A clear and sunny day allowed us to have a wonderful visit to Big Bend National Park in March, 2020.

We were late making reservations to camp in the park so unfortunately Big Bend was completely booked along with all the RV parks in the small towns just outside the park. We found out that spring break is the busiest time for Big Bend likely due to the milder temperatures that time of year. We ended up staying in Marfa about an hour and a half north and taking a long day trip.

As we drove into the park we were immediately greeted by amazing balanced rock formations. After stopping by the Panther Junction visitor center, buying a t-shirt of course, we drove through the beautiful Chisos Basin then followed the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive through the west part of the park. You’ll see all the beautiful pictures we took but they cannot capture the stark beauty, depth, and colors of the mountains. We liked stretching our legs and hiking into Burro Mesa Pouroff, Tuff Canyon and Santa Elena Canyon. The Santa Elena Canyon Trail was our favorite! Sheer cliffs of 1500′ cut thru by the Rio Grande River was amazing, peaceful and a wonderful oasis in the desert. Hopefully next time we visit the park I would like to return to Santa Elena Canyon with a canoe or kayak to enjoy this peaceful canyon even more.

We had made a memorable summer trip here 25 years ago while on summer vacation when our kids were young. At that time, we stayed in a cabin at the Chisos Mountains Lodge. We had a black bear pay a curious visit then later a herd of javelinas walked by. Another great memory was when we paid a young man to a ferry us across the Rio Grande River into Boquillas, Mexico. While there we enjoyed walking around and meeting the friendly people and we sat outside at a small house/restaurant to enjoy a bottle of coke before we crossed the river back to the United States. It was so great remembering that trip and looking through some of our old pictures.