Big Bend Rocked!
- Feb 17, 2022
- 5 min read
Big Bend National Park wasn’t on our original plan. It was 7 hours out of the way, so we stopped one night in Sweetwater, TX and the next in Stockton, TX. When we pulled into Bar J Hitchin RV Park in Sweetwater, there was a trailer with a group or family of 6. They were missing a window and the back tire was completely off the rim. They pulled the trailer to their spot with the rim scrapping the road. It didn’t seem to bother them. They were just happy to be traveling together I guess. Hilltop RV Park in Stockton on the other hand was a really nice place for a one night stop. However when we were driving up the road there was an RV park, with a similar name, that made us look at each other with angst. The good news is that RV Park was called Hillside. Ours was Hilltop.
We’re glad we added Big Bend to our journey for 2 reasons. We escaped the storm unscathed and, it was absolutely beautiful, fun and exciting.
We only went for 4 days, but was able to visit the major destinations in the park, along with the Big Bend Ranch State Park. There was a lot to see in a short period of time, but we planned perfectly. We stayed at the Maverick Ranch resort that had all sorts of amenities and a golf course. The only amenities we took advantage of was the restaurant, when we arrived, and of course Brad utilized the fitness center. The bartender at the restaurant gave us good ideas for our visit. He told us not to miss driving west on River Rd through Big Bend Ranch State Park and NOT to take the RV on the road. We decided to make that our first excursion, since we arrived after lunch and only had 1/2 day left. Our drive validated the bartender’s suggestion to not drive the RV west on River Rd. The road followed the Rio Grande with spectacular views. The Adobe house in the picture below is where they filmed “The Streets of Laredo”.
Check out the slide show for additional pictures.
The next day it was cold so we bundled up and hit the road. Our plan was to visit Santa Elena Canyon areas At Big Bend National Park. We enjoyed the State Park but it was nothing in comparison to this. We used an App called “Just Ahead”. https://www.justahead.com The App is a narrative guide for national parks. It uses GPS to give you the best audio tour. And it’s free👍. The guide told us about Sotel Vista Overlook, except it was so foggy we couldn’t see 2 feet in front of us. All the vegetation was frozen we were so high up and looked so pretty we had to go back and take pics when the fog lifted.
When we got to Santa Elena Canyon, we had to park the car and take a short walk to get to the riverfront. It was like following the yellow brick road to get to the land of Oz. See for yourself in the pics below. They had a trail up the mountain but you had to cross the water. A gentleman told us we can walk a ways down to climb over to the other side but it was not for the faint at heart. Kathy opted out, but we still had amazing views from below.
More beautiful pictures in the slide show.
On day 3 it warmed up a bit, but It gets chilly when your 6000 feet above sea level. The higher up you go, you need to bundle up. We went to the Panther Junction visitor center and got our National Park Passport book stamped and moved on to Chisos Basin. Another beautiful ride of mountains and curves, that led us to the Window Trail. It was a paved walking trail with lookout points and more amazing views. As you can tell, we were in awe at the scenery all over the Big Bend area and check out the mountain that looks like mules ears. Hence why it’s called Mule Ears Viewpoint.
On the way home we stopped at a local watering hole for a beer and chili as an appetizer. Went to the Rustic Iron Barbecue for guess what? Then, back to the campsite, chilled by a fire and looked at the stars in the clear Texas sky.
Our last day was filled with excitement. We drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Ate lunch at a park in Rio Grande Village. The picnic table had a sign on it that said beware of Javelina's. We actually wanted to see some wildlife other than all the roadrunners we saw which are hard to photograph because they are so fast. That’s why the Coyote never caught him. When we left the park, we actually saw a Javelina strolling across the road.
After lunch, we drove to Boquillas Crossing. This is where you can get a ride with an $5 Oarsman over to Mexico where then, you can get another 5 ride into town in a truck, on a donkey or walk a quarter mile to town and save five bucks. We opted not to go to Mexico since we're planning on coming home later this month. We were unsure how the Covid situation is being handled in Mexico. Better safe than sorry. It was really cool though to watch and be a bystander while others made the trek.
Next was Boquillas Canyon. We parked and hiked up and over a mountain where Mexican gentlemen were selling cool items while there horses stood by. One of the guys was selling tamales. They didn't take Venmo, so we couldn't buy anything which was probably a good idea anyway. We don't have anywhere to put stuff in the RV and not sure I would trust tamales that were sitting out all day, Another breathtaking trail along the Rio Grande.
After that we went to the Hot Springs. A Park Ranger at the visitors center recommended we park on the road instead of driving all the way through the trail. When we got there we saw a sign that said only 4 wheel drive, no RVs or trailers. The walk took a while but we got to see more vegetation and scenery up front and personal. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our bathing suits to go in the hot springs. Someone was in them with long pants, but we weren't going to do that. We actually didn't bother walking all the way down to where they were since this was our last stop of the day and we walked over a mile to get there. However, the entire area was once again a glorious site to see,
One the way back to the RV, we decided to stop at Terlingua Ghost Town. We passed it five times before and it was on our original to-do list anyway. Who knew that a ghost town was going to be the busiest place in town. We stopped in the Starlight Theater Bar and Grill where they had live music. We got nachos with salsa, guacamole and queso with brisket and thats all we needed. We passed on dinner.
Our Big Bend visit was well worth the 500 miles it took to get there from Dallas. Next stop…EL Paso, gateway to our visits to Tucson, Phoenix, and Sedona Arizona. Thanks for following our journey. Be safe, we appreciate you!
Kathy and Brad
Great stuff, thanks. My friend Maggie is headed there soon I'll send her a link to this. They have Jackalopes in Wyoming! https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-jackalope/😂
OMG - these pics are utterly amazing! Thanks so much for sharing this unplanned journey with us! One of my good friends worked at Big Bend for a season a million years ago. She always loved it. I believe she took her family back there for a visit.
The canyons of the Rio Grande are sooo vast! I guess when I asked about mountainous Texas versus Mexico scenery in the distance I forgot about this venture through. Did you get a sense that Texas was consistently broken up with mountains and canyons or through those long drives through, somewhat flat?
Beautiful!