This is the first half of STOP 8 which is the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our previous stop in Fredericksburg, TX
We are staying a total of 7 days in this area and that would make for too long of a post – so we will split it in two which actually matches up nicely with the two different areas we will explore here.
The Drive from Fredericksburg, TX to Alpine, TX
After checking out Luckenbach, TX (see our previous post), we embark on a long, uneventful drive beginning on US 87 north through Mason. Texas starts to flatten out and we pass through a number of small Texas Towns.
Fort McKavett
Near Menard we make a short detour over to Fort McKavett, one of the frontier forts in West Texas. its pretty isolated and we only meet one other person while we are there. Its also was a good place for us to have a little picnic lunch.
Wind, Solar and Oil
In West Texas, you see a lot of oil production going on all over the place as you travel. In addition we came across a fairly large solar farm and a pretty significant wind generator farm.
In Menard we hop onto US 190 west for a fairly long stretch. Just past the town of Iraan, we stop and get gas and the speed limit zips up to 80mph as we get on I-10 west. This seems fast for those of us who live on the east coast, but in Texas, even country roads often have 75mph limits.
At Fort Stockton, we switch to highway 385 south until we reach Marathon. In the distance we can start the see the Glass Mountains which are part of the southern range of the Rocky Mountains and the mountain range just before the Chisos Mountains down in Big Bend National Park. In the distance we can see it raining.
Wayfarer’s Cottage
We’ve scored another really nice AirBnB/VRBO rental just a few blocks from the historic downtown Alpine. We are one of three units that share a beautiful outdoor garden area, a screen porch and a laundry room. The latter is essential since we won’t have access to our own laundry facilities again for another 12 days (yes, we could go to a laundromat in some town, but that wastes time unnecessarily since you can’t leave it unattended). We have a yellow/gold cheery living room with double recliner leather couch in front of a TV, a comfy king size mattress in a bedroom with a huge walk-in closet, a spacious, well-stocked kitchen and dining area (where we set up our laptops) and a modern bathroom with double sinks and a shower with lots of water pressure.
We have decided to stay one night, then forfeit 2 nights here in order to camp in Terlingua – because Big Bend National Park is 90 miles away and we just don’t want to drive back and forth every day. We need to pack one small backpack with just enough clothes and toiletries for 2 nights of camping. We need to pack just the food we need for picnic lunches and camping breakfasts & dinners. We need to empty the car of things we won’t need while camping so we have enough room to sleep in the back of the pickup with our tent attached. We decide to make another batch of chicken nachos and eat in.
Day 2 – Our Day 1 in Big Bend National Park
The Big Bend region consists of the National Park and the Ranch State Park – we will give you basic details in this post and plan to write one more detailed post at a later date and provide a link.
Big Bend Entrance
We head out of Alpine going east on US 90 to Marathon and then go south on US 385. It is a 100 mile drive to the Panther Junction Visitor Center (also the Park Headquarters) and it takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Almost immediately we pass the Oscar Meyer Wiener Car leaving the park – how unexpected!
Before reaching the Visitor Center at Panther Ranch, we stop at the magnificent Fossil Discovery Exhibit that is not to be missed. Here you learn the geological history of the area, once a sea, then a land of dinosaurs.
Once at the Panther Junction Visitor Center, we talk with the Park Ranger to make sure the back country roads we want to drive are in passable condition. There are 2 in particular that we want to do (one today, one tomorrow) and we get the OK. We learn one of them was closed two weeks ago due to washouts from this year’s “monsoon season”. Yes, we learn since they only get 2″ of rain on average per year, when they get much more, they refer to it as “monsoon season”. This Visitor Center is the only one open this time of year – we learn the busy season is late November to late March and this is typical.
