Big Bend National Park in Texas is the perfect cool-weather destination for star gazing, hiking, and soaking in the hot springs. Nestled in rural Texas, right along the Mexican boarder – this park will surprise and dazzle you, but you’ll want to hear these tips for visiting Big Bend National Park before you go, and now is the perfect time to book and plan for it!

Where to Stay in Big Bend National Park

Chisos Moountain Lodge is the only lodging within the National Park (no Wi-Fi), but we stayed at Ten Bits Ranch- a solar ran ranch with a shared cantina/kitchen and dining space. There are plenty of rooms to choose from and all of the rooms have a gas fireplace. There is also a fire pit and BBQ grills you can use and trails on property.

• Room 1 ( The Bank) Room 2 (The School House)
• Room 3 (The Gun Room) Room 4 (The General Store)
• Room 5 (Delmonico’s Steakhouse) Room 6 (Texas Hattery).
• Room 7 (Ten Bits Gazette) Room 8 (The Court House)
• Room 9 (Barber Shop) Room 10 (The Mercantile)
• Room 11 (The Harness Shop) Room 12 (Blacksmith)

Download our FREE 2-day Big Bend Itinerary to take this exact same trip!

3 Day Big Bend Itinerary

Big Bend National Park – Episode Transcript

0:35

And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.

Hello fellow travelers.

Hey, squaddies.

Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad podcast.

Today we’re going to be taking you with us all the way to the remote area in the state of Texas to Big Bend National Park.

0:54

So we have a goal of visiting all 63 of the national parks in the US and for us, the Big Bend Mark #48.

I plan this trip with pretty low expectations.

You know, there’s only two national parks in the state of Texas.

This one’s pretty remote, and what I saw online just didn’t heighten me up for the trip.

1:14

So I did a lot of planning and I was actually really surprised with how much I enjoyed it.

I’ve enjoyed it so much that we’ve actually created a free Big Bend National Park itinerary for you to follow along with this exact trip.

Even though Big Bend is in Texas and I live in Texas, out here in Austin it’s still an 8 hour drive to get to this National Park.

1:34

So for whatever reason I didn’t make it on this trip this weekend.

But I am feeling a little bit of FOMO because the Hot Springs looked amazing.

The mountainous region actually did look amazing, even though it’s not a forested mountain necessarily, it’s very rocky and desert like it still looked really cool to see mountains in Texas.

1:55

It was really cool.

And not only that, the wildlife that’s out here in this desert area.

And funny enough, Brittany and I kept telling each other or asking each other really, would we come back here?

Would we come back here?

And we were asking this while we were there and we were like, oh, we like it, but no.

But then the moment we got home, I really had a sense of re appreciation and reassessing it.

2:15

And I was like, no, I really kind of want to go back to Big Bend National Park.

I really liked it a lot for various reasons and of course we’re going to get into that.

But it was one of those sleeper places in national parks where in the moment, yeah, I was enjoying it, liked it.

What, I come back?

2:31

No.

But in hindsight, I’m like, yes, I want to go back.

There was another aspect of this trip with where you stayed and the fireplace and the cabin, and that looks really, really nice.

But I feel like if I would have went, I would have been a little bit of a third wheel on this romantic fireplace experience.

2:48

Well, you would have had, you know, maybe your own room and then we would have met up with some wine around the dining room fireplace.

So it’s a very romantic place.

And where we stayed, it was a nice little cabin with a personal fireplace.

But within that property they also had a fire pit.

3:03

They had a little cantina with a fireplace within the cantina too, so lots of different options.

You were missed either way.

Weather, but you know, now you’ll just have to go back and maybe we’ll go back with you.

OK.

Let’s do it.

3:19

So what is Big Bend National Park?

Big Bend is in southwest Texas.

It includes a mountain range, we kind of mentioned that called the Chisos Mountain range, and it also has a large part of the Chihuahuan Desert.

It’s so far South in Texas it actually borders in Mexico, with the Rio Grande being the dividing line between Texas and Mexico.

3:41

And as always, let’s go ahead and dive right in with the tips tips first.

The closest airport is the Midland Odessa Airport and it’s three hours 45 minutes from Terra Lingua, which is going to be the closest town to the entrance of Big Bend National Park.

3:57

But you may not have heard of those places before because they’re not really big cities, so it’s hard to find flights in there.

The flights that you can find really expensive.

So the more practical airport to fly into will be El Paso, and it’s going to be a four hour and 45 minute drive to Terra Lingua.

4:14

I imagine that being that it’s so remote, it’s also very dark out there.

Like, did you guys experience that?

Are there St. lights?

Is it?

Safe.

So it is really remote.

That’s a great question.

And I had told Jamal, ’cause they where we stayed was a ranch.

4:30

And I told Jamal one of the tips that they had for us was to bring a flashlight.

So it’s like, let’s make sure to pack a flashlight.

We arrive, we pull into the ranch, we get out of the car, it is pitch black.

You literally cannot see anything.

4:45

I’m like, where’s our flashlights at?

Well, you can’t even see the ground that you’re walking on, but when you look up the sky, it is so beautiful.

All of the stars are super illuminated.

It is a great place for that famous dark sky and for stargazing.

5:00

You’re really going to need the flashlight out there in terms of are there St. lights?

No, not really on the highways.

Plus to get the to the hotel or lodge or whatever you want to call it.

Where we were staying, it was off of a dirt Rd., so there are no lights there, so you really do need your flashlight headlamp.

5:18

And Brittany mentioned something about the night sky and the stars.

We’ve been to a lot of cool remote places where they say this is really great for looking at stars.

You can really see the sky because there’s no light pollution.

When we were hiking the Inca Trail, the Machu Picchu didn’t really get a sense of how bright the sky was.

5:37

Like, it’s one of my regrets of not really paying attention.

Of course we looked at it and it was bright, but nothing quite like out here in Big Bend National Park.

Even when we were in Uganda, in the jungles on the equator, there’s no light pollution or anything.

