Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - Big Bend National Park

Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - Big Bend National Park 


In planning for our trip west, Big Bend NP was high on my list of places to visit and Dean was agreeable.  Years ago our City Attorney told me about the trip he and his wife made to the park.  His description and wonder of their trip has remained in my mind over the years.  Dean rarely asks that something be added to our trip planning - I typically put it together - let him look it over and then we discus it.  We have dropped a few places from our itinerary occasionally but it's never been because one or the other of us wants to go.  It's always been a time factor - in that case, we decide which route we'd rather take to see the things most important to us.  I say all of this because neither one of us knew for sure what to expect from Big Bend - and on our long drive back to Marathon last night in the pitch dark (absolutely not a star in the sky), we discussed how much we had enjoyed our day (and night) here.  It's a large area, and you are not only driving a distance to reach the park, but it's also a distance from one side of the park to the other, especially when you have to drive each side twice  It is an amazing place and we are glad we chose it as part of this trip.

One reason we chose Marathon was the dark skies they are known for.  In other words, on a clear night you can see the stars and milky way unlike anything we see at home.  While the first night we were here there was a pretty good view of the skies (there were a few clouds), my neck was still bothering me, and the thought of standing outside to look up was not something I was willing to try.   We actually discussed putting our anti-gravity chairs in the basement of the rig before we left, and now I wish we would have.  That would have been great - but it is what it is.  It has been cloudy ever night since and it is expected to be that way the remainder of our stay.  I'm still hoping a window will open and I can see a glimpse of those starry skies.

This morning I had a few phone calls to make...making reservations for our next stop and making sure we could receive our mail there; and checking to see if we could change a Dr. appointment Dean had so we could leave a week earlier for our visit to Matt & Megan in New York.  We want to be able to see Josh play T-ball and this change allows us to make it in time to do just that.

It was around 10:30 when we headed south to Big Bend NP.  It is 39 miles from Marathon to Big Bend and an additional 3 miles to the Entrance Station.  It is another 26 miles to the Visitor Center at Panther Junction, and once you enter the entrance station the speed limit is 45 miles per hour, so it took us close to 1.5 hours to get that far.  There are a few trails (both auto and walking), and exhibits along the way that you can stop at.  We decided not to do those unless we had time on the way back.  (As we anticipated, it was way too dark to stop at them on our return trip)

It was a long drive, and by the time we reached the Visitor Center at Panther Junction, we hurried in to find a restroom, but all we found were Out of Order signs posted on the doors of both men's and women's restrooms.  It is another 20 miles to Rio Grand Village Visitor Center - but the signs here said they are in working order, so off we went.  Fortunately, there was not a line!  While we were there I bought a t-shirt for a keepsake of our visit, before we moved on to the Boquillas Canyon Overlook and Trail.  While the scenery was quite beautiful on the way in and to this location, the portion of the drive to the overlook was just amazing.  I continued to be in awe as we made our way through the many curves we followed to our destination.

This picture and the one below are as we approached Panther Junction.  Can you see the face in this picture?  I told Dean it reminded me of ALF  (Alien Life Form ) from the TV Show of the same name.  Marc, can you see it?

Dean commented that this drive almost found our gas mileage as good as it's ever been.  Best was 24.8 and when I took this pictures it was 24.5.  45mph really does save gas!  

A tunnel we had to pass through on the way.

The drive to Rio Grande Village and Overlook was beautiful.

In the distance you can see the yellow building (several more around it) which is Boquillas, Mexico.

While standing at the overlook, we saw this canoe come down the river and stopped on the other side, where someone was waiting to pick them up.

Dean and I walked a good portion of the Boquillas Canyon Trail that allowed good views of the Rio Grande River.  It was extremely windy as we drove the road to the overlook and also while standing at the large rocky area overlooking the Rio Grande River.  It definitely made for a bad hair day - so out came my ballcap for the remainder of the day. Lol!  We took the opportunity of the view here to eat the lunch we brought with us from Bentley.  

Looking down on the Rio Grande River from the trail.

Steps on the way up.

A little higher at the next point.

This cactus looked dangerous - almost like a curved spear.

My handsome husband!

This was an interesting story.
You can click on the picture (or any others) to enlarge it.

We could not see the town of Boquillas Del Carmen in Mexico very well.  It's not a very big community, but according to the information in the Big Bend newspaper it does have two restaurants.  You can cross the Rio Grande to Boquillas on a ferried row boat for a round-trip fee of $5.  It's about 1/4 mile walk to the village from the river.  Due to our time restraints and the fact we didn't think to bring our passports (which are required) we didn't even consider it.  As we drove to the Overlook we noticed the road to the crossing port was closed today, so we couldn't have gone even if we had planned to.  

We made one stop on the way back toward Panther Junction, at Dugout Wells, before traveling on to the far west side of the park.  It was worth making the stop.  

Water being pumped by the windmill.

Chisos Basin was our next stop, just a short six miles south from the main road in the park.  

Dean selected a souvenir shirt here.  We chose to make this stop, not only for the AMAZING scenery (way more than we anticipated seeing), so we could walk the trail to see "The Window".  According to our newspaper, this location offers some beautiful sunset views, but we still had quite a bit to see on the far west side of the park, and time was limited, so we moved on.

The View between the two mountain sides.  Loved this tree.

The window view

Back on the road, we headed towards Castelon, where we made a quick pit stop before moving on to our final destination.  The road leading to Castelon was just amazing!

Can you see what looks like a person standing on the left side at the top?

A panoramic shot of this beautiful, amazing place where we stopped to enjoy the view.

Explanation of the rock colors in this area.

When we pulled into Castelon, we immediately noticed there had been a fire.  A number of the buildings and trees in the area were severely damaged, and approximately 950 acres between the two sides of the river were impacted.  Our newspaper provided information on the fire, advising it occurred last year on May 22.  It started in Mexico and jumped across the Rio Grande.  Both borders are close to the river in this area.  It took 13 days before the fire was fully contained.  Fortunately, even though buildings were lost, there were no injuries associated with the fire.  They were able to save a number of artifacts and there are plans to renovate an existing building in the future.  In the meantime the visitor's center is housed in the former Officer's Quarters building.

Our final stop was at Santa Elena Canyon Overlook.  The drive from the junction leading to Santa Elena Canyon, known as the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive was by far the most amazing part of our drive in the entire park.  While the park as a whole is amazing and well worth seeing - the changes to the landscapes in this area heard us often saying, WOW!  

Santa Elena Canyon

Interesting read on taking a raft down the canyon.  I think I'll pass.

 One final picture - this is called Mules Ears.

Mules Ears

By the time we left Santa Elena Canyon to head back to Marathon, dusk was quickly approaching.  As we approached Panther Junction it was already so dark all we could see were our headlights in front of us.  Looking to the right or left was like staring into pitch black, and with no sunset it came on quickly.  Oh how beautiful it would have been to see the sky in all of its majesty if only the skies were clear tonight.  

What a wonderful day we had.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to visit our United States and our National Parks.  We live in an amazing country and I'm so proud to call it my home.