Our desert adventure in west Texas continues. Now on with Big Bend National Park.
Big Bend National Park was named after a large bend in the Rio Grande river. The park protects more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. We saw many roadrunners as we drove through the park as well as wild horses.
Additional Park activities include scenic drives, and programs led by park rangers, and stargazing if you are there late at night. As I mentioned we were there during the government shutdown so there were no rangers or any programs taking place.
The area has a rich cultural history, from archeological sites dating back nearly 10,000 years to more recent pioneers, ranchers, and miners. The Chisos Mountains are located in the park, and are the only mountain range in the United States to be fully contained within a national park. Geological features in the park include sea fossils and dinosaur bones.
The park is 1251 square miles. 118 miles of the Rio Grande separates Mexico from the United States, and Big Bend National Park.
In 1933, the Texas Legislature passed legislation to establish Texas Canyons State Park. Later that year, the park was redesignated as Big Bend State Park. In 1935, the United States Congress passed legislation that would enable the acquisition of the land for a national park. The State of Texas deeded the land that it had acquired to the federal government. Then on June 12, 1944, Big Bend National Park became a reality. The park opened to visitors on July 1, 1944. It is one of the largest and one of the least visited national parks. But there has been an increase in visits since 2024.
From Marfa there are three routes you can take to Big Bend.
- You can head directly south on highway 67 to Presidio, which is a border town. We did that one day and found ourselves at the border crossing. Waze missed notifying us of an apparent turn to the road that leads to the park.
- Or you can drive about 25 miles east to Alpine, then head south on highway 118 to the park entrance just beyond Terlingua.
- Lastly you can drive through Alpine and on to Marathon (about 55 miles) and go south on highway 385. You can follow that right to the entrance.
Option 3 is the one we selected so we could move through the park from east to west and then exit out by Terlingua.
I can’t stress enough how nice the highways are on the way to the park, and within the park. What you will see on the way there are the mountain ranges, and a lot of desolate land. My understanding is that the state of Texas owns much of this land. They also continue to buy more. They recently purchased 353,000 acres, known as the Brewster ranch. The scenery along the way is really beautiful, and Tammy is the main picture taker in route, and at the park.
It is not unusual along the way to see many folks living in their travel trailers or fifth wheels on barren fields. This is not a camping haven; it is every bit as desolate as Marfa and the surrounding area. We kept asking ourselves, who are these people? What is it about this place that they would choose to live here? What do they do for water and electricity out here? Frankly it is hard to understand how folks can survive in that environment.
Let’s talk about expectations before you go to the park. Ask yourself these questions?
Are my tires aired up and in good shape?
Is my vehicle in really good working order?
Is my vehicle full of fuel?
Do I have tools with me just in case something goes wrong, like a flat tire etc.?
Do I have supplies, like water and food, so I can survive a breakdown in some remote area?
Seriously, you are on your own out here. There is absolutely NO cell coverage at all. That means Triple A is not coming to help you. So be prepared.
Tammy thought there was a road near the Rio Grande that would be a short cut to Terlingua. She was right, it was a short cut. However, there was a warning sign about how prepared you would need to be in order to take that route. It was a gravel and dirt road, and the ruts were deep. A Jeep Wrangler might be fine, but probably nothing else. Even using a Wrangler on this stretch might be pushing it.
The speed limit through the park is pretty much 35 – 45 miles per hour. So, it will take you a while to get from one place to another. Even so, the scenery is worth the slower drive.
We rolled into the park about 9:45 AM, on October 4th, just four days into the government shutdown. It seemed like we were the only ones going there. Surprisingly, being four days into the shutdown the restrooms were clean at the entrance. Except for the fact that the Park HQs building were closed, you would never have known it.
My advice is to plan for an 8-hour day or more to be safe. You will have three hours (at least) invested in the drive to the park and back, or more (If Marfa is your camping spot). Then that will leave you plenty of time to take a route similar to ours, traveling east to west within the park.