Today we will head from Panther Junction east to Rio Grande Village, but leave the main road and take a back country “primitive” drive on Glenn Springs Rd and then another gravel road, River Rd, before joining back with the main road to Rio Grande Village. Glenn Springs Rd is unpaved, requires high clearance, is recommended only for 4WD (we never needed it) and is 15.8 miles long. It is very hot today, in fact at one point it reaches 100 degrees. Let’s just say this drive was an adventure with us needing to negotiate a few areas with recent washouts. River Rd is in a little better condition and is only 9.6 miles. Fun, scenic and we recommend it!
Big Bend Hot Springs
Shortly after rejoining the main road, we divert to an area called Hot Springs which requires a knuckle-biting drive on a 2 mile narrow unpaved road. There are warnings that no trailers longer than 20 feet are allowed and it is not recommended for “dually wheels”. The last .25 miles of it has one way roads in each direction with cliff hugging roads on one side and a steep drop off on the other. We truly understand why those recommendations exist. Once at the parking lot, we have a .5 mile hike past some ruins from back in the day when there were rustic bath houses and lodging associated with the hot springs. We also notice wire art for sale perched on rocks with an honor jar for payment. We come to learn that the Mexicans just across the river bring over these handmade items for sale to tourists and the park service seems to allow it. We find these in many, many places in the park. There are about 25 people at the hot springs and in the Rio Grande River which is higher than normal and actually joins the hot spring stone tub. We see a Mexican across the river in a makeshift hut making more of the trinkets. We were unprepared for the hot springs – our swim suits are back at the house in Alpine – but Harrison just takes off his shirt, shoes & socks, hands me his keys, camera, phone and wallet and goes in wearing his shorts and underwear. The hot springs are said to be about 105 degrees so we understand why most people are in the adjoining river. With the hot springs spilling into the river, the river is warmer than usual here and Harrison remarks how refreshing it is.
Rio Grande Village Area
We leave the Hot Springs and stop briefly at the Rio Grande Overlook and then drive on to the Boquillas Canyon Overlook. There is a road into Boquillas, Mexico that is currently not open but we can see the colorful tiny village from the road and the overlook. Next we stop at the Rio Grande Village store and grab an ice cream sandwich. We walk around the village but as previously mentioned, the Visitor Center here is not open in the summer. The Rio Grande Village is the eastern most part of Big Bend National Park and is the terminus for the park. There is no entrance/exit here since it borders directly with Mexico.
We backtrack on the main park road past Panther Junction and all the way to the west entrance of the park so we can get to our campground in Terlingua for the next two nights.
1st Night Camping in Terlingua – Rancho Topanga Campground
Our GPS was wrong and as we passed the place it said it was along FM 170, we start to worry just a little. We look for a place to turn around to go ask for directions back in Terlingua and we magically find the entrance to the campground. This is a tent only campground and we choose it because all reservable camping in Big Bend National Park is taken. You make reservations for this place by phone. When talking to the owner, Guy, and asking if they had availability, he made it sound like he had to check and figure out if there was room. In fact, we were THE only campers in the entire campground for the 2 nights we were there (a Wed/Thu – and when we check in, he claims they were full for the upcoming weekend. Do we care? Not at all. We get our choice of campsites and we pick one up on a bluff near a covered picnic table and the bath house. We hit the jackpot on bath houses as we not only have a flush toilet, there is a hot water shower, a sink and 2 electrical outlets. We set up our tent in like 15 minutes but have a challenge when it comes to hammering in tent stakes, easily adding 30 minutes to setup up time. By the time we setup the bed in the back of the truck and unload our stuff, we decide we are too lazy to cook tonight and endure another picnic of various salamis, peanut butter, crackers and cookies.
