Quick Summary!
Friday: Drove into Rio Grande Village Campground
Saturday: Mexico, Boquillas Canyon Trail, Hot Springs
Sunday: Hiked the Rio Grande Nature Trail, Dugout Wells, Lone Mountain Trail and drove out to Terlingua. Filled up with fuel and had dinner at the Starlight Theatre. Spent the night just outside of Big Bend in Study Butte at a Hip Camp location.
Monday: Quick stop at the Cottonwood grocery store (10/10- great store) and back into Big Bend to check out the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. We stopped at the Sotol Vista Overlook, Lower Burro Mesa Trail, Mule Ears Viewpoint, and then down to Santa Elena Canyon. We spent the night at the Cottonwood Campground. (FYI- dry camping and no generators allowed).
Tuesday: Headed back out the way we came! We made 1 quick stop at the Sam Nail trail head and then into Big Bend Ranch State Park and the McDonald Observatory.
***If you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, your itinerary will probably look quite different. We were limited to where we could go and what trails we could access in our 25 ft Class A Motorhome.
More details:
How We Got There:
We were driving in from the Texas gulf coast, so we came in through the East. We arrived in Marathon on a Thursday night and still had to work until 3pm on Friday. We stayed at the Marathon Motel and RV Park. It was a great spot! We paid $31.50 for our 1 night stay with water and electric hookups for our RV. Beautiful sunset, sunrise and night sky! Unfortunately, it was going to be below freezing, so we did NOT make it out to see the stars. (Strike 1 on dark sky experience)
On Friday afternoon we checked out of the RV park and went to V6 Coffee Bar for a coffee and Jasper talked me into lunch. It was all delicious. As soon as the clock struck 3:00, we were off work and ready to make our way into Big Bend National Park!
Following Hwy 385 you’ll find open fields filled with ocotillo and it will bring you to a Big Bend visitor sign (We stopped here) and Persimmon Gap Visitor Center (we didn’t stop here). We continued to the Fossil Discovery Exhibit. This was a neat little spot to stop as it offers a nice educational introduction to the landscape you’ll be seeing throughout Big Bend. Eventually Hwy 385 brings you to Panther Junction. There is a cute little nature path at the Panther Junction visitor center that points out some of the cacti and vegetation you’ll be seeing. There is Wi-Fi and bathrooms at the Visitor Center and very helpful park rangers to answer any questions.
Since we had reservations at the Rio Grand Campground, we made our way East from Panther Junction out to the Rio Grande Village and Campground where we found our site and settled in for the night. There is a little store in the Rio Grande Village with laundry, (weak) wifi, and a different campground WITH electric hook ups. This campground is not part of the national park and cannot be booked through recreation.gov. It looks like you need to book by calling them directly.
Rio Grande Village and Boquillas Canyon
We stayed at the Rio Grande Village Campground for 2 nights. The price was $16 per night. Since we have the America The Beautiful Pass, we received a 50% discount, so we paid a total of $16 for both nights. This campground does not have electricity or showers. They do offer bathrooms and a utility sink for doing dishes. It’s a pretty big campground and has sites for bigger rigs.
Saturday was our first full day in the park! We decided to head to the Rio Grande Visitor Center to get a little more info on Mexico and the hot springs and figure out what we could do in a day, while traveling in our RV.
We settled on lunch in Mexico, hiking the Boquillas Canyon Trail and the soaking in the hot springs! We drove out to the Boquillas border crossing and took the “international ferry” across the Rio Grande. It is $5 per person – round trip- to cross in the rowboat. It was an experience, and I was thankful that I wasn’t the one rowing! Once you’ve crossed the border there is a short walk into the town. You can get a ride from mules or horses, but we did the walk on our own. We picked up some fresh tortillas and headed to the bar. The bar served beer and shots. So, we played it safe and had a beer. There are two restaurants in town, and we went to Jose Falcons. The drinks were great, our lunch was okay. I got a pair of earrings from their shop that I love.
After Mexico and crossing back over, we continued down the road to Boquillas Canyon Trail. It’s an easy trail with beautiful views! The trail follows the Rio Grande and we saw wild horses on the Mexico side. It took us about 45 minutes to hike the 1.5 miles out and back trip. I would highly recommend this trail to everyone. Even though there were quite a few gnats on this trail, it was still enjoyable.
