We spent the past couple of days at Big Bend National Park along the Rio Grande in Texas. The water level was low so it was more like the Rio Pequeño.

Buc-ee trying to decide what hikes look interesting

One of the first things we saw were a couple of roadrunners and coyotes. I didn’t get a picture of the roadrunner because he was too fast. We spent the entire time watching out for signs offering free bird seed or anything marked Acme.

One of the coyotes that we saw in the daytime

Needed to watch a car go through to make sure the tunnel was not just painted on.

The first night we hiked the Rio Grande Nature Trail for a lovely view of the sunset.

We stayed on the east side of the park on Friday. The campground was very close to the river and the Mexican border. We had a nice hike near the Boquillas canyon.

It’s very close to the Boquillas crossing, the only legal crossing of the river to Mexico. We could have taken a raft across but we decided to stay in the US.

Next, we hiked around Lone Mountain and were the lone vehicle in the lot. We had the entire mountain to ourselves. It usually has great views but it was too cloudy. So we just had a nice walk.

This morning, we took the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive. From there, we stopped at the Lower Burro Pour-off. It was a dry waterfall but the rocks were beautiful. It is a former volcanic area with sedimentary rocks.

Next, we stopped at the ranger station to check if we could handle the Old Maverick road back or if we needed to backtrack. The ranger station was closed but we ran into this guy who was a local character. He took one look at our rig and said that it would be no problem. And that we should check out the Luna Jacal. That became our plan for the exit. Shorter route but gravel road.

Next we visited the Santa Elena Canyon. Probably the best stop in the park. It’s a trail through a canyon carved by the Rio Grande. After climbing the canyon walls, we descended to the river and were rewarded with this stunning view!

Finally we headed out of the park. The gravel road was extremely bumpy but Greg adjusted the shocks. We stopped at the Luna Jacal site that our local “guide” recommended. It was the tiniest homestead that was owned by a Mexican man who supposedly had 5 wives and 28 kids. It was basically a one room hut that was so small that you couldn’t stand up.

Some college students took our portrait at the hut

Big Bend is a huge National Park. It is a long distance from any cities. Since it is so remote, it is not very popular. It was beautiful and well worth the visit.