This post won’t have as many words as normal because frankly we have run out of adjectives to describe this ridiculously, sublimely, gorgeous area known as the Big Bend.
This area in west Texas is situated on the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo as it is also known) where the river makes a ‘big bend’. It comprises the Big Bend National Park (https://www.nps.gov/bibe/learn/index.htm) and the Big Bend Ranch State Park (https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/big-bend-ranch). The route we’ll be following is to head south from Marathon (see the previous blog) to have 5 nights at Terlingua between both parks. From there we’ll head west to Presidio for another 3 nights before driving north again to Fort Davis. In this blog post I won’t even try to lay descriptions on you as there was so much to photograph (I have had to cull over 1100 photos to get these galleries here) that we can’t always be sure where we took the pics. I have hopefully sorted them into some sort of chronological order so they make sense and I have even managed to add labels to some photos.
In the first 7 photos you’ll see the journey into the park culminating in some tipis (I always thought they were ‘teepees’) that you can rent as holiday accommodation. The next dozen or so are from a quick trip we did to Lajitas and back as well as having a meal at Terlingua Ghost Town. The cemetery at Terlingua is an eye opener like I’ve never seen before. Next day we day tripped to Rio Grande Village where if you are so inclined you can cross the river to the Mexican town of Boquillas del carmen by row boat paddled by a local Mexican. Just don’t forget your passport if you want to return and a few bucks for your paddler. Some of these pics are labelled for you. While over at RGV we took a walk to the natural hot spring and also found some old native Indian art on some rock faces.
I can’t remember if it was the same day that we travelled to the “Fossil site” but that was also very good. There were lots of exhibits and a walkway to the very site where the first dinosaur bones were found. It was definitely another day trip when we went up to the Chisos Basin in the caldera of the old volcano that made this area so unique. This park is the only National Park in the USA that fully encloses an entire mountain range within its’ boundary. The scenery here as throughout the park is spectacular. Sadly no photos can do it 1/10th the justice it deserves. While in the Chisos Basin we did 2 loop walks of several miles total. As usual non-experienced walkers could be heard gaggling and banging through the trails so Shane and I just sat and let them pass to increase our chances of seeing wildlife. This paid off when we were surprised by a pair of Mule Deer that were feeding behind some trees came out from cover not 6 metres from us. This and the bird life made it a good day even if we didn’t see a black bear or mountain lion.
The next morning after another brilliant sunset from our van we did another scenic loop around through Castalon and back to home. This drive took in Sol Vista one of the most panoramic and beautiful vistas you could imagine. We passed Mule Ears and Santa Elena Gap before returning to our RV at Terlingua.
That covers the National Park so here I’ll insert the BBNP gallery for your perusal.
You would be forgiven for expecting much of the same for the neighbouring Big Bend Ranch State Park but you’d be wrong. While this park is as spectacular as its’ National Park big brother it is different in many ways. For a start the tipis here are for a roadside picnic break. The roads are also much less ‘refined’. The 3 photos after the tipis show a 15% up gradient (with falling rocks in the gutter) followed by a 15% gradient down to a 2 mile roller coaster straight stretch that provided us with the most exhilarating trip the first day when we moved from Terlingua to Presidio with our 7000lb van on back of our RAM V8. Good thing neither of us get carsick.
One of the sights in the BBRSP are “the Hoodoos”, a rock formation where a ‘hard’ rock rests on a bed of softer rock. Over hundreds of years the softer rock underneath erodes away leaving the hard upper rock looking like a mushroom. This day also culminated in stops at the movie site for the film “The Streets Of Laredo” (but it is locked and you can only view it from the road) and a walking trail through “Closed Canyon” which is reminiscent of Stanley Chasm in our Northern Territory.
The main difference between the two parks can be seen on our journey the following day when we ventured on the dirt road to Solitairio which is a grassy highland region of volcanic origin. It is still covered in razor like peaks and wide vistas and when we noticed a rock overhang we stopped to investigate. There we found more Indian pictographs and a strange collection of holes in the rock which I guessed were for storage or grinding. My degree in Environmental Studies paid off when the ranger at the visitor station confirmed the holes were for both reasons. He was most surprised we had found them as very few people do. Most, he mentioned, drive blissfully by not recognising the shelter that the rock provided primitive natives.
Have a close look at the photo of a pointed rock in the Bandido Canyon. You may see a squirrel like mammal called a marmot. This was the only mammal seen on this trip (well, it IS the desert). The remainder of this gallery is of that trip. Now you may have noticed there are no pictures of the wildflowers. That is the next gallery after this.
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This final gallery is full solely of desert wildflowers and a few animals. Where I can name them I have labelled the photo but don’t expect too many names. I am not familiar with the wildlife here. Just enjoy.
Our only other piece of news from Presidio was a group of residents we met at the RV Park at which we stayed. These six lovely people made us feel most welcome and we all had dinner together at a restaurant in Presidio on our last night. To those kind folk we send our very best wishes and our sincere thanks for you friendship.
That’s it for now. Cheers and watch the blog for the next post. I am typing this while at Fort Davis and so far we are very impressed by what we’ve seen here.
Garry & Shane
Garry, we hope to tour Australia some day and write about it as informative, well written and enjoyable as your blog. Have fun on your adventures but be sure to return to Loma Paloma next fall.