Today started in the night as my previous post suggested. WE had to drive through the night in order to get across to west Texas, form San Antonio. Since we left at dusk the night before, we had time to stop at the grocery store for supplies and dinner for the next night, and take our time driving, and have extra time for a nap on the side of the road, before the sun came up.
Big Bend National Park is on the southwest portion of Texas at the river separating the Mexico and United States border. We were really looking forward to this park, as it was our first one of the trip and was one of the more unknown places in the country. It’s almost 70 miles to drive south of the HWY 90 to get to the park and it is almost in the middle of nowhere. It features many different natural aspects, such as the Rio Grande carving canyons through the park, varied wildlife, and a central mountain range that is considered the southernmost part of the Rockies.
This mountainous area is where we camped in the center of a group of cliffs. Before we started hiking and exploring, we knew we had to set up camp in order to grab a site before the spots were unavailable to the first come first serve campers. The cost was $12 and it took us about 30 minutes to set up our tent and mattress. This was one of our favorite campsites as it was almost in a bowl/ amphitheater where the mountains surround you in all directions. It also is very close to many great hikes, such as the Window, which is a popular hike in the park.
PROTIP– When planning to visit National Parks, unless you are adventurous, and can be to the first come first serve camping sites early, make your reservations on Recreation.gov , As this will guarantee you camping before you enter the park for a campsite. The downside is there is an $8 fee to process reservations online, and if you are on a trip like this, you will find that to be quite an expense for 3 months of camping.
Our first part of the day was to go to the Big Bend visitor center, grab a map and ask for tips on where to hike. The first hike we decided to do was called the Boquillas Canyon. This was on the east side of the park where the Rio grande went through. The hike itself is about 3 miles long, and very easy. Its primary features were the canyon that the river has cut through for many years, and the striking natural cliff walls.
Our original goal was to hike the Santa Elena Canyon but the road to there was closed due to flooding and bad prior weather. So after hiking this trail we decided to do a hike called The Window which was near our campsite.
This featured a hike into the bowl of the mountains, where we were camping and at the end of the trail, it featured a slot canyon that ended at a cliff which overlooks the entire valley. You can see it on the photos attached. It was a unique hike but this did not stop us from hiking more that a day!
The return of the hike brought us back to camp and if we continued we knew we would head upwards onto the precipice of the mountain range. We decided to do this, as we were still very excited and determined to finish most of this park.
This upwards hike was called the Lost Mine Trail and it was one of the higher rated hikes in the park. Though we were extremely tired, we decided to take this hike and head up the mountain range to the top. Towards the top of the hike it became very strenuous but once we arrived at the top we were able to see vastly different colors and an amazing sunset.
The color of the rocks due to volcanic activity are absolutely incredible, and feature orange and yellow hues that almost glow in the sunlight. Many other colors such as green and red were present in the charcoal colored cliffs. Once we reached the top we were very happy due to a successful day and after a short break, headed back down before it was dark so we could cook.
This was our first time cooking the trip and we really enjoyed it by eating chicken and vegetables after having a very exhausting hiking day. We enjoyed a nice sunset and headed to bed once it got dark. As you can most likely tell we were very tired after all the hiking we did (almost 12 miles!).
However, Before the day ended we did have a little drama at night time. Around two in the morning we had an incredibly strong storm come through but what was unique about it was the clouds could not make it over the mountain range yet the thunder and wind were very powerful and almost blew the tent away with us in it! This of course woke us up and we decided take a look outside as it was almost surreal to see the clouds above the mountain range thundering away but not able to reach us. It was definitely intimidating but we slept through the remainder of the night and had a decent sleep once it passed. This brings us to the beginning of our next day!
June 2 Expenses
11.78 food at walmart
17.29 gas on way to big bend
2.50 ice
22.04 food
14$ camp at Big Bend
Total- 67.61
Big Bend National Park Day – MILES DRIVEN – 73.2