Santa Elena Canyon, Old Maverick Road, and Terlingua ~ Still In The Lowlands In BBNP 09Apr25

While temps were rising 10°/day here on the Mexican border, we still had another day in the 80s and chose to do a smaller hike along the river then an auto-route, and cap with a highly recommended trip to Terlingua, TX just west of the park. Uh, ok. I'll share some tech we used to know about "where we are" and "what we see"... my brother-in-law comped us a keen touring app called Guide Along for our trip to Big Bend. He and Kala's sister had been here before and appreciated it ~ as did we. Anecdotes on the "settling" of the area by long dead (and often then-dead) homesteaders are the Guide Along vibe; the NPS app is more geologically oriented, but not deep. I held it in my hand on the trail on occasion but really ~ get prepared from books and research prior instead; we did that too.

Santa Elena Canyon 09Apr25 ~ The Santa Elena canyon of the Rio Grande was very nice, though a bit attended on this day. We had to find our way across a back-channel of the Rio Grande to get to the trailhead; NP really. There were kayakers "gong to Mexico" and plenty of hikers on this nice but short hike into a canyon with 1200' high cliffs and the RioG demarking Mexico from America... pretty cool. Good pic of Kala & Dave has Mexico on the left and America on the right ~ duh.

Old Maverick Road 09Apr25 ~ We got back to the Crusher Too safely... no boulders, ocotillos, or rivers thwarted our effort to get to the vaunted Terlingua. We drove the 4WD (at times) Old Maxwell Rd up from the river to the west entrance of the park and on from there to Terlingua. We passed some "ears." The road was meh... we know AZ and the Sonoran Desert so the Chihuanhuan Desert is not much different. All said, again, we're fans, but it is not new stuff.

Terlingua, TX 09Apr25 ~ Ok, we drove the road; we arrived in Terlingua; we visited the "ghost town;" what now? We went to a new GenX venue with funky art and coffees built by a wealthy local guy... with Latin services prevalent (omg); Venga I think. Whatever, we contacted recommenders and they had nuthin'. We went to the "ghost town:" what? We toasted our toes for a smidge and then at 4:30pm got in line for the Starlight Theater. Seemingly this was THE thing... we played along. Stuff down here is kitchy, fine... but meh. We were 5th in line after a fam jumped us ~ whatever you need, you do. I had the vaunted chicken friend antelope and Kala wisely chose TX brisket. Yet, she also had a weak Santa Elena marg and then a Stolo-based (much better) marg; I was designated driver. I was an ass last night so, so deserved @ the Starlight.

I'm just sayin'...

Chihuahuan Desert, Chisos Mtns, & Rio Grande River ~ AKA Big Bend Natl Pk 07Apr25-08Apr25

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. 

07Apr25 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 help 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.

08Apr25 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 08Apr25 ~ 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.

Two Days Southbound ~ Snowin' Through New Mexico 04Apr25-05Apr25

Kala and I departed COS with the Crusher Too & BC20X in light snow after prepping for a 10 day outing, toward the Rio Grande River in south TX. It'd be our longest adventure together; can we take it and each other in close quarters? Yep!

We got over Raton Pass without much precipitation. Our first stop except for gas was the in the Pecos Canyon St Pk in Terroro CG where we had a rez right on the Pecos River. It was gorgeous but a little confusing and unmarked up in the canyon with a number of private spots and state park campground and precious few signs ~ but we made it on a cool day. I was stoked to see a number fly fishermen trying their hand on the Pecos but no one was catching. We had the required campsite rez but we were the only folks there.

Setting camp was no problem, just totting the generator outside. I didn't unhook since this stop was mainly a rest before driving to southern NewMex. We ate inside and ran the heat and generator all night long. We awoke to 5" of new fallen snow!

The roads were not impacted despite the precip and we quickly were on our way after berries breakfast and Nespresso travel coffees. We headed straight south through Truth Or Consequences and stopped to taste at the T∨C Brewery, we liked their Buckhorn IPA best ~ it was the 1st recipe at T∨C when founded 25 years ago! We scored a crowler to have when at our next site, Leasburg Dam St Pk near Las Cruses. 

We arrived and set up camp with a city water hookup and 30amp electric... the St Pk was nice, as was our site... this time there were plenty of other campers around and the weather was much nicer. We were near the Rio Grande and decided to hike down to it and along the rim on the Mogollon Trail (yeah, not the one we know in AZ). It was a fine hike but the canal could not have been swum and the Rio Grande was not mighty. The terrain was a lot like Arizona; that's no problem as we are fans.

Back at camp with our first real hike of the trip completed we cracked the Buckhorn and another homage to New Mexico, the latest experimental Project Dank, Jupiter Edition, from La Cumbre. Let's go.

We made great burgers under our cover and out of the wind. We slept well but did continue to run the furnace this evening.