How to Spend 4 Days in Big Bend National Park

My family closed out 2019 (and the end of a decade) with a family trip to Big Bend National Park. Located on the Texas/Mexico border, Big Bend is a collection of beautiful rivers, mountains, hiking trails, and cute towns. It took us about 10 hours to drive there from Houston, which by the way is crazy to me because even though we spent 10 hours driving and we were still in Texas. But in other states, 10 hours driving means you’ve already made it from New York to Virginia! Just goes to show how vast and expansive Texas is! Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes (aside from eating and writing so you can see while I need to partake in it often to be healthy!), but living in Texas has its limited mountains so Big Bend presented a fantastic opportunity to explore the Texas West while getting to experience some stellar hikes.

Day 1- Terlingua Ghost Town

Terlingua is the town closest to the entrance of Big Bend and when the Park’s lodging becomes full, it is the next best place to stay if you’re trying to be close to the Park. The Big Bend National Park entrance fee is only $30 per car per week that all cars have to pay whether you stay inside or outside the Park so choosing to stay outside isn’t an extra cost. There are some adorable tipis and abodes in the town, but we chose to stay at Chisos Mining Company Motel in a cute little yellow house. The Motel was definitely lacking in luxury (I mean we are in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert after all), but it made it up character. I felt like we had taken a step back into time when Texas was being colonized and mining for silver and gold was the biggest attraction for residing in West Texas. Onsite of our Motel was a beautiful Labyrinth made up of different sized rocks and other random knick knacks. It was the most perfectly odd thing to find in the middle of the desert! The ghost town has a popular diner, Starlight Theater, which we didn’t end up eating at but always saw long lines lining up well before the 5pm opening time. There is also a Trading Post for all your souvenir needs!

Day 2- Chisos Basin

The Chisos Basin Visitor Center is not only a wealth of information (all their rangers located here are volunteers and many of them are retired individuals who just love Big Bend), but also the starting point for many hikes in the area. I counted from the signs that around 6 hikes start at Chisos Basin. These hikes range from the paved 0.3 mile loop Windows View path which is handicap friendly and has 2 designated viewing spots for easy views of the desert terrain to the 12 mile in and out hike of Emory Peak. My family opted for the moderately paced 5 mile Windows hike, which let us go up close to the rock “window”. While not challenging (especially after having gone to Banff and its ruggedly steep mountains earlier in the year), it certainly took a long time and the lack of shade (remember its a desert!) made it extremely hot at times even in December. Remember to pack lots of water and apply sunscreen if you don’t want to turn into a red tomato! Our second morning, we made the decision to return to Chisos Basin area and hike the ever popular (and sometimes crowded) Lost Mine Trail. Its a 4 mile roundtrip hike with an elevation gain of 1100 feet, which is pretty steep for me so it took us around 3-4 hours in total. I would suggest arriving at the Lost Mine trail head around 7:30/8am because there aren’t many parking spaces available and once it fills up, you’ll have to patiently wait for someone else to finish and leave before being able to park your car.

Day 3- Santa Elena Canyon

We paired the Santa Elena Canyon with the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and made an entire day out of it. The Drive stretches the length of the Park from near Chisos Basin all the way to the Canyon. Along the way there are several hikes available and tons of viewing platforms to see the beauty that is West Texas.

Stargazing is the #1 activity to do when you’re in Big Bend. There are several options for great spots to look at the stars- 'I’ve heard that the Nature trail at Rio Grande Village (see below) is one popular one- but my family opted to join in a Park Ranger talk to not only see the stars, but also learn more about them. Park Rangers host star viewing parties every Saturday at 7pm at the Panther Junction Visitor Center and its so informative learning about the different constellations in the sky and little tidbits about the stars themselves. All Ranger discussions and guided hikes are free and included with your park admission so I highly recommend grabbing a flyer that lists the times and dates of them and attending!

Day 4- Rio Grande Village

Big Bend is divided into 3 sections- Chisos Basin and Santa Elena being the first 2 sections. The Rio Grande area is the 3rd section and the closest to Mexico. In fact, the Boquillas Canyon hike allows you to stand on one side of the Rio Grande River and peer into the Mexico river bank. There’s also an option to grab a ferry into the Mexican tourist town of Boquillas- remember to bring your passport for this and come early because it gets packed! The Rio Grande Village is also the location of the Nature trail, which is where we had the opportunity to see wildlife such as, javelinas, beavers, eagles, and turtles. The trail takes you up a short hill where there is a long flat area perfect for gazing into the Boquillas and the surrounding desert. Its only 0.75 miles round trip and is a relatively easy hike.

I really wish I had more time in West Texas- I still have so much left to explore! Next time I hope to drive up towards Marfa and see the mysterious Marfa Lights and snap a photo in front of the Prada Store art installation as well as spend a night at McDonald’s Observatory attending a star party. But now that I’m based in Texas again… there’s always next time!