Big Bend National Park

We have been enjoying Big Bend National Park. Sorry for a lack of updates but the wifi here is not adequate for posting, particularly photos.

Our first foray into the park was Sunday. We went to Rio Grande Village, pretty much the most distant point across the park from where we are staying. There are two campgrounds there, but also trails into the mountains and along the river. We hiked into the mountains towards Hot Springs. By the time we reached the highest elevation on the trail we could see our destination in the distance and realized we were a little over our heads.

Not that we couldn’t make it to the Hot Springs in the heat and altitude. We could. Walking back, on the other hand, was not going to happen. So, we hiked back down to the river.

Mexico is on the other bank of the river, of course. From the Bouquillas Canyon trail you over look the Mexican village of Bouquilles del Carmen and can see herds of goats being tended. You can hear the bells on the goats and the laughter of the people watching over the herd. It felt strange to be on vacation in a park and looking across to people in a subsistence life style. The trails in this area are marked with instructions not to buy anything from the Mexican people, for it is illegal. In hopes of getting around this the Mexicans leave little souvenirs and decorated walking sticks with a note saying donations area accepted. A small jar is left for the money and no one is in attendance. Unfortunately, it is also illegal to posses these goods if you are caught, so sales are slow. We headed home at the end of the day tired and a bit sore.

Monday we headed for the high ground and visited the Chisos Mountain Basin. Remember the movie Lost Horizons? OK, it is an old one, so think hard. Shangri-La sound more familiar? Any way, driving up the mountain and into the basin surrounded by the mountains was like entering Shangri-La. The basin is at 5500’ elevation. We hiked two trails. One further up into the rim of the mountain, and the other down to the only natural exit, referred to as the Window. 

This was the outflow for rain waters and offers magnificent sunset views if you are staying in the basin. The trail signs caught our attention.

 There is a lodge and camping in the basin. When we get better internet connections Barbara will post some great photos to our gallery.

It was another long and physically active day, so we were happy to get back to home base and a shower. We have elected to stay another day and visit the State Park west of here.

We will leave Wednesday for Harper, TX. We will spend the night on the ranch of a couple I connected with through an RV forum online. They have a similar motorhome and I want to discuss a couple of modifications that he made to his. The next morning we will head for Dallas and a few days on Chris and Lisa’s driveway. The highpoint of that visit will be Jack’s first birthday!