More Texas Trekin' #51

Big Bend National Park

Man, I’ll tell you there are very few words that can adequately describe the vastness and aridness of this Texas landscape! I’m really grateful we were not doing this trekin’ trick in the middle of summer! Temperatures can get to 150 degrees out in the desert, so I’m told. We were a little early for the spring blooms, but boy, do the birds love it here in the winter.





The name Big Bend refers to the great U-turn the Rio Grande River makes in SW Texas as it defines 118 miles of border between the US and Mexico. This Park is the largest in the National Park System and one of the least visited due mostly to its isolation. The River is one long, linear oasis in the Chihuahuan Desert, home for many species not adapted to the inferno of the surrounding countryside. We entered the Park at its western entrance and traveled over to Chisos Basin Campground in the heart of the Chisos Mountains, right in the middle of the Park. It actually felt like we were in the bottom of an ancient caldera with rugged peaks all around us and only one break in this ‘wall’ – a westward facing notch called ‘The Window’.


Casa Grande
The Window


The Window

The mountains are islands in a desert sea that hold rare species of wildlife left over from the last ice age and found no where else on earth. The abundance of flora and fauna was enough to make this old nose go ballistic! I never could figure out what to sniff or chase so I mostly just sat around. We spent a few days using the campground as a base for our adventures out into the western portions of the Park along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. The topography was filled with unusual formations sporting colorful names like Goat Mountain, Mule Ears Peaks, Elephant Tusk Mountain, Sotol Overlook, Tuff Canyon, Cerro Castellan and Fins of Fire.

Cerro Castellan
Cerro Castellan
Fins of Fire
Goat Mountain
Mule Ears Peaks


Elephant Tusk Mountain
Sotol Overlook
South Rim
Tuff Canyon

The Ladies decided to hike into Santa Elena Canyon but it was one of those dog prison places where the rules say I couldn’t go with them. No swimming in the Rio Grande for this ole Boy!






We left the Basin and drove due east across the Park through badlands and even ‘badder-lands’ to Rio Grande Village and the campground right by the river. I was again looking forward to a nice swim but frankly this river was looking a little too green for my taste, so I passed. My Ladies decided to take another hike down Boquillas Canyon and I stayed to be on guard duty.







Kae promised me water that I could swim in, so Lake Amistad National Recreation Area seemed like a great idea. This large lake on the Texas-Mexico border is known for its clear, blue waters and I was more than ready for some. Amistad - the name means friendship – is an international recreation area created jointly by Mexico and the US to provide flood control, water storage and power generation. The Amistad Dam is six miles long and creates a lake that extends 74 miles up the Rio Grande, 14 miles up the Pecos and 25 miles up the Devils River. Wow! All that clear, warm water and I only needed about 10 square yards for my pleasure! I had so much fun it took me about two days to get the kinks out of my old over-used legs. Kae said she understood exactly!








Now we all decided we had had enough of the desert and we all needed TREES for various reasons. So we plotted a course north and slightly east to the Texas Hill Country. We’ll catch you in the next installment of our trek through Texas.