Big Bend National Park, TX – 12.06.14

Posted on January 11, 2015

Open Road

Big Bend Pizza

Rusty Truck

Big Bend Tunnel

Big Bend Airstream

Willow Mirror

Big Bend Mountains

Big Bend Dirt Road

Butterfly

Dan Big Bend

Dan Big Bend Wide

Ernst Tinaja

Dan Canyon

Toni Canyon

Dan Canyon 2

Cacti

Cacti 2

Butterflies

-Ernst Tinaja hike was really cool.

Bird Big Bend

Winding Road Big Bend

Big Bend Fall Trees

Fox Socks

Mariscal Mine Big Bend

Tarantula

Mariscal Mine View

-Top of Mariscal Mine hike!

Toni yaaaayyyyy

Grillin

Rio Grande

-Rio Grande River, Mexico was spitting distance away.

Marathon, TX

-Ended up in Marathon, TX on the way out of Big Bend. Cool town!

Marathon Coffee

 

If you want to be away from civilization, cell phone service, and electricity, Big Bend National Park is the place for you. We hadn’t done much “camping” up until this point. We can say we’re permanently camping, but we have a Sleep Number mattress in the bedroom, a shower, and heat. Let’s be real, we’re glamping.

We stocked up on water and food, filled our propane tanks, let our families know we’d be checked out of civilization for a little bit, and started the trek south. Everywhere you look in Big Bend looks like a desktop wallpaper. The views are impeccable, the sunsets are out of this world and the stars are brighter than we thought possible. We did a couple hikes at Ernst Tnaja, Mariscal Mine, and the Chisos Mountains. They were strenuous, but each one made you feel like you earned something by the time you were done. We took lots of long drives, on both dirt roads and paved roads. We spotted a wolf, a baby fox, an falcon, and a family of Javalenas. They were too fast for photographical purposes, but we were excited either way.

We will both agree that our favorite memory from Big Bend, and one of our favorites from the trip thus far, was the night we spent in the hot spring. One night, around ten o’clock, we slipped on our swimsuits, threw on our coats, and drove a few miles to the famous hot spring that is attached to the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is essentially the border between Mexico and the U.S. It was pitch black while we were driving the winding dirt road leading to the site. The moon hadn’t risen yet and we were both pretty spooked. We parked and clung to each other tightly, walking the dark path to the hot spring. After half a mile we spotted it. We ripped off our coats and hopped right in. 110 degrees! What! We lounged in the spring, with our heads rested on the stone wall bordering it, and watched the moon rise over Mexico. We kept looking at each other and saying, “Is this real?!”

On our way out of southern Texas we stopped at a town just outside of Big Bend that caught our attention on our way down. Marathon, Texas is a quiet, rural town with a population of 430 people. We snapped a few photos and grabbed a sandwich at a local grocer. The town had so much character. We didn’t want to leave.

Texas has been good to us so far. Now it’s time to start heading West!

-D&T

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