Didn’t really see this type of night sky and it was so impressive that one of the reasons why I really want to go back because I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

6:00

And there are Hot Springs here.

So another tip.

Bring your swimsuit.

Did you all wear your swimsuit or pack it in and then change out in the wilderness?

Well you are going to want to wear it on you and not change there because there is nowhere to change and since it’s the desert, there’s not, you know, a lot of foliage to hide behind.

6:18

So I would definitely recommend bringing your bathing suit already on and then just having shorts or pants over and you can undress while you’re at the Hot Springs and then just put something a cover back on for the the little hike back out.

Well, there is a parking lot and then there is the hike or little trail to the Hot Springs.

6:37

You can change in your car in that area, but there’s nowhere at the actual Hot Springs themselves to make that change.

Are they clothing optional?

I’m pretty sure you do have to wear clothing the.

National Park, I don’t think they’re going to let us go around in the in the nude out there, but you know, if you’re out there alone, quite possibly, I’m sure somebody has sat in there.

6:59

Because you’re so remote in the National Park and the National Park is so big, you know, we often have talked about quick national parks to visit.

This one is so big that driving between distances can take over an hour to get from one part of the park to the other, and then it’s another hour to get back to the town.

7:17

So you may want to bring some food and snacks with you so that you have some something to eat while you’re doing these hikes after soaking the Hot Springs.

All of that.

Another really good tip is don’t visit in the summer.

We mentioned this is in the Chihuahuan Desert.

It’s going to get really hot.

7:33

Averages 100 plus during the summer and not really a lot of shade.

Maybe when you’re in the Chisos Mountains area you can come across a little bit of shade, but it’s still going to be hot and warm.

So highly advise against going in the summer.

It’s going to be really hot and if you go during that time, are you really going to want to sit in the Hot Springs when it’s 100 plus degrees?

7:52

I don’t know about that.

Yeah, so the best time to visit and the most popular time to visit is November through March.

And I kept reading online like, oh, it’s gonna be super busy.

And I’m worried, are we gonna be able to park and do all the things that we wanted to do?

We went in December, It was perfectly fine.

8:10

Yes, we did see a good amount of people, but in comparison to national parks like Yosemite or Yellowstone, you still feel like there’s not a lot of people there.

I kind of find that throughout Texas, their idea of super busy is not what you’re used to in like crowded California or crowded national parks that are really, really popular.

8:29

So I felt like we were completely fine.

Yeah, there’s not like a ton of parking, so if you’re not at the trail heads first, you might have to park a little bit farther.

But we didn’t have any issues anywhere that we went within the park and we had a great time.

But if you are visiting November through March, it is going to be cold, especially in the mornings and at night it can drop into the 30s.

8:51

I think while we were there it dropped to 32 in the morning.

It’s a little chilly, but it warms up really nice during the day and in the afternoons.

And then last tip here is to bring a four by four SUV.

We’ve already mentioned the Dirt Rd. just to get to the ranch, so it sounds like you need it out here.

9:08

And it’s not even just to get to the ranch that we stayed at.

Lots of offshoots off the main highway are going to be dirt roads within.

The National Park, of course, is pretty paved.

There are some roads that are offshoots within the National Park to get to certain overlooks and this and that that are unpaved.

So you are going to want it.

9:24

Before we get into the trip, I want to mention really quick that we do have a ton of travel itineraries on our website for you.

We’ve made so many of them, including this free one for Big Bend.

There are exact trips so that you can duplicate exactly what we talked about in these episodes.

9:42

And we have both domestic and international itineraries as well as National Park itineraries, including Japan, Banff in Spain.

And in the US we have Kawaii, Virgin Islands and Yellowstone and Grantita National Parks.

Each itinerary is a 20 to 30 page PDF instant download guide that tells you where to fly into, the exact route to take, where to stay, where to eat, driving distances between attractions, the things we do and how much time to allot for each activity, and so much more.

10:12

So be sure to head on over to our website Travel Squad podcast and check out our itineraries there.

We’ll also link in our show notes for you guys.

I guess one other little mini tip before we get deep, deep into things is the time zones.

So you’re flying into El Paso, you’re in the mountain time zone, you go into Big Bend, you’re in the Central time zone.

10:30

So keep that in mind when you are traveling and you don’t want to miss your flight there by missing that little time change.

That little corner where El Paso is tucked away in the far West of Texas is the only tiny little area of Texas that’s in a completely different time zone.

10:45

So as you drive E, you’re going to be on Interstate 10 for a little bit.

And when you’re on Interstate 10 driving for an hour outside of El Paso, that’s finally when you get into that central Standard Time.

Yes.

Once we landed in El Paso, we had quite a drive ahead of us.

It was about going to be about a 5 hour drive with stops and we landed in El Paso at about 1:15 in the afternoon.

11:07

But one thing that we wanted to do since we were landing in the city was to go to a store and pick up snacks, wine, water, because we knew we were going to this remote part of Texas.

So we went to a Walmart, we picked up some wine, snacks.

We also picked up water and just had some things on hand.

11:25

We knew where we were staying.

It was called 10 Bits Ranch.

They had a shared kitchen.

They actually had three refrigerators there.

So anything that you wanted to bring and like refrigerate, you could great place to bring a collapsible cooler to.

And then they had a full kitchen so you could make any breakfast that you wanted.

11:43

You can make scrambled eggs.

They also had cereals, oatmeals, Eggos, toasters.

They had pretty much everything you need there if you plan to stay at 10 Bits Ranch.

I really enjoyed it there, so I would highly recommend staying there.

So after we picked up our supplies from the local Walmart, we started driving like Brittany mentioned, 4 1/2 hours.

12:03

And once you get out of the El Paso metro area, if you really want to call it that, then it starts to get really desolate.

You’re on Texas highways, and one thing that I really appreciate about Texas is that they have a high speed limit.

12:18

So you’re able to go guns blazing a little bit.

Not too crazy.

It’s not like the Audubon in Germany, but you can go fast on these highways and there’s not really anybody out there.

