SW Texas: Big Bend National and State Parks

This is what we went to see... Big Bend National Park

I have been sojourning in southern Texas for about 6 years and had never taken the opportunity to travel to the Big Bend country. I have been as close as Fort Davis, where the Buffalo Soldiers were stationed, during my character research for storytelling, but never went any further.  This time it was different because we had close friends and fellow winter Texans in the Big Bend area who promised to show us around if we got our butts there!

So we were on the road again!

Jeff and Kay were waiting near Big Bend to guide us.

The road to Big Bend is a lonely one from the east.

We were already in the thinly populated western portion of the Rio Grande Valley as we started our trip. There is not much to see. The land is flat with sparse bunches of grass and mesquite shrubs, which changed to live oaks as we gained in elevation.  Cottonwood trees cluster where there is water, with an occasional broken down windmill.  Natural gas pipelines parallel the roads we were traveling.

The fence line has cactus for company.

All ranches have gates of some type.

Cattle, oil and gas, and mesquite: a Texas ranch

It was a 640 mile journey so we stopped overnight midway. We chose the city of Del Rio, TX, population 36,000. The last time I was there was in 1970 to visit a buddy in flight training at Laughlin Air Force Base.

Yep, it's called Buzzard Roost.

Daisy selected here because they had a saloon and dance hall.

Full hookups

The next day we made it all the way to Terlingua, TX via Alpine, TX, arriving there in late afternoon. Our friends were outside waiting for us with the campground host.  We were guided in to the site next to them.

Definitely a dry desert campground

Jeff and Kay greeted us with food, beverages, and hugs.

We came bearing gifts: raspberry chipotle marinade. their favorite.

Their surprises were banana pudding,

and homemade chicken pot pie after a trail hike.

An evening in Terlingua, Texas

Terlingua in the daylight...

Yep...a genuine ghost town reborn

Terlingua is really a ghost town just west of Big Bend National Park. The discovery of cinnabar, from which the metal mercury is extracted, is what brought the miners here in the mid-1880s. At one time the town had a population of nearly 2,000 people.  What is left now is a haven for several dozen people. Included are artists, outdoor enthusiasts, ex-hippies, and those who love living off the power and water grid. Solar power, propane generators, and cisterns are among the  common ingredients for comfortable living.

Relics of the 40s

Mining debris

The Starlight Theater is a restaurant and saloon that occupies the original movie house and theater that was built in 1931. The building lost its roof in a summer storm and that is how it got its name.

Local jail and hand irons

If you go to the public restroom here in town you will be spending time in the framework of the original jail. It was remodeled to handle tourists and locals who have to answer the call of nature. Detainees of the jail in its earlier days were sent home at meal time.

St. Agnus Church was served by a priest who came one a month.

The cemetery dates from the early 1900s when Terlingua became a flourishing mercury mining town.  It served as the final resting place for about 400    residents and mine workers who succumbed to dangerous working conditions, disagreements, and the influenza epidemic of 1918. The cemetery is still used by the local community as is evidenced by the newer graves.  

Each November 2, people gather here to celebrate "The Day of the Dead" and offer their respects to the departed.





































On one 1922 cross, I observed what I thought was rosary beads. 
As I got closer I discovered just how tough life was here. A commentary of the times: just a throw of the dice.

This is one hot chili.

This town is also known for its two chili cookoffs that are held annually at the same time. There is a story about how the two chili camps came to be, some kind of major disagreement amongst the original organizers. I do not think gun play was involved, but there was no love lost. Each group does its own thing on separate sides of the town. The first Saturday of each November, over 10,000 "chiliheads" gather to compete, eat, and celebrate in the desert. This is the grandaddy of all chili festivals.

Recurrent competitors have permanent sites.

And now for the main event:

Big Bend National Park is located in southwestern Texas where the Rio Grande River takes a 90 degree bend along the border with Mexico.  The park contains about 800,000 acres. Its unique feature is that it has high lush green alpine forested mountains that are bordered by brown dry desert lands. 

The area is so large that we broke it down into somewhat digestible adventure servings.   It was like taking mini adventure trips within the park boundaries. We only saw a portion and will have to come back to see the rest. Let me recount some of those adventures for you.

Chisos Basin Visitor Center with Casa Grande peak on left.

Adventure 1

Jeff and Kay's trusty adventure chariot

Back seat drivers

One of our first stops was the Sam Nail ranch. In 1916 Sam and his brother dug a well here and had pigs, chickens, goats, milk cows, cattle, fruit trees, and a little garden. 
It truly was a self-sufficient oasis in the desert.

Desert plants as well as the desert willow, walnut, pecan, and fig trees have taken over the site today. 

This is what is left of the one-story soft adobe walled house.

Windmill supplied water to area.

Imagine a sheep and cattle ranch here.

The Window (in center)

Prickly pear cactus

Mule Ears Peaks

Trail to Nail Ranch

Typical Desert Nomad

Chisos Mountains

Cotton gin machinery

Shadow petrogyphs (caused by us)--creative aren't we!

Adventure 2

Daisy and I have crossed the international border by car and by overhead footbridge. This time we chose to walk a dusty trail through desert terrain, cross a muddy river flat, and float our way across the Rio Grande River.  And yes, we were doing it legally.

Port of Entry on the US side

Boquillas del Carmen is a little Mexican border town to which you can gain entry through Big Bend National Park. It is separated from the park by about 50 yards of river. There is 3/4 mile of dusty road to the village, with a port of entry office on each side. Only Spanish is spoken on the Mexican side.  

