Hi there!
Recently I found myself traveling through the GINORMOUS state of Texas. Everything is bigger there, even their national park!
Big Bend is 150 miles from a decent sized “town.” I specify town because the only chain store they have is thankfully a Walmart. I drove from this town(Fort Stockton) down hwy 395 to the north entrance. The drive down to the park wasn’t all that spectacular but once you get within five miles of the park the small mountain ridges got closer.
My first order of business should have been to get to a visitors center and get a primitive camp spot for the night. Instead I checked out the sights along the way. The new fossil exhibit was neat with its story boards & fossil displays. The Panther Junction has a gas station near it. This is where the park roads split. I spent my whole time driving around the eastern side of the park during my stay. Except for the first night.
The dreaded first night I had missed the Panther Junction business hours and had to find a campsite for the night. I headed down to Grape Vine Road. I will start with that all of the park is unpaved, primitive roads that are meant for 4 wheel drive vehicles. If you have a crazy cool car that can somehow glide over those rocks, cool beans for you! I have a Dodge Ram van and I drove very slowly. A few miles down this horrible road(which turns out to be one of the better primitive roads in the park) I get told by an international tourist that if I have an air compressor that there was a vehicle who needed one badly farther down the road. So I high-tailed it (as fast as the rocks in the road would let me) to find this crisis at hand. At this point it is almost pitch dark and my friend who I was on the phone with decides to tell me that there could be dangerous people in the very remote national park. This is possible, I need to be on my guard all the times. This couple was far from dangerous. They were even helpful to me even though they were the ones stuck with the flat tire on the rocky road. My air compressor was too weak for what they needed and they already had their spare out. The lady was at her wits end with this frustrating experience but said if I was headed farther down that their camp spot was the very last one. She said they we’re not going to be staying there tonight (for obvious reasons). We wished each other well and I had it off into the dark wilderness. I found the spot, parked and watch the stars.
In the morning I awoke to hear cackling dogs, more specifically coyotes who may have had a kill. The day was upon me though and I had so much of the park to see. I went back to the Panther and paid for the $12 primitive camping fee. You can stay two weeks for just $12. I also got my junior ranger packet so that I could be official. I finished my packet in about a half hour, got my badge, and headed to Boquillas Canyon. That hike was beautiful and had some shallow caves to explore.
My favorite thing about being close to the border was thinking, “I am an American standing in America looking across the Rio Grande to Mexicans hanging out in Mexico!” The border here is so relaxed and feels like an old Western movie. I literally could have waded a crossed the river to Mexico.
Just a little west of the canyon is the Hot Springs. The road into the Hot Springs is only meant for smaller vehicles because it is so gnarly! It was so sketchy, the Road splits in half and has a ravine in between for you to fall into because there are no guard rails! I decided to keep my lead foot at bay and make it safely to the Hot Springs. It is about a mile walk/hike to the springs which are old concrete walls along the Rio Grande keeping the hot water in. That night my camp was 5 miles back on old or Road. The drive felt like eternity in the dark. My camp was passed by only one other truck the whole time I was camped. My last morning in the park I decided to go on a ranger walk, which is one of my favorite things to do in a national park. The sunrise was incredible but the wind picked up and the cold stayed past sunrise. It was the beginning of January but it was definitely cold for the desert. The Ranger walk was really interesting. We walked around looking for signs of animal life. Scat and foot prints. We identified probably 15 or so different animal science. The only actual animal we saw was a bunny besides birds. After the walk I fueled up and skedaddled to my next adventure.
I definitely recommend Big Bend national Park. I know I will be returning to visit the western side in the future.
Yours Truly,
Karli
©Curious Karli
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