So it’s, I mean, it’s pretty safe to do that.

And even still it took the 4 1/2 hours.

But there’s only one thing to see really along the way other than the view when you get start to get to the desert area.

12:37

Brittany.

And what is that?

There is a mini Prada store art installation just randomly in the middle.

In Marfa, Texas.

Yeah, Marfa’s really well known for being this odd, artsy little town.

Yeah, so there’s actually nothing in the Prada store.

12:53

Apparently when it first opened they did have some shoes in there and then that first night it opened it was robbed and so they have never put anything back in it.

So it is like a little Prada shop.

We didn’t actually stop in it, but we saw it on our way.

In hindsight, maybe we would have or should have stopped there, but just keep that in mind.

13:14

You definitely should have.

Don’t make that mistake.

Stop in Marfox there.

There are a few other things to see and do there.

What’s funny is it’s just a fake store, you know, and they originally stocked it with the real shoes, got jacked and now, but it’s really just on the side of the road and an art piece which I find really unique in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

13:33

Pretty cool though.

So we got into Terra Lingua, probably close to around 8:00 with after getting a rental car, going to the store, eating a quick bite to eat, all of that, and we wanted to go to dinner.

We were hungry.

We had a long drive.

One of our squatties actually lives in Texas and she has been to Big Ben before and she recommended a restaurant called La Kiva.

13:55

Annie is our squatty.

So thank you Annie.

We loved it at La Kiva.

It looks so cool.

Yeah.

So it’s like a little kind of enclosed cave.

So you have to actually go down these steps and then there’s a door down there and you walk in and one of the back walls is completely rock.

14:13

But it’s just a cool little vibe down there.

It’s a little cave bar restaurant.

They had pretty good food.

It’s got burgers and fries.

They had some good drink selections as well and I thought it was a quaint little cute spot.

We liked it so much that we actually went back again.

14:29

We went back again the next day after we got out of the National Park to just get a drink to kill time before the restaurant that we’re going to have for dinner.

That night actually opened, but the vibes in there were impeccable and awesome.

And so earlier on when I was saying like, yeah, I want to go back to Big Bend.

14:46

The National Park is great, but what I really liked is the whole vibe out there.

The ranch that we stayed ate at every place that we ate at was unique.

The food was really good for being in an isolated area.

Sometimes you don’t really get high quality food or vibes and it had all of that here.

Plus with the majestic beauty of the National Park.

15:03

So this really kind of like set the tone for the trip of like, all right, this town is small, but there’s lots of stuff going on.

Real cool.

Real point.

You guys remember the time we were in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and we had that terrible pizza after we ate?

Oh my.

God, how could I forget?

15:20

Yeah, so, like, this was like a complete 180.

This was like, wow, we’re in the middle of nowhere, but there’s actually really good food selection.

In a cool little spot.

Was there any live music going when you were there?

There wasn’t any live music when we were there, although I feel like there was an area where there was a stage for there to be live music, but not when we were there at that point in time.

15:42

But we’ll get to it the next night where we went to dinner.

Live music.

All right.

So after we had dinner, we headed back to the ranch.

The ranch is off of the main highway, about two miles in and it’s on this dirt Rd.

When I was looking at all of the tips that the ranch sent us, they did recommend a 4 by 4 vehicle.

16:01

So that is one of the reasons why we rented 1 and I knew in the National Park that we’d need it too.

So we stayed at 10 Bits Ranch.

They have about 14 different cabins.

Love the cabins.

They sleep two to four people depending on which cabin you choose.

And it is a fully run solar powered ranch.

16:20

It’s made to look like a western style town.

So we stayed in a room called the Gun Room, The Gun Room, but they also have the one called the General Store, the Barber Shop, The Hattery.

They had one called like Dominecos Steakhouse, so they had this whole theme around it.

16:37

Big property out in the middle of nowhere, no light pollution.

Then they had a shared cantina, which was the dining room and kitchen.

They also had BBQ grills and a fire pit.

And here at Timbits Ranch, they do give you a few stock basics for breakfast, right?

16:53

The waffles, bagels, things of that nature.

However, you really should, if you’re gonna be here for a while, pick up some more stuff, Maybe some sausage and bacon, some eggs, maybe toast of your own, and really store it in the fridge.

They have the pots and pans for you to be able to make breakfast in the morning, so it’s a communal area.

17:12

But don’t feel hesitant to bring stuff because you will have place to store it and cook and then they will also put little stickers on that says this is communal items.

If you don’t see anything with a sticker it means somebody brought it, so don’t touch it.

So kind of giving you that.

17:27

And if you’re worried about it, there is a mini fridge in the rooms as well as the fireplace.

Every room has like the fireplace and like a little mini fridge.

They also did provide some bottles of water.

But if you’re going to be hiking and you need like to fill a water bladder, wouldn’t recommend it.

17:42

And you can’t use the water from the sink because it is well water.

So couldn’t use that.

But we had brought our own water.

You mentioned it’s solar powered, but it still had outlets and electricity, right?

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

The only thing they really like put a sign of like they don’t want us to use is you can’t bring like an electric grill or griddle and use that in the kitchen because it takes up so much electricity.

18:06

And about what’s the price point you’re looking at?

Because you’re in a remote area, your options are limited.

Did they get you?

Well, I was doing a lot of research about places we wanted to stay and I felt like things were a little bit on the pricier end.

We for two nights we stayed here and we paid about $450.

18:24

And in the area I was looking and they saw, I saw that they had accommodations outside of this ranch that were like teepees, bubbles, cabins, things like that.

But you know, not all of them were heat regulated.

So in the summer, you know, obviously gets really hot.

18:41

They were saying that in the teepees there’s a hole at the top, so if it rains like you’re not really protected.

And some of these range up to like 4 to 500 a night.

So I feel like where we stayed, I was really happy with the price point in comparison to some of the other properties out there.

19:00

Yeah, like one of the other places that was a top rated place to stay was called like Space Cowboy Lodge or something like that.

