Big Bend National Park, located in southwest Texas, is named after the large bend in the Rio Grande which forms the border between Mexico and the US. This park is unique in that it houses the entire Chisos Mountain Range making it the only national park to have a mountain range fully within its borders.
Being that Big Bend is 5 hours away from the closest major city, we thought it may be less visited and therefore easier to snag a reservation. Turns out we were wrong as all reserveable spots were booked. The park does set aside a few spots as first come first serve, but given that it would be a 7 hour drive from Austin to get there, we weren’t keen on making the drive unless we knew we had a place to stay the first night. After checking the reservation system several times per day for about a week, we lucked out and scored a cancellation for 4 nights!
During our time staying at the Rio Grande Village Campground, the temperature was on a hot streak hitting 100 almost every day. Thank goodness our campsite had power hook ups so we could cool off during the day with the help of our A/C. At night, because of the desert climate the temp cooled down to a more comfortable level in the 70s. Speaking of nights, we had a few wild visitors that liked to show up after dark. It’s not uncommon for javelinas (wild pigs) and coyotes to roam the Rio Grande Village campground in search of food at dusk. They don’t attack, but we were told not to get too close!
Big Bend National Park is the 8th largest national park in the lower 48 states, with three distinct areas found within. The first place we explored was the land surrounding the Rio Grande Village. On this side of the park, the climate is desert-like and unforgiving in the mid-day sun. We attempted a hike from the campground along the Rio Grande to the famous hot springs, but turned around halfway because it was too hot! It was probably a good thing, because we wouldn’t have lasted a minute in the hot springs in the middle of the day anyhow.

So the next day we got up before sunrise while the temps were still cool and drove the winding dirt road to the hot springs. Upon arrival, two people were on their way out so we had the entire place to ourselves! It was a great experience soaking in our very own “natural” hot tub that just happened to be on the riverbank of the Rio Grande. On the other side of the river, just a hop skip and jump away, was Mexico. It was strange seeing an international border in its natural state just 20 feet away and seemingly so easy to cross. After our 30 minutes of solace, we were greeted by two more couples coming for an early morning dip. We chatted for a bit, swapping stories of life on the road and then got out when the morning sun turned up the heat.

The next place we explored were the Chisos Mountains, which are located in the center of the park. Due to the elevation gain, the temperatures in this part of the park were much cooler and made for very comfortable day hiking. Our first hike was the Lost Mine Trail, which was a moderate 4.5 mile trail with an elevation gain of 1,200 feet. We started our hike late in the afternoon, Max shot sunset at the top and we hiked back after dusk.

The next morning, on our way to the Santa Elena Canyon, we stopped by the backcountry office to inquire about getting a camping permit for the following evening on the South Rim. Max had done some research and found a photographer who said site SW4 was one of the best in the Chisos Mountains. Upon inquiring, the ranger told us that SW4 was booked for the following evening, but it was open this evening if we wanted to take it. When we asked what he had available for the following evening, he stared us straight in the eyes and said “You do not want to miss this opportunity. It is the best site in the Chisos and is a peak experience.” Given the rangers sense of urgency, we dropped the current day’s plan and scrambled to get ready for the camping in the backcountry.

Part of our scramble had to do with the fact that we had to be out of our reserved RV site by noon the next day. Knowing we wouldn’t be back from our hike by that time we had to move the RV that day. Luckily, the campground had one remaining site available, but it was in a part of the campground that does not have electric hookups and does not allow generators. We didn’t know how we were going to keep power going when we got back, but we didn’t have time to iron those details out. We packed up our backpacks, moved the trailer and headed off on our hike to the South Rim.
This was my first real backpacking trip and I was excited to finally use the pack I had gotten for my birthday the previous October. It took some getting used to the extra weight, but I was so happy with how comfortable my pack fit on my hips, shoulders, and back. For those looking to purchase a backpacking pack, I’d highly recommended going to a place like REI that will measure your back and ensure you have the best size and model for you. I tried on several brands, models and sizes and found the Gregory Deva 70 pack was the absolute best fit for me.
After completing the 6.5 mile hike with a 2,300 foot elevation gain, we were pooped, but had no time to waste as we arrived just before sunset. We dropped our packs at the campsite, quickly setup our tent and headed out to find comps for Max to shoot. Max headed east on the rim and I headed west to cover as much ground as possible. The view from the South Rim was incredible! I found a really cool foreground composition with a barren tree and agave plants that I wanted to show Max, but by that point he was too far away to hear me and his cell phone didn’t work. So I took a few photos and made a mental note of the location to show Max for a possible comp at sunrise.

