Blogs from Big Bend, Texas, United States, North America

Today we put our golf clubs in the Jeep and headed out of Alpine to drive the 108 miles (~160 km) down to the Big Bend National Park. It is a beautiful, mountainous park in the panhandle of west Texas. It also runs along the Rio Grande River and that river divides Mexico and the US in that area. The drive out was uneventful but the closer we got to the park, the more spectaular the landscape became. We drove first to Terlingua/Study Butte and had some lunch. Thre is a golf course in terlingua that we were going to look at playing but it was just too hot! We then carried on to the Big Bend Lodge which is up in the mountains and facing out into the Chisos Basin. I hope the pictures do ... read more

Greetings from Big Bend National Park encompassing more than 800,000 acres in southwest Texas. For more than 1,000 miles, the Rio Grande forms the international boundary between Mexico and the United States. Big Bend National Park has national significance as the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert topography and ecology in the United States. The landscape is amazing, ever changing and filled with different wildlife, like run roaders, lizards and cactus. It got very hot, 98 degrees fahrenheit, but our day started with a visit to the visit centre and then into the car to drive to the Chisos Mountains Basin to take in the spectacular mountain views. From there we drove along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive which will give you a taste of the Chihuahuan Desert and will lead you to the Rio Grande. ... read more

Big Bend National Park The Big Bend Park gets its name from its location on the Rio Grande where it makes a northward turn. Due to its location, this is not a park that people arrive at when they are on their way somewhere else. People that arrive at Big Bend are here because this is their destination. The bend of the Rio Grande is big, but so is the park. It encompasses 801,163 acres, the Chihuahuan Desert and the Chisos Mountains. The park has Mexican black bears that reintroduced themselves into the park. The Peregrine population is the only Peregrines in the country that did not have to be reintroduced. They survived the decimation of the species that occurred elsewhere in the country. Also in the park are mountain lions, javelinas (hav-uh-LEE-nuhs), assorted other ... read more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISTY!! The road into Chisos Basin is definitely winding and steep, but so beautiful. The Chisos Basin is set inside the ring of the Chisos Mountain Range which is situated entirely inside the Big Bend National Park. We took the Windows overlook trail and got some great pictures. After leaving the park we got views of the Chisos Mountains from the west. This part of Texas is like so much of the west, wide open and ever-changing. There are mountains of every shape and color: round top mountains, flat top, pointy, rocky, striped (vertically, horizontally and diagonally striped) even polka-dotted mountains. The colors range from yellow to tan to brown, red, blue-black, green. There are vast flat areas with mountains in the distance in any direction you look. It's desert, but surprisingly colorful. There ... read more

4:45 a.m. Early- Too early. I didn’t get much sleep last night, but as soon as I managed to shake off the cobwebs and get dressed I’m semi-ready to go. Its warm, dry, and no breeze, which would be a TOTAL lie. It’s cold, dark, windy the kind that drives its way through you, and just too early. **Italic (Daniel, quit telling stories, it wasn’t THAT cold. Everybody is going to think that we are freezing to death. It was in the 50s y’all.) ** But none the less I’m in a good mood with that new Derks Bentley song “Free and Easy” stuck in my head. So we throw the little gear we have into the truck and we’re on the road. I’m really not sure what happened but the next thing I know we’re ... read more