And they were the kind of bubble hotels that we stayed at in Valle de Guadalupe that we’ve talked about before.

Although again, like Brittany said, not temperature regulated.

19:18

I don’t think really any of them had AC heater.

So you’re going to be hot or cold depending on the season.

And they didn’t have bathrooms in there like the one in Valle de Guadalupe did.

They showed a photo of a communal bathroom, and funny enough, it didn’t even have a roof.

19:33

So imagine going out there when it’s freezing cold, having to use the restroom in the middle of the night.

Look at the stars.

Yeah, but I don’t know.

That wasn’t really our vibe.

So I mean, there’s lots of different lodging options, but just be mindful about what you’re getting into in those places.

19:50

The next time you all go and I go, I’d love to stay at the summit.

It’s this luxury cave stay essentially built into a cave.

Looks really, really cool.

Obviously a little bit of a higher price point.

Pets aren’t allowed.

I’ve looked into it.

20:07

You’ve done your research.

Didn’t you just send me an Instagram DM about The Cave in big?

Ben, I’m pretty sure.

Yeah, that actually looked awesome.

Didn’t know about that till she had sent it to me after the fact.

And now you’re saying it, but if you’re going to go, maybe a little bit of a splurge is a nice thing.

20:24

There is a lodge within the National Park, it’s called Chisos Mountains Lodge, but there is no Wi-Fi in the park and no Wi-Fi at the lodge.

I think even on the website they mentioned it.

So that’s a little discouraging if you’re going to be out there, but an option.

And a lot of people that we saw out there were actually camping, car camping, regular camping.

20:42

So that’s an option as well.

We aren’t really camping type people anymore, so it’s been a really long time since we’ve camped.

Probably the last time we camped was the Inca Trail back in 2016, so we decided not to camp and actually stay on the ranch.

So that was our day arriving and just a general idea of Terra lingua and the lodging situation.

21:01

But let’s get into the park Saturday morning.

What did we start off doing, Brittany?

Well, first we made breakfast, of course, because we wanted to have something in our system before we went into the park.

Then we headed out and of course we had to stop the Big Ben National Park entrance sign.

21:17

Always snap a picture in front of the signs there.

But the first thing that we were going to do, of course, was to actually do a hike and we were doing the Lost Mines trail hike.

Yeah, and that was originally our plan because like you said earlier, Brittany, the park is just so big.

So we were going to drive into the park, take a little offshoot Rd. to get to that hike.

21:37

But as we arrived to the National Park, the entrance pay station was closed and they told us you actually have to go to the visitor center, pay your entrance fee, get your ticket there or entrance tag.

So we had to go a little bit out of the way to the Panther Junction Visitor Center.

21:54

They’re open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, backtrack a little bit, and finally get to that hike.

When we arrived to the hike, I was actually really surprised.

There were signs immediately about bears, and you’re thinking you’re in the barren desert of Texas bears.

Yeah, I was so shocked about that.

22:11

But sure enough, there are bears there.

And the National Park Ranger even mentioned to us when we were there at the visitor center that the park had bears before.

There’s not really a lot of them left, but all of a sudden a bunch of bears from Mexico and the mountains that they have along the border came into the park, crossed the desert and made homes in this little mountain area within the National Park.

22:34

So there’s only one little small spot where there’s this high concentration of bears and they are galore.

I was not expecting that and I was really hoping to see a bear.

Did you see a bear?

Were there any bear sightings?

Unfortunately for us, there was no bear sighting.

That was like a really big let down.

22:50

I think they’d probably be hibernating in December, right?

Well, it’s not that cold.

So bears of course do hibernate, but depending on where bears are located, some do and some don’t, if they are able to actually have the resources year round.

So I don’t think they were hibernating at this time.

23:07

And somebody who was on the Lost Minds trail with us, who we crossed paths with, he mentioned to us that the day before he was in this vicinity and a bear was just right on the path, so he saw one.

So they’re up and active around that time, not necessarily hibernating.

23:23

So they recommend putting any food that you have grab into a bear safe container in your car if you have one, or into a hard compartment of the car.

There was also bear safe storage containers like in that parking lot which was like a communal 1.

So if you needed to really put something there, you could.

23:39

So we decided not to bring snacks on the trail just so because we didn’t want to attract any potential bears, but and unfortunately we didn’t see any bears.

I would have loved to seen a black bear, but the hike was actually really nice.

It’s only about a five mile hike, and it’s one of the most popular hikes in Big Bend.

23:55

It has really great views of Pine Canyon, the desert floor, and even Sierra del Carmen in the distance.

You start at about an elevation of like 5600 feet and you ascend to just under 7000 feet.

What I really loved about this hike, more so than the hike, was honestly getting to their driving.

24:16

You think to yourself, OK, like I’m in the desert.

It’s this flat area.

I could see these mountains and then you get into it.

And I know you don’t like driving windy roads, right, Kim?

But if you were a passenger in here, I think you would really appreciate the scenery.

You’re going through these windy roads kind of in the flat desert area.

24:31

And as you go up, you really start to see, wow, like this desert environment is changing.

Now all of a sudden, there’s pine trees.

And these pine trees are now mixed with desert features and desert plants.

And you just kind of have this unique look that I’ve really never seen before.

And when I was there, I was like, OK, I could see how bears can live here versus when you’re down a little bit lower in elevation.

24:51

Like, why would a bear even, like, be here?

Like this is desert, but there’s this one congregated area of where there’s mountains in the park.

So unique.

Really makes me think how life was like 200 years ago.

Were there bears just all over the place around here?

I don’t know about there in particular.

25:06

Probably it’s like I have this conversation with Brittany all the time.

Imagine what wildlife looked like before.

Like, humans really put in a lot of settlements.

And I mean, we’re all California natives.

There’s a bear on our flag, let alone a grizzly.

Bears used to be everywhere in California, the Central Valley, by the ocean, of course, in the mountains where they still are today and like they were all over the place and in abundance.

25:29

But here it’s like it’s the desert.

