful to bring non-perishable breakfast, snacks, some fruit and sandwich items for lunch on the mountains. We got to Big Bend National Park at about 8:30am and paid $30 to get in, which gave us access for a week. 

We hiked The Window Trail which is at the end of the Chisos Basin (follow blue marker on the map above). The trail itself is only 3.8 miles but it adds up to 4.4 miles when you include the distance from the parking lot to the beginning of the trail.

The Window Trail is of moderate difficulty and I highly recommend hiking boots because it goes through slick parts of the mountains. However, the scenery is beautiful, peaceful and you just might run into some wildlife which makes it all worth it. 

The trail descends through Oak Creek Canyon to The Window pour off which is framed by dark-brown cliffs and overlooks Mexico's Chihuahuan desert flats and mountains in the distance. This hike took us about 3 and half hours. 

The Window!

Afterwards, we decided to see part of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, stopped at Sotol Vista for photos and a short rest then went back to the cabin. We grilled chicken breasts for dinner.

Day 3

We didn't have anywhere to be until about 1pm so I spent an hour in a hammock, contemplating my non-issues.  

We had booked a half-day tour to canoe through the Rio Grande, which borders Chihuahua, in Big Bend Ranch State Park. The tour was organized by Big Bend River Tours, cost us $82/pp, was a total of 4 hours and the actual canoeing lasted 2 hours.

The tour guides taught us how to canoe through the rapids, there were only 3, not that bad and the guides literally got in the water to help everyone through. Halfway through the tour, we got to pull over, got on land and talked about the history of the region, plants rocks, and how the US and Mexico basically came to an agreement to preserve these lands so animals could migrate back and forth through the seasons. The mountains on the left are considered to be in America while the ones in the left are considered to be in Mexico.

Day 4

We spent the driving, hiking and sightseeing through the rest of park - follow the yellow highlights.

We started off by completing the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive then stopping at Santa Elena Canyon to hike the 1.4 mile trail into the canyon - yellow line in the middle and the trail is at the circle on the left.

The trail is mostly easy but it has some very steep steps that gradually climb up an overlook before dropping to the river bank.

The end of the trail

Views from the side of the mountain -*** add video

From there, drove through the unpaved Old Maverick Road and stopped for a spontaneous lunch break IN the mountains, this was honestly one of my favorite parts of the trip but tbh the climb back up the mountain was scary, I don't know if I would do it again.

We drove back towards the entry of the park and then all the way East to Rio Grande Village. There's a gas station and a Visitor Center (with WiFi) on the way, just FYI. Unfortunately, the Hot Springs were closed and so was the port of entry to Mexico. However, we drove to the very end of the park at stopped at the Bosquillas Canyon Overlook.

Locals have art for purchase based on an honor system. No vendors present, just items, their cost and a little note about the items and vendors.

On our way home, we stopped for a quick 0.5 mile hike of the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail. It is an easy loop trail with interpretive signs on desert ecology, mostly cacti... You might see Javelina/Peccary/Skunk Pig tracks if you look close enough. 

We decided to go back to Starlight Theater for a last hoorah but we got there past 5pm and paid the price, we had to wait 45mins for dinner so we ended up having smoked brisket queso ($10) with chips and margaritas while we waited and had chicken fried antelope for dinner ($20). The antelope was meh but I highly recommend the queso.

On the drive home, we had a pit stop in Marfa but literally all restaurants were either closed or only open for take outs to we drove out to the Prada installation for photo ops and had lunch in Alpine instead. Overall, this was a really good trip and I wouldn't change anything... not even the small cabin.