Finishing What We Started
In 2021 we wintered in Texas, spending a week in four different places. Our itinerary included finishing our winter with a visit to Big Bend National Park. Mother Nature had another plan, and we had to cancel after spending two days without water or power, waiting out the state-wide power outage until gas stations along our route had power restored. You can read more about that in our post from 2021.
For 2023, Big Bend was added back to our plans, sandwiched between Port Isabel and Tucson. Mother Nature once again impacted our plans, with a huge ice storm impacting Texas from El Paso to Austin, with snow falling near Dallas for over two days. In fact, we left Port Isabel a day early to try to escape the rain, and found that we needed to stay south of State Highway 90, west of San Antonio. We stayed overnight in Hondo, in the only place we could find with an opening, in a muddy field but there was water and electricity, and it was only $20. Then we planned on making it to Marathon, but the ice continued to fall along that same line, so stayed south of the weather and only made it to Del Rio.
.... BUT once we made it to the RV park and during our stay in Big Bend, we had amazingly great weather!
We landed the next day at The Maverick Ranch RV Park in Lajitas, TX. It was a bit further west than ideal, as we had three separate drives into the park, and we were about 30 minutes west of the closest park entrance. While the park itself was nice, it is a bit far for multiple trips into the park. Lesson learned!
Our first drive into the park was the shortest, to Santa Elena Canyon. The route along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive provides amazing vistas, as well as early views of the Canyon. Definitely one of those experiences where you feel like the scene in front of you just isn't real.
On our second day exploring Big Bend, we drove 45 miles (1 hour) to the Chisos Mountain Lodge to park and take the Window Trail. After leaving FM170 onto Basin Junction, the road enters the Chisos Mountains, an excellent way to experience the transition between arid desert and cooler mountain habitats. As this scenic winding road rises over two thousand feet above the desert floor, it offers breath-taking vistas of the mountain peaks and the erosion-formed basin area. There are several hairpin turns, and it's easy to see why larger vehicles are prohibited.
The Windows Trail descends through Oak Creek Canyon to the Window pour-off which frames panoramic desert vistas. This is a 5.2 mile out and back trail, with the turn around point at the 'window' where you can see the entire south end of the park and enjoy a quick snack.
On our last day, we made the 1.5 hour drive to the extreme east end of the park, taking the short Boquillas Canyon Trail along the Rio Grande. Then after a short drive to the Port of Entry, we took the 'international ferry' across the river to the small village of Boquillas. The village generates its income from tourists visiting on foot and in 2018 over 11,000 entered Boquillas from the United States. Local guides meet you as you get off the ferry, offering walking tours of the small village and locally produced handicrafts are on sale. There are two restaurants, offering local fare and cold Mexican beer.
Overall we enjoyed our time in the area, finally checking off the box on our National Parks poster. And yes, it's big. Really big. Next up, Arizona.
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