The port of entry on the US side is remotely operated from El Paso.  Really. The park service has an office there staffed by rangers and no border patrol personnel. There are two electronic remote passport scanners. When you re-enter the US, you place your passport into the machine for scanning and pick up the phone for communicating with the border patrol office in El Paso. 

The trail to the river crossing takes you through the newly constructed Park Service building where the rangers remind you of the rules and especially that passports are needed in order to return.

Welcome sign on US side

We men let the women go first on the trail to the river crossing to ward off banditos.

We had all we needed to get back and after taking note of the warning not to transport illegal natural items into the US, we hiked the trail to the open river's edge. As soon as we were visable to those on the Mexican side, we were greeted by a great tenor voice serenading us while at the same time a flat-bottomed boat moved briskly out from the opposite shore, oaring its way to us.  The  three foot deep river was calm with a moderate current. It was a swift, efficient trip to the far shore and the thatched shelter on the Mexican side.

The guy sitting on the path was our songster/welcome person.

Our ship's captain

The great voice belonged to Victor, who welcomed us to Mexico as the official tourism officer for Boquillas. He told us about our options for getting into town. We could walk, ride in the back of a pickup, or take horse or donkey (burro).  We paid him for the round trip boat ride of $5 per person.  We chose donkeys and paid the fee of $8 per person for the round trip and were assigned a guide who would remain with us the entire time we were in town.  We of course tipped our guide and also the boatman on our return. 

Saddling  up the humble beasts of burden

Was this covered in the wedding vows?

Follow me!

The roads in the the town are all dirt mixed with some gravel. There are about 25 families in town, a combination high school and elementary school, 2 churches (Catholic and Baptist), 3 bars,  2 restaurants, and a border entry station. The town is powered largely by propane. I did see a few solar panels in use.  There were more horses and burros in use than there were pickup trucks.

Boqullas Del Carmen

Slow down sign

We were the only visitors in the bar

Bar one

Eats with a view and friends

Restaurant with a gift shop

It was Daisy's idea that we spread our gringo dollars out where ever we could.  The bars and restaurants were clean and well maintained, so we visited them all.

Chips and heated tomato dip at another restaurant

Green chili enchiladas at one restaurant

View of Rio del Norte (Rio Grande River) from restaurant

Our guide and burro wrangler, Lupe, spoke acceptable English and loved having his picture taken with the ladies.

A market place stand--wire wrapped scorpions and roadrunners, $5 each.

The ranger on the US side told us the average tourist time in Boquillas is 2 hours. We were there for 4 hours by the time we retraced our burro, boat, and trail to the US entry station.  At the station we each placed our passports on the scanner, stood on the line so we could be viewed by the camera, and picked up the phone.  After a few moments, a voice asked several questions about my place of birth, what I was doing in Mexico, and what I had to declare. This was repeated with each of us. It had been a great day.  What would tomorrow bring?


Adventure 3


Not all of our pleasant experiences occurred in the National Park. We took a drive the next day to Big Bend Ranch State Park and while in route took a side trip to a movie set that is on park land.  It is called Contrabando. The site has been used to shoot nine movies, including part of the Lonesome Dove mini series.  There is no one there, just the buildings.

The interesting thing is that on our return to our resort in the Rio Grand Valley, I turned on the TV to the western channel.  One of the movies filmed at Contrabando was playing. I think it is called fate.  I felt like I was in the movie. Daisy and I had walked those same dusty streets and been in those same buildings.



Adventure 4

We  hiked several trails while in the National Park. This particular one is noteworthy because half of it is in the US and the higher half is in Mexico.  The Santa Elena Canyon is noted as the deepest and most spectacular canyon in the park. We hiked into its mouth by following a trail from the parking lot, crossing a seasonal creek, and hiking up a ridge, but we didn't go into the Mexican portion.

 

The canyon mouth beckons

Adventure 5


Big Bend Ranch State Park: Closed Canyon

This is the shortest hike we took. It is only a .7 mile one-way hike into a narrow slot canyon similar to those commonly found in Utah.

Closed Canyon trail head leads to a dry stream bed that enters the canyon.

Canyon walls are high

You go first...no, you go first!

The canyon floor is smooth rock covered with pebbles...

The way in and out

Now if it rains, we are in deep doo-doo!

Jeff and Kay have a tradition for every trail they traverse.

I'm sure I saw something furry move in that high walled cave!

How narrow is that?

This narrow

...and has several drop offs that are called pour offs for good reason.

Sometimes you must use your end to get to the end.

Two of the drop offs were 3 footers and the last one was about 7 to 10 feet. Not having any ropes to get back up, we turned around at this last one. The main thing we had to worry about was not entering the canyon if there was any threat of rain. We would have been flushed out to the Rio Grande.


This was the first time we had ever been in a slotted canyon for each of us. We will remember the experiences we had here.

This is the end of these adventures for this trip.

Just as an aside, here is a short review of the various signage we encountered on this journey to the Big Bend country in SW Texas.

Here is one of a beginning and welcome.

Here is one of warning.

Animal hazards

Road construction

We will see more of the Big Bend country on future trips.

Epilogue


It is approaching Christmas 2013 and this was our last truck camper trip of 2013.  So I thought it would be appropriate to end with some of our TC statistics. Since our honeymoon trip in August 2012, Daisy and I have logged in our truck camper:

                                    23,738 miles     127 nights     32 states

 We are great traveling companions and look forward to other truck camper adventures in 2014.

Holding on to each other to the end!