The sun is about 10 minutes from setting so we hike up a nearby hill to examine the 360 degree view and watch the sun as it goes down. After grabbing some sunset selfies, we head back to our campsite and light a campfire. We are amazed to have full bars on our cell phones – not that we plan to sit on our phones – but we do a quick check on emails, texts and the weather forecast. We hook up a Bluetooth speaker to the music on our phone, setup the camp chairs and watch as the stars emerge in the sky. There are some clouds, but we still manage to see more night sky than we do at home. This whole area is an international dark skies park (one of only 66 in the USA). We identify Venus and Jupiter, the Big Dipper and the Milky Way. Harrison sees some strange light movement and mentions it twice. He sees a long time stationary light darting from one place to another in the sky – not a small move (like what you’d think of as 3 inches if you held your arm out and held your fingers 3″ apart). I’m thinking he’s making it up and don’t notice it myself, so he doesn’t mention it when he sees it the third time. We learn the next day – that he’s witnessed the infamous “Marfa Lights” (more on that later).
Day 3 – Our Day 2 in Big Bend National Park
Our main goal today is to drive the loop to Santa Elena Canyon and back via the Old Maverick Rd (another dirt road, but no high clearance or 4WD necessary) and then the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. We cook a delicious breakfast of sausage, onion, eggs & cheese and wrap it up in a soft tortilla. We leave the campground around 7:30 and head back to Big Bend so we can maximize the sun for photography on the drives.
Old Maverick Rd
The unpaved (aka “improved dirt”) 12.6 miles Old Maverick Rd is in much better shape than Glenn Springs Rd – but we knew it would be. It follows the Terlingua Creek and the badlands that surround it. We drive by several historic points of interest including the ruins of Terlingua Abajo, Luna’s Jacal, and the ruins at Alamo Creek. The drive officially ends at Santa Elena Canyon.
Santa Elena Canyon
This a 1,500-foot high canyon is cut in two by the Rio Grande River. The best way to view the canyon is to take an overnight canoe/kayak trip. The second best way to view the canyon is to do “the hike”. The hike begins by walking through the Rio Grande River at a shallow area, to the trailhead which consists of a series of switchbacks uphill. The signs warn the area gets extremely hot and to be OFF the trail by 10am. We do the walk through the Rio Grande (which means we entered Mexico since the border dividing line “is” the river). We decide not to do the 1.6 mile hike since it is 9:45am and in the 90’s. We see a group of 3 canoes about to embark on a trip into the canyon.
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive
This 39 mile drive is paved because it is one of the most scenic drives within the park and they want maximum tourist ability to experience it. The drive is named after Ross Maxwell, the first superintendent for Big Bend National Park who led the majority of the construction of roads within the park between when it was established in 1944 through 1952. The drive showcases the history of the area with places like Castolon Historic District (a former calvary camp) and Sam Neal Ranch that were both there long before this area became a national park. The drive also showcases the beauty of the geology of the area including Tuff Canyon, Mules Ear Viewpoint (a guiding landmark for early travelers), Lower Burrow Mesa Pour-off (high cliff and includes a short hike to a small box canyon) and Sotol Vista (a sweeping view of the entire western side of the park).
Chisos Basin Area
The Chisos Basin Area is surrounded by the Chisos Mountains. This area is the heart of the park with the only lodge and restaurant and also includes numerous trails. The lodge is very old-school and the restaurant is only doing take-out sandwiches & burgers. We order a mediocre pulled pork sandwich and a ham, turkey & cheese wrap. We chat with another couple and learn the camping situation in the park is a pain – they are in 3 different campsites in 2 different campgrounds and move every day. YUK – glad we opted to camp outside the park. A friend of ours recently stayed at the Chisos Mountain Lodge and said they probably wouldn’t stay there again even though you save at least 30-45 minutes travelling between alternate lodging and hiking trails. You do generally want to hike trails early in the morning due to heat. It is a little cooler here because you are nestled in the mountains, but it is in the lower 90’s and now mid-afternoon, so we do not do any hiking here. There are two common 4-6 mile “moderate” hikes here (Window Trail & Lost Mine Trail) and several strenuous longer ones. We will miss them, but all the more reason to return some day.
