RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦
Big Bend is one of the largest, most remote, and least-visited national parks in the lower 48 states. It’s not on the way to anywhere else, so you really have to want to go there. But it is well worth the effort!
We were staying in the little town of Marathon, which is 40 miles north of the park entrance. After entering the park, we drove another 30 miles to Panther Junction Visitors’ Center. The road splits at this point, so we had to choose to go to the right or to the left around the tall peaks of the Chisos Mountains.
After a brief stop at the visitors’ center, we decided to head east toward Boquillas Canyon. We wanted to check out the campground at Rio Grande Village, which turned out to be very nice. There is a separate section for big rigs to camp that includes full hook ups. It’s basically a large parking lot, but it’s deep into the park, close to the river and hiking trails.
We continued our drive to the Boquillas Canyon Overlook. Along the way, we passed a U.S. Port of Entry inside the park. It is a small office, unmanned by Border Patrol agents, so people crossing over from Mexico report in at video kiosks. There is no bridge here. Crossing to and from Mexico is accomplished via small row boat, walking (wading), or burro. We were hoping to take the row boat over and have lunch at the tiny Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen, but the crossing was closed on the day we were there.
We could see the town a short distance from the river crossing. We took a few pictures of the town, the row boat (and goats) on the far side of the river bank, and a small display of hand made Mexican souvenirs that are set up on a rock on our side of the river. A jar is available to put your cash in if you want to buy something. Not sure how these items get to our side of the river. We bought a little wire scorpion.
Then we headed on to the Boquillas Canyon Trail. The sign said it was a 1.4 mile round trip hike to see where the river runs through the canyon. It was an easy hike, and the canyon was amazing. Next time we will go earlier in the day though, as the sun was pretty hot.
We finished the afternoon with a trip to the hot springs. The springs area is small, blocked off just to the side of the river. Honestly, this area of the park was very primitive and could use some TLC. It was muddy around the springs, and there was no place to put shoes or towels. There were several people in the springs, stirring up the silt on the bottom, making the water uninviting. We could put our feet in the river though, and that was refreshing.
After the springs, it was time for the long drive back to our campground. At this point, we were almost 2 hours from Marathon.
Overall, we thought Big Bend National Park was stunning! And it is huge. The park is described as being like three parks in one. There are the desert areas, the mountains, and the Rio Grande. On this day, we saw only a small portion of the park. We hope to get over to the other side of the park before we leave the area.
We would have regretted leaving this part of Texas without making another trip to Big Bend. Our last day in Marathon was going to be perfect for a drive and more exploring, so we headed south back to the park.
This time, we drove west when the road forked at the Panther Junction Visitors’ Center. Then we took the windy mountain cutoff toward the Chisos Basin Visitors’ Center. (There are 5 visitors’ centers in Big Bend National Park.) This visitors’ center is centrally located in the park. There is lodging and a restaurant here. We stopped for lunch and to enjoy the views of the Chisos Mountains. Spectacular!
We continued our drive down to the Santa Elena Canyon, where the Rio Grande cuts through the tallest cliffs in the park, up to 1,500 feet. We parked and walked the short distance to the river and canyon entrance. Wow! (I’m running out of ways to describe this place!) We’ve been told that this is one of the best places to take a raft trip on the Rio Grande.
It was getting late and again, we had a long drive (2 1/2 hours) back to Marathon. Driving to and from the park never seemed very long though. The main road to the park is US-385, which is a good highway, as are the roads inside the park, and the scenery is beautiful.
I doubt we will get back to Big Bend ever again, it’s just so far off the beaten path. But we are glad we made the trip down here. It was so worth the effort. We’ve visited many of our national parks, and we’ve never, ever been disappointed. What treasures we have!
