Today we begin our national park tour at Big Bend National Park. It is a remote park. Fort Stockton Texas, the closest town with a population over 1,000, is 123 miles away. It was an interesting drive through an unpopulated area of the country.
Once inside the park, we drove toward Boquillas Canyon, another 23 miles south. Along the way we stopped at Persimmon Gap. The Visitor Center was closed. We did find an interesting sign about the history of the area.
Boquillas Canyon rises on both sides of the Rio Grande. The trail rises up over a small hill before descending into the canyon. There are several vendors selling Mexican souvenirs along the trail. We walked as far as we could into the canyon without crossing the river. The hike back out was full of great views of the valley beyond the canyon. There are also feral horses on the trail.
Here are some of the plants we saw on our hike.
Next we drove over some dirt roads to the Historic Hot Springs Trail. There is a hot spring along the Rio Grande in the area. In the early 1900’s a business man built a resort that featured the hot spring. In addition to the buildings from last century, we saw a road runner and some interesting rocks on the trail. Our hike out was along the river. On the return trip, we hiked along the top of the cliff.
From the higher altitude, we saw many views of northern Mexico. We also got a good look at several people enjoying the hot spring in the Rio Grande.
Because of the distances and travel time involved, after our hike, we left for Terlingua Texas for the evening. Our travels began and ended on dirt roads.
Our room for the night was at Ten Bits Ranch. Outside, it is built like an old west town. On the inside, it is fully modern and completely off grid running on solar energy and a local well. You need to bring in bottled water for drinking. The views are spectacular. The last picture in this set is the view from our room.
In the evening, we enjoyed a marvelous sunset from our porch.
It was a perfect end to a great day.