We spent three days in Big Bend National Park which is a HUGE park….810,000 acres which remarkably only makes it the 15th largest National Park….Who can name the largest? Don’t look it up…just guess in the comments. (BTW, we learned while we were there that two of the BB park rangers had been fired as part of the provisional workers purge that our idiot president had demanded. Good news is they may be able to be rehired due to judges stay….heartbreaking story so hope the stay holds)
Our first day we went to the eastern side and took a quick hike up to the Rio Grande Overlook. We were going to venture into Mexico through the Boquillas crossing into Boquillas del Carmen for a few hours, but we got a bit of a late start and the border hours were very tight. So…we hiked instead and then headed across the park to our campsite in Study Butte.
The next day we went to the Chisos Basin and hiked the Window trail which was a beautiful hike through the basin and a dry creek bed ending in a beautiful window/pourover area. The lighting was beautiful and the hike was shady and cool in areas and then rocky steps/bouldering in others. From there we went to the Chisos Basin Visitor Center and Lodge which is about to be under construction for almost 2 years so we were happy to see it before it all gets torn up.
On our next day we took the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive which is a 30 mile drive across the western side of the park ending at Saint Elena Canyon which is AMAZING. The topography of this park is stark, desert and vast….at times very bleak and at other times beautiful.
After the Ross Maxwell drive, I dropped Tim off at our site and heading across the park again to the Hot Springs. These were developed in the 1920’s when hot springs were the craze and the remnants of the buildings and homestead are still there. You have to go down a gravel road for about 2 miles and then hike in, but are treated to a 105 degree hot spring right on the bank of the Rio Grande and it is splendid. It was a fun expedition although the road in and out was a bit gnarly….narrow lanes, cliffs on one side, drops on the other and the truck isn’t real nimble!!! Worth it in the long run….
