Big Bend
- slyeabby
- May 11, 2025
- 6 min read
Dad and I covered a lot of ground during his visit. All the way from Austin to Phoenix. But our most anticipated stop was Big Bend National Park.
Big Bend sits directly on the Rio Grande in Southwestern Texas. I had never even heard of it until I started reading Nat Geo's Guide to the National Parks of the United States a few years ago as research for my trip. As soon as I saw the chapter, I knew I'd have to see it. And considering it grand and remote-ness, I thought it would be the perfect park for dad and I to explore together.
We found a VRBO near the park, which was still an hour away from the park's entrance... that's how remote it is. Our drive from Austin to our stay was about seven hours. It was a long haul mixed with anxious anticipation from both of us. It felt like we were driving further and further away from civilization and, slowly and suddenly all at the same time, we were surrounded by desert and mountains.
When we pulled up and saw the small converted Greasewood Grocery shack that would be our home for the week, I knew immediately how much I was going to love it. Everything inside had a distinct Western theme, complete with a loaded Red Rider BB gun on the wall. We'd made it to "another world" as we'd find ourselves saying often throughout the week when words failed to describe the beauty in front of us.
Down the road (a bit) from the Greasewood was the ghost town of Terlingua. Once it was a bustling town home to the Chisos Mining Company. Now, after truly earning its title of "ghost town", it's a small hub for food and music that welcomes visitors and locals alike on their way to Big Bend.
Our first meal was tacos at la Taqueria. They were my favorite tacos of the trip. No joke. I tried the Al Pastor and Cacti ones. Phenomenal. Dad can attest, I had a lot to say about those tacos.
After watching the sun begin to set in Terlingua, we drove home and planned out our first hike in the park. At the recommendation of my cousin's friend in Austin and many hours of our own research, we decided to start in the Chisos Basin with The Window Trail.
The next morning, we woke up before the sun and made our way into the park. Since Big Bend is in the desert, timing out our hikes to avoid when the sun was at its highest was key. After driving through jagged, looming shadows of mountains, we arrived at the trailhead as the sun rose.
Much to Dad's surprise, The Window was a hike out to a window-like rock structure overlooking the Chisos Mountains. The entire way out was down.
I don't even know how to describe where we were. It was so beautiful, yet so rough. Since we were at a high elevation, there was more shade than we had anticipated, but the plants we found solace in were unlike plants back home, or that we'd seen before. Everything was sharp, brown, and solitary, in a way. Which made every pop of color all the more vibrant and awesome.
Dad and I at the start of the Window Trail, sunrise on the mountains, the Window view and a much sunnier hike back.
We spotted Ocotillo for the first time on that hike. It's pop of orange caught my eye first, then the spiky long shoots it grew from. The cacti were huge, but didn't take up space the way a bush or tree with crawling leaves would. They are like something out of a Dr. Suess book, truly.
When we finished the hike later, we learned Ocotillo's name at the visitor center. After that, they became our good friend. We found Ocotillo along the Rio, in the desert, high in the mountains, then met them again in Tucson among the Saguaro... but I'm getting ahead of myself.
After soaking in every ounce of The Window Trail, including a short climb above it for another view, we enjoyed PB&Js among some deer near the trailhead. Then we headed back to Greasewood. Much like the hike felt like an entirely new adventure on the way back up, the drive back through the park after it was illuminated by the scorching sun was a whole new landscape from the drive in.
That night we had Tex Mex back in Terlingua. It was also delicious, especially the guacamole and horchata.
At nights, we were pretty wiped. All of that hiking, sun and good food lulled us to sleep easily, but not before we spent time under the night sky. Big Bend is known as one of the best places in the country for stargazing. The full moon outshone many of the nights' stars while we were there. But still, standing out in the open desert with Dad, not a sound to be heard except for the infrequent car along the highway, looking up at the sky, and then getting dive-bombed by a bat is a memory worth holding onto in my book.
A Greasewood Grocery sunset, planning our next hike.
The next days were filled with early mornings, beautiful hikes, good music and better company.
On our second day we drove to Santa Elena Canyon and hiked along the Rio Grande. We were the first ones there.
Watching the sun coat the canyon in a brilliant orange was unreal. The water was so low, so still. It was quiet. We sat on a rock that extended into the river for a while, not talking. Just breathing and enjoying the earth. It was my favorite part of the day, I think. Those often are the moment from hikes I cherish the most-- finding a spot to just sit, and be.
Morning sun in Santa Elena Canyon.
After waking up with the canyon, we had some more time in the morning to hike. So, we found a stretch of desert and hiked the Ward Spring Trail. I couldn't put my finger on what was so eerily unique about that hike compared to the others until Dad said to someone over the phone: we were the tallest things there-- aside from the distant mountains-- at least as far as we could see.
That hike was hot. But it meant we collected a hike in each landscape Big Bend amassed: river, mountains, and desert.
That afternoon I took a nap while Dad read a book and cheered himself on during some solo BB gun target practice. Him and I are so alike-- talking to ourselves on hikes, dancing alone in the kitchen while we prep dinner, happy to enjoy our own company.
That night for dinner we went to the Starlight Theater, a Terlingua must-see apparently. Their prickly pear margarita was delicious and the ambience was... peculiar. There weren't any windows. It was like a set of an old western. The music felt far away, even though the artist was right there. It was no Taqueria, but it was still a cool experience.
For our last full day in Big Bend, Dad and I hiked the Lost Mine Trail to its peak. It was nearly dark when we got there. The climb was breathtaking (literally and figuratively). At one point I heard Dad say from behind me that "this is one of the coolest hikes [he's] ever been on".
It definitely earned that title.
Good morning, mountains.
Being at the peak as the sun began to coat the mountains with its warmth felt like watching the earth wake up and stretch its arms big and wide. The kind of stretch that you can feel in your soul, you know? The good ones.
We got to be there to watch the earth wake up every morning while we were in Big Bend. It was romantic, really.
We watched the sunset from the back porch of the Greasewood on our last night. In the last moments of light, we played a game of Bananagrams and shared a Modelo. Then the earth slipped peacefully into sleep. We followed her lead.
The next morning, we started the trip out of Texas.
A few more thoughts...
I loved Big Bend.
To me it felt like (yet another) turning point in my journey. At its genesis, this trip was going to be all about hiking-- a chance to see the varied and beautiful landscapes and parks across the states. I never lost sight of that, but a lot of the trip before Big Bend was through cities and towns and landscapes that were familiar to me. I hiked, but not like Dad and I got to do in the middle-of-nowhere Southwest Texas.
Now I was Out West.
I was in uncharted territory. I was among mountains and rivers and deserts and plants and animals I'd never seen before.
And I was getting closer to Zion and Bryce and home for the summer. Hiking Big Bend just made me all the more giddy and excited to get out there (or here, since I'm writing from Utah right now).
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