I have been to many National Parks in my lifetime between a cross country trip with my family at the age of 8, a cross country move in the mid 80’s and a few more trips out west when my kids were small. Big Bend at the very edge of Texas was never on my radar until about 8 years ago.  I had never even heard of this park until then when it was featured on CBS Sunday Morning, but once I knew that there was a National Park on the edge of the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico, it went on the bucket list. 

I traveled to Big Bend in my motorhome, Abeona (Goddess of the Outward Journey) in May of 2024. It’s a little under 2,000 miles from my home in Durham, NC. I found many wonderful discoveries in Big Bend and here are some of them:

It’s enormous. I had stayed in Fredericksburg the night before I arrived and took route 385 on the northern border of the park.  It turns out that this is the least traveled entrance, although during the summer, the park is not heavily visited due to the extreme heat. Driving down through the center of the park on 385, it took almost 45 minutes to get to the visitor center at Panther Junction.  I didn’t pass a single car on the way to the visitor center. I actually was a little nervous that maybe a road was out because there was so little traffic until I got to the visitor center.  Big Bend is the size of the state of Rhode Island.  Now it doesn’t compare in size to the various parks in Alaska, Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon but anything that’s the size of a state is big.  It’s not going to be easy to see in a day. I was glad that I had three days to explore.

It’s a desert. While there are many mountains and the Rio Grande within the park, the vast majority of the park is desert.  It’s a parched landscape with cactus, agave, and prickly pear. It’s located at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert, which is mostly located in Mexico. It only gets about 5 inches of rain a year.  So much like Death Valley, it’s very arid and water is a must on even the smallest adventures in the park.

It’s mountainous.  Big Bend is the only National Park that contains an entire mountain range within its borders.  The Chisos Mountains were formed by volcanoes 32-38 million years ago which is really evident when you see formations like the Mule Ears which jute out above a mountain top.  The largest peak is Emory Peak at 7,832 feet and there are three more peaks above 7,000 feet. Only 2% of the park is woodland and all of that woodland is in the mountains. With highs coming in at 106 degrees, I didn’t manage to take any mountain hikes but when I took the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive, it felt like there were five or more different mountain ranges. Around each bend of the drive there was another vista with imposing mountains.

It’s a river. I was able to get out early to hike the Santa Elena Canyon trail which is right along the Rio Grande in an imposing canyon.  Although the imposing part of the canyon is on the Mexican side of the river, its cliffs are upwards of 1,500 feet tall which is higher than the Empire State Building. I was disappointed that most of the river was nothing but mud flats at that section of the Rio Grande but even still, the views along the hike were terrific. 

There are animals.  I ended up spotting several Road Runners in my hikes and travels around the park.  They almost felt domesticated, but when you see one zip off on foot, it’s apparent that it’s a Road Runner. My dear friend, Janine, gave me this insight on Road Runners:

Roadrunners symbolize good luck, magic, courage, strength, speed, and
endurance. They are also considered medicine birds by the Hopi and other
Pueblo tribes, who believe they can ward off evil spirits. The X-shaped footprints of
roadrunners are sacred symbols to Pueblo tribes because they are thought to confuse
evil spirits by hiding the bird’s direction of travel.

I felt really blessed to have seen several on my visit to Big Bend.I also ran into a Coyote walking down a road in the early morning.  I spotted several Jack Rabbits bolting across the road. Perhaps it’s because the park is so empty in the summer months but I was surprised to see such elusive animals.

There is Mexico.  I knew that it was possible to go to Mexico and the tiny village of Boquillas Del Carmen.  There is a port of entry and immigration about a half mile from the Rio Grande on the edge of the park. There are two things you need to know; you must have a current passport and plenty of small bills in US currency.  The boat ride…er….row boat ride that is guided by a guy in the water and takes about 2 minutes is the beginning.  From there you can pay a guide to walk you to the village, drive you to the village, take a donkey or a horse to the village.  I elected a burro named Maria and my guide was Raul.  He led Maria and me into the tiny village, to the Mexican immigration trailer for a wrist band and then I had a breakfast of cheese enchiladas. It was amazing as I sat outside on a plastic chair in 95-degree temperatures taking in this sleepy town of 250 residents who completely depend on the tourist trade from the National Park. Raul relayed that everything came to a stop for 12 years after 9/11 and for 18 months during COVID. Once I was back across the Rio Grande it was just about 10 minutes to repatriate to the United States. 

There is so much to experience in this park and although I was glad it wasn’t crowded because of the extreme heat, I can image that I could have explored a lot more if it was cooler.  It’s just so dangerously hot, even in May, that I would love to go back in the winter. And I just might.