Day 17 -18, Thursday/Friday 4-5Apr2024 - Big Bend and onto San Marcos

Thursday we got into the Big Bend National Park about 9AM but it is over 20 miles into the park just to reach the Panther Junction visitor center. Big Bend is named for its location on a Bend of the Rio Grande River, the area is enormous.  We talked with a ranger and he suggested we visit the Santa Elena Canyon area.

It is a 43 mile scenic drive to Santa Elena, it took us an hour to get to the trail head. 

On the way we stopped at Castolon Village, unfortunately it burned in 2019 and there is not much left of it now.

The Santa Elena trail is a pretty easy hike to the Rio Grande

The Rio Grande this time of year is pretty low, I could not believe it was so shallow, muddy and slow when we arrived.

After we got to the river we continued the hike along the river. Parts of it were steep switchbacks but it was not nearly as steep as the hike out of Carlsbad Caverns. 

The trail leads to a canyon that the river cuts between the US And Mexico. 

We walked along the Rio Grande, it got pretty hot and there is no shade. 

Eventually the Canyon walls met the river and we could not go any farther without getting wet, so we touched the Rio Grande and started back, we had hiked just about 1 mile. 

The Rio Grande in this section is slow, shallow and muddy. You can canoe up river and camp with a permit. I spoke with a family that did this and they informed me that this time of year the river is very low and often you have to get out of your canoe and drag it. 

You can see the mud trail from the canoe in this picture. 

As we walked back we could see cows on the canyon walls on the Mexican side, they roam all over. It is impressive that they can go on such vertical terrain. 

Before we left Big Bend we wanted to visit the hot springs. In the early 1900s J.O. Langford built a resort where geothermal water came to the surface along the Rio Grande.  He had a bathhouse, a motor court and more. The US even assigned hot springs a zip code. 

Today it is all ruins but you can drive a one mile road and then hike a 1/2 mile to see the springs. 

The road is pretty rough, we drove to the point that says no RVs, or dual wheeled vehicles, I was happy to stop. The road was so narrow when we walked in that when a car came, June and I would have to climb the bank to get out of the way, it was really a rough and narrow road. 

The buildings of stone are still standing.

You can soak in the 105F water that still collects in the foundation of what was once the bath house. 

We did not soak but tested the water,  it was like a hot tub, and the river in this section is moving and clean....nice. 

There were people, and cows, wading in the river and standing on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande, I guess the border is open here.... :-).

We hiked back to the car and were happy to see everything was as we left it; there were signs saying that these parking spots were high theft areas. 

We made our way back to the highway and drove down into the Rio Grande Village visitor center. We checked it out, filled our water bottles and set out to depart Big Bend.  It is 43 miles back to the Panther visitor center and another 26 out of the park, it takes hours to get out of the park...it is Texas.

We had a nice visit at Big Bend. I would not put it on the must see list of National Parks, but if you are in this area it is definitely worth the stop. It is really known for bird watching, there are lots of plaques that describe what birds live here. 

As we left Big Bend, we wanted to make our way east towards Randy and Sue's in San Marco, Tx, but did not want to drive in the dark.  We found Canyons RV Park, on highway 90 in Sanderson for a night stop.  We called, no answer, sent text, no response, so we pulled in.  The sign said take a spot, put $30 in the piggy. It's a good business racket when you don't even have to be there and just collect money. 

Friday - On to San Marcos

Friday we did not depart the RV park until 10AM, we just had a lazy morning. 

June made Pancakes with blueberries and bacon for breakfast...yum. 

We needed a break so we stopped at the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center. We were the only people there, interesting. 

This is the Judge's court house and bar. 

I was trying to get a drink but could not find a bar tender. 

We stopped for lunch in Del Rio.  We went to Walmart for supplies and had lunch at Ruby's BBQ, it was awesome. 

We arrived at Randy and Sue's about 6:30PM. Richie, Kris and Mike were already there. Randy cooked one of his specialties, Dry Rub Ribs.....yum yum.

The forecast for the Eclipse is not good...but such is life.