Yes, there’s the mountains.

But just imagine the bears now where there was a higher concentration of them in the mountains in Mexico, crossing the border, crossing the Rio Grande River, because that’s the actual border in that area.

Swimming across, walking across, trekking the desert to just be like, OK, I’m going to get to this new mountain range and that’s what they did and kind of populated the area.

25:50

It’s so crazy.

Was that the only hike that you did this day?

So that was the only major hike that we did.

We were actually debating between the Lost Minds Trail and the Window View Trail.

They were both about 5 miles.

But the reason that we chose the Lost Minds Trail was because I read the the scenery is actually better.

26:07

They’re going to get better views and they actually have a little overlook at the window view trail that is like a little .3 mile loop.

So instead of doing the full five mile hike, you can just go to that viewpoint and Dr. pretty much up to it and still be able to see what you would see mostly along the hike.

26:26

So I was like well that’s kind of being able to do a 2 for actually being able to do this the longer hike at the Lost Mines Trail, but still be able to get the views at the window.

So we did do that.

We didn’t go at sunset, but I’ve read that at sunset it would be a really cool place.

So if you happen to stay in the park, going to the window view at sunset would be really cool.

26:45

So we did the abbreviated version of course of the .3 miles to get the view of the window.

But the person who I told you, who we ran into on the Lost Mine trail, who said he saw a bear, he did the full hike of this one and that’s where he said he came across the bear in this area.

27:01

The other reason why I wasn’t really attracted to the window view trail is because it’s one of those trails that you have to hike down and then when you come back you have to hike up.

I’m not a fan of those hikes.

You like the ones where you go up, you have a view and then you come back down.

Easy day on the way down.

Yes, like I already put in on my work.

27:18

If I’ve like, already exerted myself on the way out, no thank you.

Yeah, those trails where you going down, down, down.

You’re like, I know what’s coming at the end of this.

So at this point, of course, we’re in the desert and mountain region.

We haven’t even seen the Rio Grande River, which is the natural border and defining line from the United States to Mexico.

27:38

So we decided, hey, let’s go to the Rio Grande overlook.

It’s listed on the National Park map here.

So we went to that area to go ahead and finally get a view.

And let me tell you something, don’t come here, don’t fall for that.

I don’t even know what.

We looked at where we parked and had that overlook.

27:55

I couldn’t even see the river.

I saw one off in the distance, one little area of maybe lush greenery in the desert, and it just seems like that area is a floodplain of the river.

And so of course, now you actually have green plant life, but you can’t even see the river, really see what you’re looking at and so far off in the distance.

28:13

So don’t go to the designated Rio Grande overlook.

There’s so many other areas in the park that you can drive along the river that are going to be much better than the overlook.

I put that in air quotes.

Overlook.

And the reason why we went to this area was to see if we could see the Rio Grande.

28:30

But it was also next to the road we needed to go to to get to the Hot Springs, Bokeas Hot Springs.

So getting to the Hot Springs you have to go on this offshoot road off of the Pave Rd.

So this is a two mile gravel dirt road and it goes down into like this wash You definitely want a 4 by 4 to go in this area.

28:51

Yeah, driving I don’t want to say is treacherous, but there gets to a point where this gravel Rd. splits because in the middle is kind of like a Canyon of sorts.

And so you’re driving on opposing sides of a little mini Canyon that you could potentially fall into.

So I don’t want to say it’s white knuckling it a little bit because it’s really not.

29:08

Yeah.

But you just be mindful of that fact.

There was that little split and it wasn’t really so jarring to us because somebody we talked to earlier who we actually ran into at the parking lot of the Rio Grande overlook said she just came from the Hot Springs and gave us that forewarning.

So if you have that forewarning, it’s not too bad.

29:24

But if you just came across it and be like, oh whoa, like what is this?

But we made it to the parking lot.

Once.

We made it to the parking lot of the Boquias Hot Springs.

Of course, that’s where we changed from our hiking gear into our bathing suits.

And from there, what is it about 1/4 mile from the parking lot to the Hot Springs?

29:44

Yeah.

And along the way along the trail, they actually used to have an old hotel there where you could have rent A room for a dollar a day.

I know we looked in them and were like, okay, not impressed right now, but maybe back in the day it would have been.

So you passed those ruins.

29:59

They have a little sign about the history of the area and then you continue down the path and the Hot Springs are kind of, they’re not obvious.

They’re on the Bank of the Rio Grande.

So you actually have to kind of look to the right as you’re hiking and it’s just a simple walk.

So we found the Hot Springs, and they’re not super large, but they could comfortably fit 10 to 15 people, I’d say.

30:22

I would say so.

I mean, could get a little bit tighter if you wanted to in there, but comfortably, yeah, 10 to 15 and I really wish they had more information of where that natural hot water was coming from.

But basically it seems like it’s coming from the hills, the underground of course and then they’ve sectioned it off.

30:44

So of course you have this little pooled area of Hot Springs.

And then it’s, I don’t want to call it a Infinity hot spring into the Rio Grande, but it’s kind of right up there on the natural river, of course.

And so you can just go from the Hot Springs into the river, so from hot to cool, hot to cool.

31:01

And what’s really unique about it is you’re literally at an international border and you hear all this talk of like, oh, you know, people just crossing back and forth, back and forth.

And I’m not going to sit here and say that’s not true in some areas, but here you are in this remote area that’s a National Park and nobody is giving any consideration to a border.

31:18

And I just decide, hey, I’m a little warm in here.

I’m going to go soak in the middle of the river.

I sit in there, I cross into Mexico, I’m waiting in the middle.

I’m in two countries at once relaxing.

It is really cool out here to do that at the Bokia Hot Springs.

Yeah, the water is really warm in the Hot Springs.

31:35

It’s 105 degrees, so it can get pretty toasty quickly.

There’s, you know, no shades.

You’re in the middle and during the day it gets pretty warm.

So we were constantly going back and forth between the Hot Springs and then the Rio Grande River.

The Hot Springs have that little look like Jamal was talking about.

