Big Bend National Park

August 25th

I've talked a lot about how remote some of our National Parks are, and that you need to plan time to actually reach them.  Big Bend National Park is surely one of the most remote parks in the lower 48.  We stayed in Fort Stockton, Texas, on Friday night.  This town, with its population of over 8000, is the nearest town to the park with any lodging- and it is a two hour drive away!  The road leading to the park, route 385, has one small town called Marathon located about half way where you can get gas, but that is about it.  Route 385 goes to the park and nowhere else, ending at the Rio Grande river.  Route 385 was built like a little roller coaster- little hill, little dip, etc. In the dips, which are meant to accommodate water flowing across the road from a desert during a storm, are flood gauges that allow the driver to see how deep the water was on the road.  Very reassuring...

The Rio Grande river generally travels south along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.  In Texas, it makes a sudden curve northward.  Inside this horseshoe-shaped bend in the river lies Big Bend National Park.  Big Bend is over 800,000 acres, making it larger than Yosemite.  As you can imagine, with a trip of two hours each way and such a large park, it is difficult to see much of it in one day.  Our main desire in coming here was to see the river.

The park has three distinct ecosystems- the river environment where you may find turtles, fish, and birds that are associated with water and lush, green, vegetation; the Chihuahuan desert which extends deep into Mexico and contains many of the desert plants and animals that have been introduced to us on this trip; and the Chisos Mountains in the center of the park, rising over 7000 feet, with mountain mahogany, Texas madrone, junipers and other species of trees not normally seen in the desert.  Several scenic drives offer the choice of going into the mountains or two different drives down to the river.  On the advice of two different rangers, we chose the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, which takes you by many of the more beautiful geologic features in the park and, once you reach the river, provides a view of the spectacular Santa Elena Canyon.  The canyon, 1500 feet deep, was carved by the river, with the north wall in the United States and the south in Mexico.

We were advised to drive right to the river first, then stop at various scenic overlooks on the return trip.  We did check into the safety issue of being so close to the border, but we were reassured that there have been no problems in the park with regard to safety, but not to leave any valuables in the vehicle if you were parked near the river.  The drive down was about 1-2 hours, with a stop on route for a picnic at the closed-for-summer Castolon Visitor Center.  From there, it was a short drive to Santa Elena Canyon overlook.  We stopped to view the canyon, but wanted to get closer to the river, so pulled in the the nearby boat ramp.  Float trips through the canyon are offered, and would have been fun to do.  The river looked muddy and sluggish.  It actually originates somewhere in Colorado, and so much water is removed by the time it gets this far south, that its appearance is somewhat disappointing.  Most of the water we see is from Mexico's Rio Concho.  Of course, the park has been in a severe drought for the past two years, as well, so I am sure that has impacted the flow.  One ranger told us they had essentially had no rain during those two years until the previous several weeks, when they began getting Monsoon rains and storms.  There had been concern that the Bighorn sheep herd in the park may have died due to the drought, but the ranger had actually spotted a group of seven the previous day.

The Chisos Mountains

The "underwater" desert

Storm clouds over the Chisos

Little arch...

Volcanic deposits near Castolon

Old gas pump at Castolon Visitor  Center

Cerro Castellan Peak

Santa Elena Canyon

Sierra Ponce range in Mexico

Rio Grande River

Flood gauge at dip in road- notice erosion from water in draw

Mule Ears Peaks

View from Sotol Vista

Texas Sky

Because of the time issue, we opted not to do any hikes at this park.  We returned on the same scenic drive, stopping at several locations to view the mountains and desert.  One set of mountains was known as the Mule Ears Peaks- for obvious reasons when you see the photo!  One of the most beautiful overlooks was the Sotol- the view extended for miles and miles, no sign of human habitation in sight.  I'm sure this view has not changed in a thousand years.... In one area just after we entered the park, Dale and I stopped to view a fossil exhibit.  The mountains were in the background, the fossil overlook gave a view across the desert, with ocotillo scattered here and there- it really looked like the bottom of the ocean, with the cactus as seaweed!  We stood there for a few minutes, listening to.... nothing..... the silence was truly amazing.  No vehicles, no planes, no people, no bird calls.

We left for our return drive to Fort Stockton late afternoon- just in time for more rain.  Not so bad this time, we managed to drive between and around the storms, not actually getting wet until we reached town.  This was our last national park for this trip.  We now needed to make a decision- we had planned to travel I-10 across the gulf coast, taking our time and sightseeing on the way.  However, Isaac forced us to change plans.  We decided to drive I-20, a little further north, and try to beat the storm home.