Big Bend National Park

DAY 1:

After an easy flight to Midland, Texas, we rented a Tacoma 4-wheel drive and drove to Marathon to spend the night at the Gage Hotel. The Los Portales courtyard outside our room was full of the sounds of spring, and the rustic room decor added to the western experience. We ate supper at the highly recommended White Buffalo Saloon. Beware: the brisket nachos are a 2 lb. concoction piled on one plate and quite pleasing to the palate. We walked to the hotel gardens across the railroad tracks and saw a vermillion flycatcher. It is a colorful red bird that I have never seen before. I was unable to get a good picture with a 20mm wide angle lens. Here is a stock photo of the male flycatcher.

After a good night’s sleep, we ate breakfast at the V6 Coffee Bar and were out for our first adventure at Big Bend. The park entrance was 39 miles away on Hwy 385. We were soon in the park as we passed the Persimmon Gap Entrance station. The presence of vast desert conditions followed by large uprisings of the volcanic Rosillos Mountains were a distinct contrast of images. As we drove through the Tornillo Flats, we saw a sign that directed us to a Fossil Bone Exhibit which we would explore later in the week. The actual bones of several dinosaurs were dug at that location. The exhibit there is totally open-air and well worth a stop. We soon came to one of the park headquarters at Panther Junction where we purchased a Senior National Parks Pass for $20. That’s the best deal I have had in a long time. After visiting with the park ranger and getting acquainted with the park map, we decided to explore the south eastern section of the park. We started our drive to Rio Grande Village. As we drove to the village, we went through an old railroad tunnel on our descent into the valley. That was something I was not expecting. Once at the village, we pulled into a campground and hiked a short trail to an overlook of the river and campgrounds. The view of the mountains in Mexico from the trail were an amazing sight. Our next point of interest was only a few miles away as we headed more east to the port of entry to the U.S. at the small Mexican town of Boquillas Del Carmen. The park ranger was kind enough to to let us go through the gates and down to the river to get a few pictures. We had to promise not to go across the river since we did not have a passport. Once the locals saw us coming down the hill to the river, an elderly man started rowing his boat over to meet us. We did not want to tease him so we just stopped where we were and took a few pics of the horses and donkeys they let you ride into the town and then went back up the hill. This crossing had some significance as my wife crossed the border here with the Baptist River Ministries some 40 years ago as a translator. They provided medical services to the villages up and down the river.

After leaving the Boquillas Crossing we drove a short while to an overlook for Boquillas Canyon. Here we found a lot of hand made goods brought up the steep hill to the overlook by the people of Boquillas. In the video you will see woven hats, walking sticks, jewelry, purses, pottery and many other souvenirs laying at the edge of the overlook. Everything is priced with a piece of tape on it. You are on the honor system to put your money in one of the jars nearest the groups of items for sale. I bought a nice straw hat for $15 which came in very handy during the 100 degree weather all week. After some pics and the purchase, we got back into our truck and started the long drive to our next overnight stay in Lajitas, Texas. We retraced our drive to Panther Junction and headed west to the town of Study Butte on Highway 118. We took a left on Highway 170 and drove through the ghost town of Terlingua and on to Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa for two nights. I know you are probably getting bored, so I will stop writing and let you watch the video of the beautiful scenery we experienced on our first day. I will share some more amazing experiences, photos and video next week in another blog installment.

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Enjoy the video and God bless you!

Tim Lumpkin