31:50

So the Hot Springs overflow into the Rio Grande.

So if you’re standing right beneath the Hot Springs in the river, you kind of get that mix of the water, the hot water flowing in and then the coolness of the Rio Grande flowing by.

So there’s that.

The Rio Grande isn’t actually very deep.

32:07

So I was thinking, Rio Grande is going to be huge, deep, wide, all of that in this section of the park.

It’s not very deep or very wide at its deepest.

It got to my waist level, but for the most part it was like almost at my knees.

32:23

Is that about how deep the Hot Springs were too?

The Hot Springs were pretty shallow so I would say probably about knee high and then you kind of sit down and goes up to like mid body.

I think minus looking at the stars and seeing the sky at night in this area, this was my favorite activity that we did.

32:41

I really want to reiterate the uniqueness of just being on an international border on a hot spring on the US side, getting in just waiting between the United States and Mexico, cooling off.

So unique and so exciting.

And what’s funny, of course, this was a tourist area, but probably before it was National Park.

32:59

And even when it was because you mentioned how they used to have the hotel stay for a dollar a day, I think I even remember they had a discount sign saying if you stayed seven days, it was like $6 and a quarter or something.

Like they would give you a little discount.

But you define them as ruins, as if they’re ancient Brittany.

33:15

I mean, these were built in like the 1900s and she’s calling them ruins, but they look a little dilapidated.

I mean that was really rustic camping back in the the day out there for sure.

So after the Hot Springs, it was really hot and after the hike, so we were feeling a little parched.

33:30

So at this point we decided to drink a little liquid IV.

And you know, it’s one of our favorite travel products that keeps us hydrated while flying, traveling and while we’re in Big Bend National Park.

It’s full of electrolytes and hydrates you two times faster than water alone.

We use them while flying, when feeling jet lagged, after a long hike, or even warming ourselves up in those Hot Springs here in the National Park.

33:52

They’re super easy to carry.

Keep stocked in your suitcase, carry on day pack or purse.

Which flavor did you all have?

The tangerine with immune support.

Oh that is one of my favorites.

I also love the lemon lime.

They have sugar free flavors now which is amazing.

I know you all like the white Peach as well and you squatted to get 20% off your Liquid IV order.

34:12

Just go to liquid-iv.com and use our promo code Travel Squad podcast when you check out.

So after the Hot Springs, we wanted to go to dinner.

We had been hiking and soaking Hot Springs all day, so we had worked up an appetite.

So we went to this place called Starlight Theater.

What’s unique about this place?

34:29

It was an old like movie spot and they’ve converted it into this theater with live music and now it is like a restaurant, bar, all of that.

Yeah, so there are a lot of good places to eat in Terra Lingua, like we had mentioned before.

So this one came up as a highly rated place.

34:46

And not only is the Starlight Theatre restaurant here, there is another gift shop that’s kind of right by there.

The Terra Lingo Trading Company.

Terra Lingo Trading Company and it’s kind of looking like a little old ghost town in this vicinity.

So, I mean, this is really gives awesome vibes.

35:02

One thing to keep of note in this area for the Starlight Theater is there is no restroom inside.

You have to go outside.

And guess what?

They converted a real old jail into the restroom.

So if you’re dining in, you got to step outside to go to the bathroom.

35:18

But so unique how they did that, but they had the live music.

We ended up getting some steak out here.

I mean, I can’t come to Texas and not eat some beef and steak, so we ended up getting that.

So I really enjoyed our time here at the Starlight Theater.

When you look at pictures of this area as you’re doing research, everything looks bland.

35:38

Like this washed out light brown color of the desert.

So I’m surprised to hear there’s so many good options for entertainment and food out here.

I mean, I feel like there’s nothing else.

So they have to do, do some entertaining.

And I was actually surprised, like we didn’t eat at every place I wanted to eat at.

35:54

I had a list of other places, but just timed in a lot for that.

If we had stayed longer, perhaps.

But yeah, there was a lot of good places in our free itinerary.

I list a lot of them out for you.

The food was a real wild card out here.

I mean, I mentioned that we got a steak, of course we did.

36:09

But I got a steak combo that came with a quail.

And the quail, Oh my God, was so good.

The seasoning that was on it, it was moist.

It was perfect.

And you had the food out here that a game in Terra Lingua?

If you go, we got there around 5530 maybe, but live music doesn’t really start until 6:00.

36:31

So if you are going, go grab a drink at La Kiva beforehand, which is actually one thing that we did, but maybe we should have stayed for two drinks before heading over here and then we would have enjoyed more of the live music.

But we would have had a later dinner because we got there right when it opened and they start seating people very slowly and it’s not very large in there.

36:50

I mean, it’s a large space, but when you actually count how many tables they have, they don’t really have a lot.

So if you get there late into their opening, you’ll probably wait a long time before you get seated.

So just keep that in mind too.

But from here we just went back to the ranch and we opened up our bottle of wine, turned on the fireplace.

37:08

Our Walmart wine What?

What?

And then just had a relaxing evening, just winding down.

I think at one point we ended up going on to the porch of our cabin and looking at the night sky, which was really nice as well.

And we just had a nice night.

37:24

I think we end up playing some cards too, so bring a deck of cards if you’re coming.

Sunday is the next day.

Was this your last day in the park?

Yeah, we had a pretty short trip, just a day and 1/2 in the park and I feel like that is actually sufficient.

But Sunday we also had our flight back in El Paso we so we had to keep that in mind.

37:43

So we wanted to get started on the earlier side of things, to be able to do the last activity in the National Park that we wanted to do.

The last thing that we really wanted to do was visit the Santa Elena Canyon.

And this is beautiful.

It gives narrow vibes from Zion almost.

38:01

Is there water in there too?

There is, because the Santa Elena Canyon is the dividing line or one of the dividing lines of the US and Mexico, the Rio Grande starts to flow in there.

So this is in a very remote area of the park.

You’re really going to have to do a lot of driving from the time you get into the park to get here.

