Big Bend Country

During my two years in Texas, I visited the state's two national parks both twice. I finally hit Big Bend National Park a second time the week before moving to Denver, Colorado for my next adventure. I'd visited Big Bend in March 2013, but only had seen half of it. On this trip, I wanted to see the rest of the park as well as a few other places I'd never been before in remote West Texas.

I left Austin before sunrise on Tuesday, July 22 and made it to the park's periphery a little after noon. Summer is Big Bend's dead season because the West Texas summers get so hot. Neither the entry fee station nor the first visitor center were manned. Stepping out of my car at the Dog Canyon Trailhead a few miles into the park was like stepping into a furnace.

After slathering myself in sunscreen and changing into a loose, long-sleeved shirt to maximize protection from the piercing sun, I began my hike into the arid, exposed desert towards Devils Den, a slot canyon zigzagging through the parched earth. The trail followed a cracked stream bed then rose steadily, until it overlooked the floor of Devils Den far below.

The intense heat was tough for the first mile or two of the hike but then my body seemed to get used to it. The views across the empty desert captivated me. I had the expanse all to myself and felt like an outlaw. After trekking to the far end of Devils Den, I doubled back and went the opposite direction as far as the mouth of Dog Canyon.

Returning to my car covered in sweat and dust, I headed for the Chisos Mountains and the basin in their center. I grabbed a campsite here in this cooler, elevated section of the park. The campground was maybe a quarter full. Not many people visit Big Bend during the heat of summer and those that do are strange.

The sun was still high in the sky as I sped off towards the southeastern corner of the park to visit the hot springs and Boquillas Canyon. About halfway on the 30 mile drive there, gray storm clouds passed overhead briefly quenching the desert's thirst, casting a rainbow over the distant Sierra del Carmen, and squeezing the sun's radiance into linear rays.

The hot springs are in the foundation of an old bath house on the edge of the Rio Grande. The bath house was part of an early 1900s resort nearby. A few vacant buildings remain but the resort was abandoned long ago. I had the hots springs to myself and used the warm waters to rinse off the sweat and dust from my earlier hike. Across the river barely a stone's throw away is Mexico.

I continued on to Boquillas Canyon as the sun began to set. A short trail leads over a hill and down into the orange canyon with thousand-foot walls. The Rio Grande's waters are so shallow in the canyon I could have easily waded across to Mexico. I watched the sun set from a bluff not far away overlooking the river. Mystical clouds swirled overhead in the fading light as I drove back to my campsite in the Chisos.

The next morning, I rose with the sun and hiked to the top of Emory Peak, the highest point in the park at 7,825 feet above sea level. The trail gains 2,500 feet in elevation and is over ten miles roundtrip. The hazy views from the top of the park clearly reveal the basin in the center of the Chisos Mountains and the vastness of the desert landscape.

Having seen what I set out to see in Big Bend, I continued west stopping for a brief tour of the Terlingua ghost town ten miles or so outside the park. In the late 1800s the spot was home to a bustling and diverse cinnabar mine, the ore from which mercury is extracted. Today, aside from the ghost town's ruins, its a few rundown residences, bed and breakfasts, and bars catering to those wishing to get away from it all.

Before turning east to begin my trip back to Austin by way of Seminole Canyon State Park, I went another 60 miles west on Highway 170, the steepest, curviest road in Texas. The road runs along the Rio Grande and the southernmost edge of Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas's largest and most remote state park. It added a few hours to my drive but I'm glad I got to see the black igneous canyons sliced by the Rio Grande far off the beaten path. I'm not sure when I'll be back out that way.