Big Bend Provides Stunning Mountains and Deserts

Friday, April 22th – Big Bend National Park, Texas – Day 71 

We woke up at a beautiful, spacious, and very large campsite. Gen had her sleep disturbed by cows that illegally immigrated from Mexico in the middle of the night. I didn’t notice the cows but the three car alarms that went off were annoying. Aisling had asked for a bed swap, so I slept with John and she slept with Gen. 

 We were in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert where water was essential for survival and conveniently available from a tap out of the ground labelled ‘Drinking Water’. The weather was very warm in the morning and progressively heated up. A breeze was blowing so it wasn’t that bad. We still had our ground beef from Southwest Farms to use so we decided to do a brunch of burgers and whatever else was going bad in our cooler, zucchini, peppers, and cheese. A fellow camper had given us charcoal briquets ages ago and this gave us an opportunity to use them. I made the burgers while Gen got the grill started. As she cooked, she thought about her Dad and how he would love cooking meat over an outdoor barbecue. I’m not sure he would’ve loved camping or the heat. Regardless, RIP Keifer. 

 After a delicious meal, we made our way to the camp store for ice and the Ranger station to receive our Junior Ranger booklets. Good news, bonus badges for visiting and completing a page on the Hot Springs and Panther Trail. We decided to drive to the other side of the park to see Santa Elena canyon which we were told was a must do. Before that, we decided to stop at the Hot Springs for a swim and to earn a badge. 

The Hot Springs was a dusty, bumpy road for a few kilometres, with one section one-way with each way clinging to opposite sides of a canyon, to reach the parking lot. The area was a tourist spot in the late 1800’s and had old, abandoned buildings that use to be the motel, general store, and post office. We found the Rio Grande which was shallow and maybe, six metre wide at this point. The walk was a windy, hot 600 m to reach the spring. The hot spring had an old wall around it and it was very nice. We were told the water temperature was typically around 40 Celsius which happened to be a degree cooler than the air. You could also swim in the river which was cooler still. We all had a ball moving from hot springs to river. 

Eventually, we dragged the kids out of the river and walked down a path with some small Petroglyphs. The kids had to draw a Petroglyph, answer questions about the old buildings and look for a Prickly Pear cactus to earn their badge. Next stop was Panther Junction, another visitor centre. Panther Junction had a great display on Dinosaur fossils and wildlife in the area. They also had a path with all the desert plants labelled. Our task, for badge number two, was find and identify a bunch of cacti and do some drawings. The Rainbow Cactus and the Purplish Prickly Pear cactus were favourites of the kids. Second badge earned. 

 When we talked the Ranger on duty, he let us know that there were three heat related emergencies currently active and we may not want to consider going to Santa Elena in the middle of the afternoon heat. He recommended that we go up into the Chisos Mountains where it was a much more reasonable 28 Celsius and an hour closer. We took his advice. 

We filled up water bottles and off we went. We drove up a winding highway through the mountain. It was actually a very old volcano that went extinct long ago and had eroded to the point the core formed the mountain we saw today. The original volcano was many times larger. The sight to see was the Window, a gap in the mountain that let you see the miles of mountains and desert beyond. 

We were advised to take the 3.9 km easy Basin Loop trail. The hike was amazing. Fantastic views of the Window and the mountains that surrounded us. The temperature was reasonable and a light breeze was blowing. The kids were stellar for most of the hike but got a little upset by the one consistent uphill towards the middle of the hike even if it did produce incredible views. John freaked out a little bit, I think he might have been hangry again, and needed to be carried but he found his second wind and was excellent on the downhill second half. When we finished the hike, we took a wrong turn and ended up seeing a Mexican Black Bear from a distance which was exciting. 

 Gen wanted to go for dinner at a restaurant on the mountain to watch the sunset but Charlotte had been asking for hours to go for another swim at the Hot Springs. Charlotte won this time and we drove back to Hot Springs. The wind had picked up and a fierce breeze was blowing bringing clouds of sand with it. Otherwise, the swim was great, there were kids there to play with and adults to chat with in the hot springs. We stayed until darkness fell and then made our way back to the campsite. 

Big Bend has thoroughly won us over. The desert, featuring some brilliant plants and cacti, and mountain views everywhere are spectacular. We only originally booked for two nights but decided to add a third at a campsite on the opposite end of the park so we could see more.