38:19

And while you’re actually driving to the Santa Elena Canyon, you go to an area of the park that’s known as the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

So the views here are really, really beautiful.

But of course, you’re driving from the interior all the way to the border, and you start coming across a road that follows the Rio Grande River.

38:37

And you’re just like, well, the river’s right here.

Like, where’s the Canyon coming?

And you keep following it and following it, and all of a sudden it just gets to the Canyon.

You park and then like Brittany said, you have the Narrows at Zion Vibes where you’re just walking through this one area where it’s like this side of the Canyon is Mexico, this side is the US Of course, you’re on the US side.

38:57

And here’s the river just like flowing right through it.

It was really cool.

I mean, and this Canyon is like 1000 plus feet high.

Yeah, 1500 feet high and it’s pretty narrow as well.

So the Canyon is on this fault line.

And so at one point it tore apart this Rockwall and so on both sides.

39:15

You have 1500 foot Rockwall on both sides with the Rio Grande flowing through.

So to get to the hike that we wanted to do, which was called the Santa Elena Canyon Trail, we actually had to cross a Creek to get to the side.

And then you have to hike along the side of the Canyon.

39:33

There’s a portion that goes up with a ramp and then you start to descend down next to the riverbank on the Rio Grande and you’ll eventually just dead end into the river where you can’t go any further.

You said you had to cross a Creek.

What kind of Creek are we talking about?

It wasn’t as wide as the Rio Grande and we mentioned earlier the Rio Grande, even though it has the name, it’s very long but not necessarily too deep.

39:55

So I would I was almost like a little wash Creek that comes into the river.

Did you get your feet wet?

No, they had a little stone path that you can pretty much stay dry.

Well, that’s good.

So we were able to do that, but I just think it’s so impressive and unique in this area to really be in a Canyon that’s a defining border of international boundaries.

40:16

But then how Brittany was mentioning to how it was really formed.

Like I said, when you’re driving to get here along the path where the river is, you’re just flat.

And then you see this big Canyon and it’s just one wall of a Canyon.

And of course, if you’re geographically inclined, you realize, well that’s like Mexico, it’s just this big wall that’s literally the defining border.

40:37

Yes, there’s the river, but immediately a wall and then you get to 1 area finally where the Canyon just opens up and the river decides to flow through it.

And it’s not like in the valley anymore.

Now it’s in a Canyon and really impressive.

So unique and I really loved it out here.

40:52

I mean, it was just a little simple hike, but something amazing about being in a unique area like this.

So I know that we mentioned that we did cross by the Creek by foot and we didn’t have any issues getting wet, but when the water levels are higher, you may not be able to cross.

41:08

There’s also the option, if you have waterproof boots, to cross the Rio Grande by foot as well and step onto Mexican soil while you’re there.

We didn’t do that.

We made it about halfway across the Creek, and then it was a little too much water for us with the shoes that we had.

And since we were leaving that day and we’re flying, we didn’t want to get our boots wet.

41:27

But you can.

You absolutely can.

Speaking of boots, I would have actually done it.

I had my regular Timberland boots because at the Bokea Hot Springs I left my hiking boots outside of the car.

When I actually changed and I came home, well, I shouldn’t even say I came home.

I realized it that evening at Tin Bits Ranch that I lost my hiking boots.

41:45

I probably left them there.

So since I only had my actual true shoes on, I did not want to get wet and cross the Rio Grande River and go into Mexico on that side.

Otherwise, if I had my hiking shoes, for sure would have.

We got here first thing in the morning, probably around 9:00 AM, was really nice.

42:02

We came across almost no people.

It was really quiet, scenic, and in the Canyon, of course, while you’re hiking, it is a little cooler, just like if you’re in the Narrows, for example.

There’s no sunshine, really, that penetrates through too much, so it’s going to be a little cooler than it is in the other areas, as if you were doing a hike.

42:21

But I actually really liked this.

This is my favorite hike of the trip.

So when we were done in the Canyon, of course we’re making our way back to the entrance of the National Park or more at this point, technically our exit.

And like I said earlier, this road follows the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.

42:37

So on our way back is where we actually made a few stops and overlooks.

And what did we see, Brittany?

So the first stop we made was pretty close to where we already were.

We stopped at the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook.

Gives you a different perspective of the Canyon, because before we were in the Canyon.

42:53

This is right outside of the Canyon.

So you’re kind of looking towards it and really nice, beautiful view gives you a different perspective of what you were, just in an appreciation of how large it is.

The next point of interest is going to be the mule ears viewpoint.

43:08

Brittany really wanted to get out here.

Apparently it’s two little desert rock formations that form to look like ears.

So of course with the perspective of where you’re standing and taking a photo, Brittany put herself in the middle of it.

Now it looks like she has little mule ears, so maybe we’ll be posting that one with the launch of this episode.

43:27

We also stopped at the Total Vista overlook.

You can also see Santa Elena Canyon far in the distance, but from here you can really see the West portion of Big Bend National Park.

Lot of desert landscape from up here.

And a lot of times when you come to the desert, you don’t really see a lot of wildlife.

43:44

And of course, we didn’t get to see the bears, which was very disappointing.

But we saw quite a bit of wildlife out here, and it really impressed us.

On our way back from the Canyon, we saw two baby Bobcats just crossed the road.

And I was like, whoa, are those at first?

44:00

Because there’s mountain lions here too?

We didn’t mention there’s mountain lions, there’s Mountain Lion signs.

We didn’t see any mountain lions.

I don’t know if you really want to come across those ones, but Bobcats aren’t that big in comparison to mountain lions.

So they cross the road.

I was like, are those Bobcats?

Are they little baby mountain lions?

They were Bobcats.

44:17

They were kind of scared and timid, of course, because they were little kittens.

The Mama wasn’t anywhere to be found, but we just parked on the road, waited a little bit and then they kind of got a little comfortable.

We saw them move a little bit more, which was pretty cool.

Came across like 2 coyotes crossing the road and in the desert area we saw some Rd. runners just all around too.

