Chihuahuan Desert, Chisos Mtns, & Rio Grande River ~ AKA Big Bend Natl Pk 06Apr25-07Apr25

I've always wanted to hike Big Bend... now we will. The trip will be our longest with the BC20X, and each other in tight quarters. We'll cross the Chihuahua Desert to camp along the Rio Grande river. 

We arrived at the Rio Grande Village CG after a substantial drive through New Mexico and northwest Texas to Big Bend Natl Pk. On the way from our last night near Las Cruses. NM we caught some sights from the Crusher, dined roadside, met other Basecampers, and grabbed vital gas and Diet Cokes in Marathon, TX. El Paso was likely the most harrowing with high speeds, narrow roads under construction, and lots of traffic. 

06Apr25 Persimmon Gap to Rio Grade Village ~ After passing the northern Persimmon Gap entry point to BBNP we still had 50 miles to go to reach the campground. Kala referred to this section simply as "extra park" ~ there were so many ocotillos, agave, and other desert plants. We arrived to our campground near the Rio Grande rivers and quickly set up camp ~ we chose a more complete install as we would have 5 nights here. It was hot and windy but we were stoked. The campground was nice but I totally failed and booked us in the "no generators" loop... we tested our solar for sure and became very power conservative. We had irrigated lawn areas, flush toilets, and all the accessories I prefer when camping with the BC20X. After "moving in" we went to visit the interpretive ranger at our nearby visitor center ~ Lex was excellent and helped us plan our hiking attack on Big Bend. We had a list of many hikes we wanted to tackle but Lex referenced the coming weather changes (hot) and had us do the lower elevation ones first... good plan. We had some beers, met some neighbors, checked the lay of the campground, skottled some vittles, and slept well for the pending onslaught.

07Apr25 Boquillas Canyon ~ For our first day we began hiking somewhat nearby into Boquillas Canyon. It was a beautiful hike along the Rio Grande River with some odd aspects ~ we were close to Mexico and many offers to buy stuff were doused along the trail to the canyon. Boquillas, Mexico is just across the river the inhabitants easily cross the river, place their wares with an honor jar, and head back. Some cowboys on horseback were even hawking burritos and tamales along the trail. I asked if they were border patrol ~ heh heh. We immediately hiked up to a ridge-top allowing us to see down to the Rio Grande and across to the town of Boquillas. We then descended again to the river and walked along its flood-plane until we neared the canyon entry. There we all manor of blooming Palo Verde near the river and burros running around.

Big Bend Hot Springs 07Apr25 ~ We had lunch back at camp and changed our outfits to match the next hike: Big Bend Hot Springs. It was no elevation and less than a mile, but did require a dirt road drive to get to the trailhead. The hot springs were great, right on the Rio Grande (flowing just a skosh better here after being fed by a couple of mountain drainages) and not too crowded. It once was a resort spot built by a guy before the Natl Pk owned it all. Pretty nice vibe. That's us and the 105° source at my feet. 

Sunset On Nature Center Trail 08Apr25 ~ We returned the same way we came, just wet. But after changing again we had a bit more lowland hiking to do at sunset... the Nature Center trail out of Rio Grande Village CG itself. It was an excellent small hike with great sunset views over huge Rio Grande grasses, and our campsite.

Situation Analysis ~ We met up again with neighbors and I learned what I could of Starlink and possibly paying Elon for the service. At our campsite we don't have a water hookup, but water is nearby; we don't have a power hookup, but generators run nearby; we don't have cell service or wifi, but many do nearby... I need to adjust my reservation technique and likely my gear too.