Terlingua
There is a threat of rain around 3pm (100% chance) and we’d rather not be driving or at the campsite. We decide to check out Terlingua and see what it has to offer. We drive through the one road in town and pass by the old buildings from the original town that is now a ghost town. There are five restaurants in town, a historic hotel, other cabin and super small lodging options and old stone buildings in various states of decay. We take in the souvenir shop first which has a tiny museum, then we walk a little bit outside. The two main restaurants are the Starlight Theatre Restaurant and Saloon, (an old movie theatre), but it doesn’t open until 5pm and the High Sierra Bar & Grill. And so we head to High Sierra for some thirst quenching and we meet our bartender Evo (like Devo but without the “D” and yes, he can whip it good). He has a ton of interesting tattoos including a tiny Texas outline on his upper right cheekbone. We talk about our journey so far and what lies ahead. He tells us about a stunning drive that we must do, a drive that inspired him to move here from Fort Worth. The road is FM 170 from Terlingua to Presidio. He says it is the most beautiful drive he’s ever seen. He tells us to look for the 3 metal teepees on the left, then expect to climb a big hill and when we get to the top of the hill, there will be a small pull-off. We are to park there and hike just a little ways up the hill up over rocks and squeezing through some tight spaces to a spectacular view. I write this down so we won’t forget and it turns out it was a road already in our plans for tomorrow. He asks if we’ve been to Luckenbach and we explain our story – so he shows us pictures of he and his wife there. He says they go about once a year. He also tells us his wife bartends over at the Starlight.
The rain never came in Terlingua or at the campground, however, the wind has really picked up. The weather app says 6mph – 9mph but there are easily gusts around 30mph from time to time. Our tent hasn’t blown away, but two tent poles have collapsed in. They are easily righted and we proceed to re-attach the tent to the back of the Brown Beast. We end up exposing every possible screen in the tent so the wind can blow through instead of treating the sides like sails. It’s very annoying. We go to make dinner and we have to move a picnic table so the Brown Beast blocks as much wind as possible. Even then, we have to keep the camp stove on the highest level possible just to keep it lit. Harrison cooks dinner (Hickory Smoked Spam with onion & canned sliced potatoes) while I setup a campfire for later on hoping the wind will die down. It never does. We end up eating dinner on the tailgate inside the tent and watch a movie on Harrison’s phone praying the tent doesn’t rip and/or blow away. No star gazing tonight – too many clouds and too cold outside.
Day 4 in Big Bend Ranch State Park
The wind is still blowing strong so we cook another sausage, egg, onion, cheese breakfast burrito inside the tent on the tailgate. We make coffee in our one-cup drip coffee maker we plug into the bathroom outlet inside the bathroom. There’s an advantage to being the only people in the campground! We start the campfire and begin packing up camp for good. It was a little challenging to take the tent down with so much wind, but we make it happen.
Time to head to Big Bend Ranch State Park. We stop at the Barton Warnock Visitor Center to get a map and proceed up the route Evo had told us about. The main road, FM 170, is 50 miles from the next main town of Presidio. It is stunning beauty, just as he said. We pass by the town of Lajitas which includes the most upscale resort we’ve seen in the area. We stop at Contrabando, a former movie set with only one building remaining. There is a sign that indicates 2 movies have scenes filmed in the park: The Streets of Laredo (with William Holden – 1949) and Fandango (with Kevin Costner – 1985). Moving on, we see the 3 teepees that Evo mentioned and begin ascending up a big hill (this is the steepest road in all of TX with a 15% grade) and at the top of the hill there is quite the crowd in the pull-offs. We park but one of the people there suggests we move our car further up the hill, so we do. We see nametags and we’re getting curious. We hike about 50 feet up some rocks and through one narrow set of rocks and the view of the Rio Grande River is beautiful. There are about 20 people total and we notice about 8 people below us, which seems strange because the view is here up higher. A guy suggests I come down and see the Dom and I blow him off saying I wasn’t comfortable going down over loose rocks to a fairly narrow ledge. We turn around and ask another guy to take our picture. We ask him what the nametags are for and he lets us know they are on a movie location tour for the movie Fandango. He tells us two of the “lesser” actors are with them but he isn’t supposed to tell us or point them out. He mentions that in that area down below, they are digging up something just like they did in the movie.
