Go Around the Bend: A Sunrise Soak, a Scenic Drive, and New Friends

I have to say we were really surprised by how much we like West Texas. Since we are hitting as many National Parks as we can on this trip, Big Bend was just another stop on the list. As it turns out we’ve spent nearly a month in the area and hope to come back again. After the flat bleah of East Texas, the alien beauty of this landscape with its mesas and arroyos, mountains and rivers is fascinating and the wildlife is like nothing we see at home. We just love the roadrunners (beep beep!), the big ears of the jackrabbits and mule deer and the resident javelinas. The park has black bear and mountain lion too, but those are rare sightings unless you’re hiking in the backcountry. The night skies are a wonder and the weather has been pretty freakin’ awesome. Every now and then we have to check the calendar to be sure it really is February. Another surprise was finding kindred spirits here, of all places! Lol.

Beep Beep! We loved the Roadrunners - they move like tiny little velociraptors.

Unfortunately, all that wonderful wilderness and solitude comes at a price – no cell service or internet! That seems like such a minor thing, at least until you need to check in with the kids, make a reservation, or place an order. Since I needed to do all of those things on Friday, 2/24, I speak from experience. To say it can be frustrating is a monumental understatement. I spent several hours dealing with poor reception, dropped calls, and funky internet – in the end though, we persevered and managed to connect with the girls, get reservations for our next stop, and order meds and parts to get the water heater fixed. Whew!

Our goal for the day was to explore the Chisos Basin, but since we spent so much time in the visitor center parking lot sucking up their wifi, we only had time for a short hike. There is a campground, resort, restaurant, store and visitor’s center here – all with incredible views of the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately, they don’t recommend vehicles over 25’ on the road to the Basin – so even the Short Bus was too big for this spot.

The road to Chisos Basin has a few 10mph hairpin curves and the Short Bus was not welcome. :(

The Chisos is the only mountain range contained entirely within a National Park. The Chisos Basin is a large depression situated at 5401ft of elevation and supports a blend of plants and wildlife unique in the park. The area is about 10-20 degrees cooler and gets twice the annual rainfall of the surrounding desert. It is so cool (yes, both literally and figuratively!) to climb from the barren, scrubby desert, through grasslands, into leafy shrubs and finally reach the forests of the Chisos Basin. There is lots of hiking in the area, so we chose to do the 1.6 mile Chisos Basin Loop trail today and come back later for a longer hike.

Casa Grande - "Big House" formation above the visitor's center.

View of the "Window". We'll be back to hike down for a closer view.

Following the advice of a park ranger, we were up before dawn on Saturday to make our way to the nearby hot springs. About 20 minutes away from our campsite are the ruins of an old resort and spa. The foundation of the bathhouse is still intact and forms a large pool that is a very popular spot to enjoy the 105° water. Talk about heaven!! We walked down the short trail in the early light and had the hot springs all to ourselves for nearly an hour. The water temp is perfect and the hot springs are situated right next to the Rio Grande River, so if you are crazy (like Rog) you can climb over the foundation and dunk in the chilly river and then climb back into the hot water. I’ll leave the polar bear swims to him. Lol. We enjoyed the hot springs so much that we visited them four out of the five days we stayed in Big Bend. Could be not having any hot water in the rig had something to do with that. Naaaaah. It just felt soooo good to soak our old bones. Lol.

The foundation of the old bathhouse makes a great hot tub!

Ok, this is the life!

Taking the waters. I don't know about miracle cures, but it sure felt good. :)

View of the Rio Grande from the hot springs, upstream...

... and downstream.

And crazy guy in the stream! Lol. He calls it refreshing, I call it frigid.

Morning color on the Rio Grande.

After our soak, we went back to the rig for breakfast and then headed out to Terlingua for the farmer’s market. The bread and pastries we purchased last week were to-die-for good and I wanted more! Lol. The baker, India, is 74 and quite the local character; she still runs a small business and loves to bake up a storm. Her bread is well worth the 50-mile drive!

Since this was our last shot at the Terlingua area we also made a return trip to DB’s Rustic Iron BBQ. Another interesting entrepreneur. DB used to work on the oil rigs outside the US and decided he’d rather be making some of the best brisket, ribs, smoked turkey and sausage you could hope to find. Lucky us!

We spotted four coyotes outside Terlingua - maybe they wanted some BBQ too. :)

Yummmmmmm!

On the way back we took the scenic route. We drove the 13-mile dirt Old Maverick Road. The Backcountry Road Guide calls it an “improved dirt road” – hmmmmmm, I think it could do with a little more improvement! If you’re missing your washboard, I’ve found it! Lol. There are some interesting things to see along the way including great views and historical markers. Luna’s Jacal is a small building of rock, earth and plant fiber where Gilberto Luna farmed and raised a family for many years – he lived to be 108!

Hard to imagine living your whole life here.

As we rounded a corner on Old Maverick Road, we saw another CRV with Washington plates pulled over to the side of the road. They pointed to the ravine and we saw a pair of mule deer. We stopped to chat and ended up yakking for over an hour with Victor and Mona from Richland, WA. They’ve also retired recently and we had lots in common. They have a 36’ motorhome but were interested in our “Short Bus”. They ended up stopping by the campground later in the week to take a look at the rig, by then Victor had already located one for sale in California.

The mule deer that may have resulted in a new coach for Victor & Mona. Lol.

We caravanned to the Santa Elena Canyon overlook and trail. Victor had recently broken a toe, so Mona joined us for the short hike. On the Santa Elena Canyon hike we ran into Rich and Karen, the couple I mentioned meeting on the backdoor petroglyph hike a week ago. Turns out they were also camping at Rio Grande Village and we met for a lovely happy hour(s) that evening. J

Santa Elena Canyon.

Rog loves the cactus growing right out of the rock cliff face.

Chisos Mountains framed by the canyon.

Santa Elena Canyon trail.

End of the trail.

Here's a really happy camper! Mud pies anyone?

The second part of our drive was on the (thankfully!) paved Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. The drive is about 30 miles of absolutely gorgeous and incredibly diverse scenery. We pulled into the campground just before dusk to see the Sierra Del Carmen mountains across the border lit up by the setting sun.