I think we took a nap after this, worn out from margaritas and hiking. Then we went to the hot springs! I love me some natural hot springs and this was exactly that! A little pool along the Rio Grande filled with natural hot water. Off the main road, you will see Hot Springs Road that leads back to the trailhead. RV’s are not able to drive the whole way down to the trailhead, but there is a pull off where we parked and rode our bikes the rest of the way. The trail to get to the hot springs is ¼ mile and really pretty. I absolutely loved this, probably more than Jasper. We went late afternoon and it was a little busy. The best time would probably be first thing in the morning, but we weren’t feeling the early mornings so we got the crowds.
After the hot spring, we made our way back to camp for dinner and took part in the ranger lead night sky talk. Unfortunately, it was cloudy (strike 2 on dark night sky experience)
Sunday morning we had another full day ahead of us. I was slightly discouraged as I found out that a lot of the trail heads for the hikes I wanted to do were down primitive roads that are not suitable for our motorhome. And, ALSO, Chisos Basin was a no go for us. Apparently, the road up there has some serious switchbacks and not suitable for vehicles longer than 24 ft. We are 25 ft with two big bikes on the back. So, that threw a wrench on our plans. But, that really just meant that we weren’t in any hurry to wake up and beat the crowds for a popular hike. So, we hiked the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail that left right from our campground. It is an easy trail that offers spectacular views.
Afterwards we made our way back towards Panther Junction stopping for a quick walk at Dugout Wells Trail and then we checked out the new 3 mile Lone Mountain Loop Trail. We really enjoyed this hike as it offered beautiful vegetation and unique rock formations. This is a new hike and one that I would recommend. It took us just over an hour, so a nice stop to get some extra miles in.
We didn’t actually have a spot to stay since I messed up booking the Cottonwood Campground and was only able to reserve it for Monday night. Instead, we were able to head out to town of Terlingua, get fuel, and have dinner. It was a beautiful drive out to Terlingua, and we decided to have dinner at the Starlight Theatre. We did have quite a bit of a wait, so we got ourselves a 6-pack from the store and enjoyed that while we waited. Starlight Theatre was a unique building that was cool to check out, but the food wasn’t anything great. I enjoyed my 6-pack of beer more. After dinner we settled into our Hip Camp spot and fell into a boozy sleep (strike 3 on dark night sky experience).
Monday morning started with an exciting trip to the Cottonwood Grocery Store (I love grocery stores!) where I picked us up some microwavable vegan burritos for breakfast and some fresh produce. Perfect for coming out of a boozy sleep. We then got ourselves together and headed back into Big Bend and down the Ross Maxwell scenic road to Santa Elena Canyon! We stopped at the Sotol Vista overlook for an expansive view of the valley and then at the lower burro mesa trail for a beautiful 1 mile hike.
We took the viewpoint for Mule Ears and almost thought about doing the hike… but it was getting hot and were getting hungry, so we passed on it and continued down to the Santa Elena Canyon. Santa Elena Canyon did not disappoint! It is a nice 1.5 mile out and back trail and was shaded towards the back which offered some nice relief from the sun.
We then back tracked up to Castolon to check out that little store and historic town (which isn’t much) Then, we settled into our campsite for the night. Cottonwood campground is much smaller than Rio Grande Village Campground and we even got some cell service! However, it does NOT allow generators. As we had to book MONTHS in advance, I forgot this detail and we did get scolded by the camp host. The campground offered beautiful views at sunset and sunrise and some even of the night sky! I think it would have been SPECTACULAR if I could have stayed up past 1000pm when the sky gets really dark and allows for all starts, but bedtime won out. This would have been the night to stay up and see the stars.
Tuesday morning, we woke up and headed out! Back out the Ross Maxwell Scenic road stopping at the Sam Nail Ranch for a little insight into what life was like for early settlers.
Take Aways from Big Bend:
- 4 wheel vehicles would be helpful to get the more popular trail heads
- There are gnats! They are bad! I ate quite a few, unfortunately.
- A vehicle that is not 25 ft long would be great to get up to Chisos Basin
- Mexico was fun – but on a short trip, probably worth skipping
- Boquillas Canyon Trail, Rio Grande Village Nature Trail, Lone Mountain, Lower Burro Mesa, and Santa Elena Canyon are all trails I would recommend!
- It is a beautiful area that I hope you get to explore! Also, take advantage of a clear night sky, even if it is cold! Clouds can roll in any time and stay for days.