We continue driving and stop to hike the 1.6 mile Closed Canyon Trail. It is a cooler hike because you hike down into a very narrow slot canyon. The river is dry at this point but you can see how it would rage through here after a rain. Our next stop along the drive is the Hoodoos where the final scenes of Boyhood [2014] were filmed. We do a short 1.1 mile hike to the overlook and back.
Our last stop before exiting the park is Fort Leaton, a personal home turned trading post and fortress – and at one time, the seat of government for Presidio County. They believe it was built in the 1830’s and it was acquired by Benjamin Leaton in 1848. He and his family lived there as well as traded there until he died in 1851. His widow married Edward Hall who continued operating the freight business from the fort with Leaton’s partner, John Burgess. Hall ran into financial issues and was murdered in 1864. Burgess took over the fort, and was in turn murdered by Leaton’s son in 1875.
We continue the drive on FM 170 to Presidio, then head north on US 67 north to Marfa. Right before Marfa, we uneventfully pass through a Border Patrol checkpoint. Marfa is a cute little town we plan to revisit in the next few days. From Marfa we take US 90 east back to Alpine.
An Evening Back in Alpine
You can only do so much research on restaurants ahead of time. Web sites aren’t always completely up to date as to who is open (i.e. who survived COVID shut-down times), what days/times they are open because of pandemic staffing issues, etc. We stop into one place that had looked good ahead of time but it just doesn’t resonate. We stop in another that hadn’t shown up in research and it also doesn’t feel right. We finally decide on Guzzi Up, a pizza & pasta place that on their web site had a picture that looked like there was a TV at the bar, but there isn’t one. We enjoy sitting at the bar catching some sporting event on the TV while we chat with the bartender and locals. The bar is already decorated for Halloween. We meet our bartender, Andy, and decide to share a custom pizza with pepperoni, sausage, onion and jalapenos. Andy tells us there’s only one restaurant in town with a TV (across the street as it turns out).
When finished with our pizza, we decide to head across the street and check out the Century Bar & Grill located at the Historic Holland Hotel. Let me digress for one moment – the Holland Hotel is a really nice historic hotel. If we hadn’t been in Alpine for 7 days where we wanted laundry & the ability to cook several of our own meals, we would have probably stayed here. We stick our head in the door and every bar seat is taken (it is a Friday night) – but the place definitely has the ambiance we seek out. We are just about to head out when this guy sitting at the end of the bar says “Hey – you’re the lady I tried to get to go down to Dom Rock earlier today!”. And so we meet 2 of the guys, Scott and Rob from Dallas, that were part of the Ultimate Fandango tour we mingled with earlier today on Big Hill. We chat for a while and learn there are often movie tours like the one they took where you visit several of the film locations while mingling with a few actors. They were very excited to receive a personal video from Kevin Costner thanking them for taking the tour and saying he hoped they enjoyed it! Miraculously, the two bar seats next to them open up. We settle in for what proves to be a fabulous evening of travel story sharing and several beers. We never get the names of our bartenders, but one unique thing about this bar is there is a trap door in the floor behind the bar that leads to the beer/wine cellar. So occasionally, a bartender opens the door and disappears down some steps to emerge back up with “supplies”.
Our Verdict
The Big Bend region is a treasure, but it is very much out of the way. We highly recommend it, but don’t expect resort type accommodations or restaurants. It is remote and it needs to be kept that way. Given it was too hot this time of year for as much hiking as we usually like, there is a high likelihood we will return.
Next Up
Here is a link to our previous stop in Fredericksburg, TX
Here is the link to the second part to the Big Bend Texas Area stop.
[…] This is the second half of STOP 8 which is the 21st, 22nd and 23rd days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to our first half in Alpine, TX […]
Glad y’all were able to see that part if Texas. —Delton