Trip to Big Bend National Park, TX

04/25/2024 – After packing up at Falcon State Park we drove to Carrizo Springs and spend one night at Legends RV Park. The Campground was outside of the city and was very quiet at night. The site was level, but the trees were overgrown and we had to be very careful maneuvering through the campground, but not a bad place to spend the night. Next morning we left early since we had a pretty long drive (280 miles) ahead of us.  Next stop was the small town of Marathon and a night at Marathon Motel and RV Park. The campground was a big gravel lot with full hook up (Water, Electric and Sewer). A nice overnight stay. The following morning we headed into Alpine to fuel up and then on to Big Bend Station our home for the next 4 nights. Big Bend Station is located about 4 miles outside of the National Park in Terlingua. Late afternoon, we drove into Terlingua which also has a Ghost town with a Cemetery dating back to the very early 1900.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we explored Big Bend NP. Big Bend NP is huge and covers  about 800,000 Acres.

Tuesday we went to the Castolon Visitor Center and then on to the Santa Elena Canyon Trailhead. The trail is about 1.6 miles round trip and goes into the canyon formed by the Rio Grande (not so Grande since there was no water flowing) which is also the border between Mexico and the USA. The canyon itself is very impressive with canyon walls of up to 2000ft. With temperatures approaching 100  degrees we were glad that we started out early and were done with the hiking by noon. After a snack lunch we headed back to our campground and stayed in our cool home.

Wednesday we were back in the park and drove to Rio Grande Village Visitor Center and then to the trailhead of Boquillas Canyon. Another nice hike of a little less than 2 miles along Rio Grande. The canyon is a little more open with some taller brushes next to the trail which provided some relieve from the Sun. After the hike we bought some Tamales from a street vendor, headed to the Hot Springs area and had a nice picnic. On our way back to the campground we detoured to the Fossil Discovery Exhibit where Dinosaur bones were discovered and a nice exhibit was built with information about the discovery. A worthwhile stop indeed. Again, temperatures reached triple digits and it was time to get back to our home with some air condition…

Thursday we visited the Chisos Basin area and hiked the Chisos Basin Loop and Window Loop. Chisos Basin Visitor Center is at an elevation of over 5500 ft and it was a little cooler. The hike was very scenic and of moderate rating. We headed back early to the campground since we had to do some laundry and get ready for leaving on Friday.

Note: Pictures will be uploaded once Internet service is reliable again.