44:36

So really impressive wildlife.

I don’t think I’ve seen this much wildlife in the desert ever before, and if I could have seen a bear on top of that, that would have been great.

Yeah, So our drive back was filled with the wildlife and then we we were working up an appetite.

So we stopped back in Tara Lingua before we headed on to El Paso and we grabbed lunch at a Taco truck.

44:54

It was called El Gordo’s Grill and they have a lot of different options.

They have tacos, burritos, tortas, and so we just quesadillas.

So we got a Beria Torta and El Pastor tacos.

Good.

Would you recommend?

I would definitely recommend, you know, I’m I’m hesitant about Mexican food in Texas because a lot of times it’s really Tex Mex.

45:15

But I had really high hopes coming here because one, the reviews that we saw online for it were fire all the food that we had beforehand in Terra Lingua Fire and El Gordo Grill did not disappoint.

Really good tacos.

I don’t wanna say they were full blown authentic, but they kind of towed that line of authentic Mexican tacos and they were really delicious.

45:36

Really good.

So we ended up driving back to El Paso.

We ended up getting there a little early, but I actually have some cousins that live in El Pasos and aunt that lives there too.

So we were able to go visit with my family for about two hours and we hung out with them before we flew home.

Was that something that you planned to do or you just fell into it because you had the time?

45:55

We fell into it because we had the time.

I actually didn’t want to reach out to them with like, the false expectation of having to hang out.

And so I on the drive actually while we were getting the tacos, I texted my cousin and I was like, hey, it looks like we’re going to be in El Paso a little early.

46:11

Do you guys happen to be home this weekend?

And she was said yeah, they were home super nice.

We got there.

My aunt was there as well.

She made some homemade pho and so.

Pretty bomb, yeah.

Eating good on this trip?

We were eating super good.

And let me tell you something, Britney’s aunt can cook.

46:27

And that pho was delicious.

Yeah, so it was just a nice surprise.

I hadn’t seen them in over a year, so it was nice to go and hang out with them for a few hours and being able to relax and not have to wait at the airport and there wasn’t a lot to do in El Paso, so this was a great substitute.

46:44

How much would you guys say you spent on this?

About a three day trip.

Yeah, so we spent about $600.00 ish per person for the three days, two nights that included our flights, our rental car, gas, entrance fees, food and all of that.

47:02

I will preface was saying that we did have Southwest Companion Pass, so Jamal’s flights were round trip $11.20.

Just the taxes.

Yeah, so big savings on that.

I did feel like for a National Park visit, this was pretty pricier just because of the remoteness.

47:20

But there are ways to make it more affordable.

Like you can camp instead of staying in a hotel or on the ranch.

There are cheaper dining options.

We, you know, wanted to really enjoy ourselves here.

So we went with some of the, I wouldn’t say more expensive dining options, but we didn’t hold back, I would say, or you could even cook at the ranch if you were there.

47:40

Yeah.

The biggest expense was really the hotel.

I mean, Brittany mentioned earlier what the price range was for that.

So that’s going to be your biggest cost here.

Food wise, yes, we mentioned we got a steak, but when we were at La Kiva, the burgers and other items that aren’t like big ticket items, they were reasonably priced.

47:57

You would think also being out in a remote area, food will be expensive.

I didn’t find it to be terribly expensive.

Just one night we chose to go balls to the wall and get like steaks and I got the add on with the shrimp and the quail, you know, so those things kind of added up, but otherwise other than lodging I would say reasonably priced for the area.

48:15

All right, it’s time for questions of the week.

We have two questions coming in this week.

The first one is coming from Erica.

She lives in Texas and she’s asking how long do you need to see everything?

So I feel like we covered a great amount in the day and 1/2 that we were there, had we stayed a full 2 days, we could have seen a little bit more near the Bokeas Hot Springs.

48:36

There’s also an area called the Bokeas Canyon.

It is kind of like Santa Elena Canyon, but I had rod.

Santa Elena Canyon was better, which is why we did that instead.

But if you wanted to, you could do both.

And of course, you know there are other overlooks and things in the park that you can check out as well.

48:52

And you keep saying I read this one’s better or I read this one takes a long time.

Where are you reading this information?

Just did a lot of research on blog posts and things like that.

You know, it’s hard to get a lot of information from like the National Park website.

There’s not a ton of information out there on this area, so I scoped out a few different blog posts to kind of make my decision.

49:14

All right, question #2 Jalasa from Baytown, TX.

We got Texas Pride coming through on these questions of the week today.

She is asking is the star gazing good in Big Bend?

Well, I think I already touched upon that I’ve never seen a more beautiful night sky in all of our travels anywhere else in the world where they’re even listed.

49:32

As this is one of the best places to look at the night sky, I feel like this was the first time I’ve probably ever seen traces of the Milky Way Galaxy.

It was just so bright out there.

Now granted we went when it was like 1/4 moon.

I don’t know what it would look like on a full moon, if that really would affect it so much, but the night sky was absolutely breathtaking and one of the main reasons why I actually want to come back out here.

49:58

The food and the vibes in Tara lingua and the night sky.

Yes, I really liked the National Park, so a combination of all those.

But it’s really that night sky that’s drawing me to be like I want to come back out here, have a lodging experience where I’m just looking at the stars and enjoying my time Now that the pressure of doing the National Park is out of the way and I can really have a more laid back experience.

50:17

And with that squatties, I hope that we’ve inspired you to go out to Big Bend National Park.

I know I’m feeling a lot of FOMO.

I really want to go out and see these canyons and Hot Springs and stars.

So I hope you are too.

Thanks so much for tuning into our episode this week.

Keep the adventures going with us on all the socials at Travel Squad Podcast and send us in your future questions of the week.

50:36

If you found the information, this episode would be useful.

Or if you thought we were just plain funny, please be sure to share it with a friend that would enjoy it too.

And as always, please subscribe, rate and review our podcast and TuneIn every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode.

We have some more amazing adventures and tips in store for you!