The next morning we got up super early to shoot the stars against a pitch black sky. We then waited around for sunrise with Max using the location I found the night before for his comp. After the sun rose, I headed back to the tent to catch up on sleep as I am not a morning person, especially 3AM alarms! With a few more hours of shut eye for both of us, we packed up and headed out on the remaining 6 mile hike down the mountain.
Waiting for us back at our campsite was our RV with a completely dead battery. We figured there was a chance this might happen, but had hoped there would be another site available in the generator allowed zone that we could move to. Unfortunately, all sites were completely taken so we had to come up with plan B. We asked the camp host if it would be possible to move the RV to another area of the campground temporarily so that we could use the generator to charge it. They were very nice and said given the circumstances they would allow it. So we parked the RV on the perimeter of the campground, hooked up the generator and let it run for 3 hours while Max and I showered, worked and did laundry.
It was dark when we finally finished charging the RV, so we packed up the generator and drove the RV back to our campsite to settle in for the night. After we unhitched, I went inside to do my normal routine of putting the slide out; however when I went to press the power button everything died. Max grabbed a flashlight and checked the breaker/fuse box, but it seemed fine. He looked at the manual to see if there were any other hidden fuses or breakers, but couldn’t find anything mentioning it. It was after 10 at night, with solution in sight, so we went to bed knowing we’d have to deal with it in the morning.
The next morning we went to the camp host to ask if there was an RV repair shop nearby. They told us the closest repair shop was 2 ½ to 3 hours away from Big Bend National Park. We called the repair guy and even though his shop was technically closed due to moving locations, he agreed to take a look at our trailer if we made 3 hour drive there that day. However, he said he did not take RV insurance so we wouldn’t be able to use our existing RV policy. At this point, we didn’t know what exactly the problem was, so we started calling other RV repair shops that accepted our insurance plan to see when and where we could get in. The average wait for all the shops we called that accepted insurance was over a week just for the diagnosis! Given that we were living in the RV, we couldn’t afford to go a week without power, so we decided to leave the park and drive to the shop that could get us in that day, even if they didn’t accept our insurance.
After making the three hour drive to the repair shop, we arrived to find it empty. We called the shop’s number and the guy said he’d be back shortly as he was just running a few errands in town. Knowing his shop was supposed to be closed that week, we couldn’t fault him for being away as we were grateful he was willing to help us out, but we were still super anxious to figure out what was wrong!
I made a quick lunch in the RV and he arrived shortly after getting to work diagnosing the problem. We told him we thought it might be a blown power converter, but didn’t know for sure what had caused it. We were just hoping it wouldn’t be too expensive since we couldn’t use insurance on this repair. He worked on our RV for about an hour, then came out and said he figured out what the problem was, but would need to check his stockroom to see if he had the spare part on hand. Ten minutes later he walked out with a smile on his face and said the problem was due to a blown inline fuse and he had the replacement part on hand! On top of the good news regarding the spare part, the repair guy said the total charge for repair would be $125, which was only $25 more than what our insurance deductible would had been. After all was said and done, we were out of his shop in less than 2 hours and back on the road!
Through his diagnosis we realized we had made a mistake the previous day when we moved the trailer to run the generator in that we forgot to unplug the RV from the truck before turning the generator on. Having two power sources connected to the RV at the same time caused one of the five inline fuses underneath the trailer to blow.
Since the repair was done much faster than we anticipated we chose to drive the 2 ½ hours back to Big Bend National Park to the campsite we had already paid for. The draw for going back to was that we had not yet had a chance to visit the Santa Elena Canyon, which is one of the top things to see there and another one of the “peak experiences” our ranger friend said we had to see.
So the next morning, we woke up before sunrise with the plan of driving the 1.5 hours to the west side of the park to shoot sunrise at the canyon. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn and went 30 minutes out of the way before getting back on course. This detour caused us to arrive just after the soft morning glow turned to harsh light on the canyon walls. I know Max was really bummed because he wanted to get some great photos from this location, but I was content just being there and exploring the canyon.

We took a short hike along the canyon and afterwards got out our packrafts in order to explore the area by water. There weren’t many people on the water when we launched our rafts, but every once in a while a canoe or kayak would paddle past us. I remember at one point a canoe paddling toward me with three people in it. As the canoe got closer the man sitting in the front of the canoe greeted me with “Good Morning!” and I greeted him back. When I finally saw the man’s face up close, I did a double take, and it was none other than the late Anthony Bourdain! I immediately turned around to quietly get Max’s attention, but he was too far away and completely oblivious to who the man was paddling past him.

Later, as we paddled another mile down the canyon, there was a guy on the largest paddleboard I had ever seen holding what looked like 30 tents. I said “Wow that is quite the cargo load!” and he said it was for a group of them filming a TV show. At that point, I knew they must be the crew filming for Anthony Bourdain’s TV show “Part’s Unknown”, but I asked anyhow just to be sure. He confirmed and said they had stayed overnight a few miles down the canyon in a small Mexican town. I was really looking forward to watching this future episode of Parts Unknown to see what was filmed in the Santa Elena Canyon, but don’t know if this episode will ever air. Like the rest of the world, I was shocked and saddened to hear of Anthony’s death in June, just three months after we crossed paths in the canyon.
At several points while packrafting that day, the water level was so low that we would get stuck on the river bottom and would have to get out to move our rafts to deeper water. Unfortunately, one of those time Max jumped out of his raft too fast and out flew his brand new iphone into the water. The good news was he was able to grab his phone since the water was so low, but the bad news is that the water damaged his phone so that the screen constantly flickered. It was supposed to be water resistant, but I guess that doesn’t mean it can be fully submerged in water! 😉 So we knew the next big city we drove through we’d need to have his phone either repaired or replaced.

All in all, we had planned to spend four nights at Big Bend National Park, but we ended up staying seven nights. This allowed us to do the backcountry camping, as well as visit the Santa Elena Canyon despite having a day spent on RV repairs. We really enjoyed the different climate and scenery in each of its three unique areas and would highly recommend going, especially if you live in Texas!