When people ask us what the highlight of our recent trip was, it is easy to respond that it was the Grand Canyon. But Big Bend National Park was probably the most unexpected. It is a beautiful park with rugged mountains, deep valleys and a wide variety of plant and animal life.
Other than the scenery, we were not prepared for how dry it was there. It’s a desert climate, and we knew that. And while it was not hot – upper 80s to low 90s during our day there – the dew point was in the teens, and you could practically feel the moisture being sucked out of our bodies. We had plenty of food and water with us, and we never strayed too far from the car. But by the end of the day we were thirsty and exhausted. It just wore us out!
The Rio Grande River runs along the southern border of the park, and it was interesting to look across and realize that it was another country – Mexico – on the other side. Signs warned against crossing the border illegally, but that didn’t stop people from wading across to the other side for a photo. The Rio Grande, after all, isn’t all that Grande. At least for most of the year!
Big Bend is an example of a park where you really need multiple days to truly experience it. And to do that ideally means staying in the park, either by camping or staying in one of the many privately operated lodges in and near the park. We stayed in Alpine, TX which is about 1.5 hours away. That was not a big deal since we only visited one day. But if you wanted to see more, or photograph sunrise or sunset, it would be worthwhile to be closer. On a return trip we may decide to do just that. Although we probably wouldn’t consider camping. That just isn’t our thing. 😉
One place I would like to visit and for several days. Looks like a place I would like to wander around in, but with plenty of water. I remember flying over the border and noticing the drastic different in the terrain. The US side spends much more on trying to green things up.
It is definitely a place worth going, and the next time I would stay multiple days and look into one of the lodges in or near the park so we didn’t have to drive so far.
There’s a very enjoyable book by Conor Knighton called, “Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park” that covered Big Bend and had me wishing I’d gone at some point. After all I was pretty close on multiple occasions.
I don’t think we’ll make every park, but we certainly enjoyed Big Bend and would happily return. I’ll check out the book.