Saturday, March 4th – Thursday, March 9th
Rio Grande Village RV Campground
The drive to Big Bend National Park required a one night
stopover in Ft. Stockton, Texas. From there the drive was 150 miles south into
the park that exists along the Mexican border. As we drove south, the amazing mountains of
Big Bend came into view and finally we arrived at the Rio Grande Village, where
the RV campground and another non-hookup campground are located. This area is right
along the Rio Grande and the Mexican border. There was a Visitor Center, well
stocked camp store, fuel (including diesel), and good Wi-Fi access. The views
were stunning from any location in the park. Our hikes included the Boquillas
Canyon trail along the Rio Grande, the Rio Grande Overlook/Hot Springs trail,
the Window Trail in the Chisos Mountains, the Rio Grande Nature Trail on the
east side of the campgrounds, and Kurt hiked the 12 mile South Rim Trail around
the Chisos Mountains. The day that Kurt did this hike, I stayed back at camp with
the dogs; early that morning a huge wind blew through the valley, ultimately
ended up as a dust storm. All day long there were sustained winds of about 40
mph, gusting up to 60mph. The park is so vast that the wind wasn’t even noticed
in the Chisos Mountains.
We also drove the beautiful scenic drive on the western side
of the park to historic areas with remains of settlers’ ranches and an old
store, which is now a Visitors Center. The Santa Elena Canyon was also on the westernmost
side of the park. On one exploratory drive, we went back into the historic hot
springs along the Rio Grande, where there were remains of a resort from the
1800’s. There was a bath house over the hot springs, now the walls are gone and
visitors to the park can soak in the hot, mineral waters there.
One day we decided to “cross the border” and visit the
village of Boquillas del Carmen. We easily went through Mexican
customs/immigration using our passports. Upon returning, the U.S. immigration
was just as easy. They used an electronic system where we inserted our
passports, a phone call came in from an agent in El Paso and using cameras
asked a few questions, then we were allowed back in the good old USA. However,
we did have a fun time in the village, had a very good Mexican lunch and
tequila/beer. Most of the villagers make a living selling their hand-made
crafts to the tourists. Without tourism there, the little village could not exist.
The people were very friendly and welcomed tourism. On our last day there, we
were able to get Kurt on the Rio Grande River, he was just wanting to kayak
that river so much. We drove down a 30 mile gravel road to the put-in, then he
paddled back to a boat ramp that was near the campground and I picked him up
there.
Wow, all I can say is this is the most amazing, vast desert
wilderness we have seen. So many different eco-systems, terrain and mountain
geology. We are so glad we didn’t drive by Big Bend this time. It was a
wonderful surprise, not at all what we expected. We highly recommend our
friends and family to visit there (they even have a lodge for non-campers), but
stay at least six days. There is so much to see and do.
Next, we are headed into New Mexico to visit some places we’ve
never been and spend some time with my family in Albuquerque.
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