Texas Sojurn 2024 – Big Bend National Park, Part 2

On the advice of the backcountry rangers, we changed a potential backpacking trip to a camping trip for the second part of our trip.

This old Mariscal mercury mine (don’t touch the bricks of the old structures!) made a good layover the day before our backpacking trip.

Although it is a more remote part of the park in some ways, it is also a popular place for people to take their vehicles to drive on the backcountry roads.

Though a stock 4WD is more than enough for most roads except potentially a small connecting road, this part of Texas is one of the few places Texans can take their “toys in vehicle form” to play.

As such, we found many people with heavily modified trucks or similar vehicles who did not seem the most comfortable with their expensive vehicles or understand appropriate etiquette.

At first, my Northeast self found it annoying, but then I understood that this terrain was a typical weekend for Joan and me.

We have plenty of experience driving these roads, more so than most.

So, I just pulled over as yet another vehicle came barreling down to us and showed no sign of sharing the road or seemed hesitant going up or down an incline and unsure what to do next.

I also kept a wary eye on switchbacks, as others did not, and we made it to our campsite with only a modest amount of gesticulations on my part.

We did an enjoyable loop from our campsite, taking in the mine structures above and some extensive views of the stark but stunning desert.

As always, I found the later winter light particularly stunning in the desert landscape.

As we enjoyed the sunset, we saw approximately a dozen Broncos pull into the trailhead in the distance.

I wondered why so many showed up so late in the day.

Joan pointed out that all these drivers now had a reason to use their fancy lights. Sure enough, once dusk happened in full, a parade of Broncos left with some, I assume, expensive “off-roading” lights in full display.

“It’s a different world,” I thought as I drank my Texas beer.

The following morning, we packed up and went to a spot along the river we had spotted on the map.

After this hike, we did some sleuthing and discovered that the old homestead supplied the forts built in the area due to the effects of the Mexican Revolution, which spilled into the border areas.

China sherd possibly from back East.

We saw the Rio Grande up close at the homestead site and noticed how shallow the river seemed during this extreme drought year.

Mexico is on the left bank.

We got an expanded view from a butte overlooking the Rio Grande near this old homestead and saw how the river got impacted.

It looks like a forlorn horse crossing back into Mexico.

Also, on the butte.

After these quick side trips, we went on our second backpacking trip.

For our second backpacking trip in Big Bend, we had planned a packrafting trip.

However, with less than 10 cm / 4″ of rain this year, many places in the Rio Grande had only 39 CFS of flow. Even for a packraft, far too little water and current for an enjoyable trip. We’d be walking a mainly dry river bed.

In addition, Joan does not like heat, and the temperature spiked versus earlier forecasts, so we changed our permit to the Chisos Basin somewhat at the last minute.

Chisos Basin is the most popular spot during the most popular time of the park, but it was not our first choice, as I am generally crowd-averse.

After a wait in traffic, we were let into the basin. The rangers only let in a few people at a time, so we quickly found a parking spot. We immediately enjoyed the cool weather in the mountain portion of the park.

Our backcountry campsite was only an hour or so in but did allow us to make camp, drop our gear, and take an extended day hike.

Once past the turn-off for Emory Peak, we saw very few people and enjoyed the quiet of these mountains above the desert.

We passed above the canyon rim and made our way to the South Rim viewpoint, one of the views Joan and I had fondly seen from past trips.

We continued back to our campsite and enjoyed the quiet of these wooded mountains.

The following morning, we hiked early, drove to Rio Grande Village, took a shower, did some laundry, resupplied in the small but adequate camp store, and let Joan get her welcome ice cream quotient.

From there, we walked some of the local nature trails that offered views of the riparian areas.

We also got a view of a different stretch of the river, which made it look OK from one viewpoint –

But quickly dissipated into a vague semblance of itself –

After our resupply and hike, we made our way up another road to another quiet campsite, where we’d spend the next two days.

As before, I think our experience on the roads here in the Moab area made the roads much easier to drive than perhaps other people find them. Also, as before I saw the other drivers as more of an “interesting” challenge than the drive itself.

At the turn of the last century, the area was a bustling settlement with a steady water supply.

As with other settlements, this one experienced a boom in the supply of military forts.

The location allowed some accessible hiking in this low-lying desert area.

Or get observed by local residents –

We hiked to a somewhat popular trail along this road from our campsite. One that also has old pack trails, not on current maps, that let us take in the desert landscape.

One such trail brought us along the ridge that led us to the more well-known tinaja below.

We surprised a group of hikers as we scrambled down a break in the canyon cliff to reach the tinaja.

As a water source, we found wildflowers nearby –

And signs of many generations of using this water source –

From the trailhead, we followed the road to another old road to check out another older homestead.

From there, we did some easy cross-country hiking back to our campsite.

A good view of what these roadside campsites look like in Big Bend.

Though warm during the day, it is still winter with cool evenings.

Our second to last night brought in a memorable sunset as a prelude to an equally memorable evening of sipping hot chocolate, looking at the Milky Way, and again reminding us of what we best enjoy out of life.

We still had a few days left of our Texas jaunt, but we did not doubt that our trip had the feeling of winding down.

If you decide to drive the backroads of Big Bend, we found the $7 backcountry road guide a great purchase. Available online or in the visitor centers. Mile-by-mile descriptions (sorry to those in the civilized world, it only lists Freedom Units TM), a brief description of the routes, and even some history.

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