Big Bend National Park
In Big Bend National Park, roads end at the Rio Grande, the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Big Bend refers to the great U-turn the Rio Grande makes here through southwest Texas, defining the park boundary for 118 miles. Many of the park’s vast, famous views mix scenery from both countries. One of the park’s best-known features, Santa Elena Canyon, spans the border where the south canyon wall towers above Mexico. One of the unique features of Big Bend National Park is that it has a port of entry which allows visitors to cross over the border. At Boquillas Crossing, a brief ferry crossing of the Rio Grande takes visitors into Mexico where they can visit the small village of Boquillas del Carmen for the day. Big Bend National Park was established in 1944 by an act of Congress following the donation of 700,000 acres by the state of Texas for the park’s creation. The park offers limitless opportunities to explore along the river, in the desert, and up in the mountains.
The 1,900-mile-long Rio Grande is the fourth longest river in North America. It originates at the base of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado and terminates when it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. In Big Bend National Park, the river touches three states: Texas in the United States and Coahuila and Chihuahua in Mexico. The river corridor is an oasis, a ribbon of green that cuts across dry desert and carves deep canyons. The river creates a corridor for animals not typically adapted to desert life such as the beaver and cardinals. There is river access throughout the national park but two of the most popular spots are Santa Elena Canyon and Rio Grande Village. The largest campground in the park is at Rio Grande Village where campers are close to the river and within the green belt with some shade trees.
Big Bend National Park lies in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert, one of North America’s four major deserts. Mountains border this desert and block rain on three sides while the other side sits next to a vast, semi-arid plains. The Chihuahuan Desert is relatively young at about 8,000 years old. It is defined by a rainy monsoon season from July through October. The rain and clouds can mean occasional cool summer days, but typically summer days average over 100°F. I can vouch for the hot temperatures at Big Bend National Park, it was 104°F when I visited in March. Several animals have adapted well to the harsh climate of the Chihuahuan Desert including wild burros and javelinas. The collared peccary, or javelina, inhabits a range from southwest North America to Argentina. These pig-like creatures travel in loose-knit groups. They thrive in many habitats, from the desert floor to up 7,000 feet elevation, eating a variety of plants and getting much of their water from prickly pear pads. Burros, or wild donkeys, thrive in the desert climate especially since they have the river as an ample water source.
If the Rio Grande is the Big Bend country’s low oasis, then the Chisos Mountains are its green island in a massive desert sea. The rainfall in the Chisos Basin is over twice that at Rio Grande Village. Driving up from the desert floor into the Chisos Basin is punctuated with grasslands giving way to brush and finally tall trees above 4,500 feet in elevation. The cooler climate of the mountains attracts creatures that are otherwise rare in a desert including deer and black bears. Once common in the area, black bears were rarely seen in the area until the late 1980s when they returned from Mexico and are now observed frequently in the mountains. The Chisos Basin is the location of the only lodge in Big Bend National Park and the cooler mountain temperatures make it a popular hiking location. The Window Trail is the most popular trail in the park and offers spectacular views through the “Window”, a gap in the ring of mountain peaks, to the desert floor below.
