Posted a lengthy write-up from our trip out west. Big Bend starts at Day 14 and ends at day 17. Reposted below:
Summer Road Trip 2018
Day 14
Christi in front of El Capitan
Departing Guadalupe the following morning we headed to Big Bend National Park, our last big site. We passed El Capitan at the southern end of the Guadalupe Mountains and drove south to Marfa before entering the park through Terlingua, TX.
Prada “store” near Marfa, TX
For the uninitiated, Marfa is an artist town in west Texas. Apparently some artist built a replicate of a Prada store in the middle of nowhere, filled with shoes and purses just like a real store. (The front door, however is inoperable. It was funny enough to we had to stop and take some photos (along with three other cars passing through the area).
Cottonwood Campground
We continued on to Big Bend, stopping at the visitor’s center for information on the first-come, first-served campsites available in the park.
We’re melting!
Being mid-August and 102F, the rangers suggested we use the Rio Grande Village RV site, the only campground in the park with electricity. Stubbornly I decided we weren’t going to stay in another parking lot, and after checking out the Chisos Basin (which wasn’t really designed for trailers), we set up at Cottonwood Campground. The campground was completely empty. That was a plus as the kids were antsy and so the noise wouldn’t bother any neighbors, but it foreshadowed what was to be the hottest night any of us had ever experienced. That night we killed the battery, draining it until the meter had a frown. It never fully recovered.
Canoeing the Rio Grande
Day 15
The following morning we packed up and headed into Terlingua. We met our river guides at Big Bend River Tours, and they drove us into the park for a lazy day of canoeing and swimming in the Rio Grande.
Fun fact: the US-Mexico border actually runs through the center of the river. However, you don’t need a passport unless you set foot on land on the Mexico side. If you are caught crossing into (or back from) Mexico by the US border patrol, Customs and Immigration levies heavy fines and possible jail time, so we did not wade across and touch the Mexican side, we didn’t stop our canoes on the Mexican shore to stretch our legs, and we certainly didn’t climb on their muddy banks and jump into the Rio Grande over and over in an effort to cool off from the sweltering 100+F heat.
Terlingua church
That evening after a brief rest, we headed back to Terlingua, parked the camper at an RV park, cranked up the A/C, and ate dinner at the Starlight theater.
Terlingua jail
Terlingua is a ghost town that has been partially re-established. Originally created to support the local quicksilver (mercury) mine, the town shut down in the 50s but now supports a small population. Apparently Terlingua is home to the original chili cookoff – and it showed. The burgers were good but the Terlingua chili was outstanding.
Day 16
We went back to Terlingua for breakfast and locked Nate up in the town jail (just for a moment). We wandered through the town, checking out a few old buildings (some barely standing), rusty vehicles, and a church which appeared to still be in use. Then we headed out to do some hiking and 4WD exploration in Big Bend National Park.
First stop in the park for the day was Santa Elena Canyon.
Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend
We had originally hoped to raft the Rio Grande through Santa Elena Canyon, but we had been told earlier in the week that the river level was so low that the outfitter wouldn’t be able to float a raft. Thus the day before we ended up in two canoes along a less dramatic (but still beautiful) section of the river.
We still wanted to see the canyon, so we drove south to the river and the took a 1.2 mile hike out to an overlook inside the canyon. The view of Big Bend was incredible, but the temperatures were already soaring and so afterwards we decided to explore a more remote area of the park by taking the 4WD-only River Road, which winds along the basin near the Rio Grande for about 60 miles.
River Road
The higher parts of the River Road are gravel and are passable by any normal clearance sedan. However the bluffs regularly wind down to a dry river bed with ruts and moguls. Most would have been passable in 2WD, but high ground clearance was definitely required.
Mariscal Mine
We followed the road for a few hours, pausing to take the occasional photo. Lacking shade, we stopped for lunch at ate off the back of the truck.
Trail into the unmaintained Black Gap
About 3 hours in we took a short detour and stopped at the Mariscal mine, an abandoned mercury mine. Storms were rolling in from the distance, and as we didn’t want to get caught crossing a low lying river bed during a storm, we took a few photos and headed back on the trail.
Bottom of Black Gap
The next section of trail was called Black Gap, and featured a narrow passageway and moderately steep section with a drop of about 2′ at the end. While I was concerned at first having read that the park service no longer maintains the trail, the steep section had cement mixed in with some of the rocks (presumably to keep it from deteriorating) and some prior visitors had stacked rocks at the bottom to ease the drop. It was fun, but after our adventures in Colorado we were surprised at how easy it was.
As the rain picked up we sped up the pace and hit pavement about 45 minutes later, the whole trail having taken 4 to 5 hours.
Day 17
Chisos Basin
We originally debated leaving Saturday, but after experiencing the August heat in the Chihuahuan desert and facing a 24 hour drive home we decided to spend the morning hiking and then head out after lunch on Friday instead of leaving early Saturday morning.
The Window
We headed up into Chisos Basin, leaving the trailer at the visitor’s center (the park service does not recommend trailers longer than 20′ on the road leading into the basin). The hike was about 4 miles round trip, leading us to a narrow but amazing view of the park.
We ate lunch, hooked up the trailer, and hit the road for home. Our plan was to stop somewhere in Oklahoma for the night, then in the Mark Twain National Forest the following evening just to break up the long trip back.
Texas was something else though. I've been to New Orleans but never in August, but I can imagine what it's gotta be like
Fun fact: the US-Mexico border actually runs through the center of the river. However, you don’t need a passport unless you set foot on land on the Mexico side. If you are caught crossing into (or back from) Mexico by the US border patrol, Customs and Immigration levies heavy fines and possible jail time, so we did not wade across and touch the Mexican side, we didn’t stop our canoes on the Mexican shore to stretch our legs, and we certainly didn’t climb on their muddy banks and jump into the Rio Grande over and over in an effort to cool off from the sweltering 100+F heat.
We went back to Terlingua for breakfast and locked Nate up in the town jail (just for a moment). We wandered through the town, checking out a few old buildings (some barely standing), rusty vehicles, and a church which appeared to still be in use. Then we headed out to do some hiking and 4WD exploration in Big Bend National Park. 
We still wanted to see the canyon, so we drove south to the river and the took a 1.2 mile hike out to an overlook inside the canyon. The view of Big Bend was incredible, but the temperatures were already soaring and so afterwards we decided to explore a more remote area of the park by taking the 4WD-only River Road, which winds along the basin near the Rio Grande for about 60 miles.
thanks for sharing. I dragged my family all over the country for years on some great trips and made a lot of good memories doing it. I find myself transitioning in the next season of life as my kids are graduating and preparing for college no time to go with us anymore so I sold our tow rig and 5th wheel this past winter I got tired of seeing them sit. I'm building up the 200 for the wife and I to do our thing. I always hated not having my cruiser with me on some of those trips we usually had to resort in renting one of those other vehicles to do some offroad and back country exploring.