We did not see the very east part of the park, so we will need to go back to see that. We are hoping that it is more lush than what we experienced.
From the Persimmons Gap Entrance to Chisos Basin Visitor Center it is 36 miles. I would say that the Chisos visitor center is somewhat centrally located in the park. However, this is not a 30-minute drive due to the speed limit. It is going to take you probably over an hour to get there.
When we arrived at the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, there was some confusion on which way to go. I want to caution you a bit here. The maps are spectacularly bad from a detail perspective. Tammy got out at the Chico Basin Visitor Center and took a picture of the map on the building. It offered more detail but wasn’t great. We were a little confused on why they wouldn’t have maps outside the building. Even if it was some sort of map vending machine, that would have been good. Believe it or not, map vending machines do exist. Regardless, the park really needs a more detailed map.
Based on the maps we looked at, had we turned left at that point we would have gone down to the RIO Grande Village Visitor Center. Perhaps in retrospect that would have been a nice alternative for seeing the Rio Grande. We took a right turn and headed down into the Chicos basin.
Again, you need to drive cautiously because there are some blind turns in the road. One of the nicest surprises during the drive was coming around a corner and seeing four horses standing shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the road. At first, we thought it had to be some sort of organized horseback ride. However, there were no saddles so these horses were wild. Even so, they were not spooked at all by us or the car behind us. I bet if we would have gotten out of the truck, we might have been able to get right next to them. Deeper into the brush we spotted more horses and a donkey.
There are some very steep climbs and descents during your drive. In fact, one of the steepest descents brings you down into a valley surrounded by the mountains. It looks very much like something out of Jurassic park.
This was on the way to seeing the Rio Grande. As it turned out we found a place to have lunch right next to the river. Keep in mind this is the furthest west we could go. It was also close to the road that was the possible short cut, that I talked about earlier. After lunch, we checked out that road which would have been probably five miles long vs backtracking at least 20+ miles. That road was a mess, and I knew that the Ram probably couldn’t handle the ruts etc. Realizing it was a no-go, we were forced to backtrack.
One of the natural monument structures is aptly named “Mule Ears” for its appearance. We saw it from several different locations when driving in the park.
We eventually exited the park near Terlingua. Tammy had found a publication that talked about a ghost town there. It was only a few miles down the road so we decided to check it out. My advice – nothing to see here but a few ruins and a tourist trap. Could be a great place to stop for a cold beer, but we didn’t because we have Eva. She can be a spoiler sometimes.
Now regardless of which road you decide to take back to Marfa, you will need to stop at an immigration checkpoint. These are the nicest folks you’ll run into on the way back. They were interested in what we thought of Big Bend. They even ignored Eva’s barking.
So back to Marfa we cruised. Little did we know the most exciting part of our journey was just ahead.
We left Marfa on Tuesday morning, with our longest leg of the trip ahead of us. This would be to Abilene State Park.
There are several routes to Abilene. This route was east to highway 67, then north to highway 10 to Fort Stockton for fuel. Based on timing it looked like we would be taking highway 18 north out of Fort Stockton towards Monahans; then to Abilene using highway 20 most of the way until Sweetwater. Then some back roads to Abilene State Park.
The trip would be around 350 miles. With Eva you can bet that it will take 6.5 hours to get there. Between Fuel and dog breaks, it all adds up.
We knew that this would be a tight trip from a time perspective, given that the Abilene State Park Office building would be closing at 4:00 p.m. We left early enough, roughly between 8:00 to 8:30. So, I figured we would roll in there around 3:00 PM.
After our fuel stop at Fort Stockton, we got on highway 18. Shortly into that leg of the trip, I spotted Tammy’s egress window open and flapping in the wind. As soon as I saw it I said “Oh my God, your windows open”. She thought I meant her truck window. “No your bedroom windor”.
I pulled to the shoulder immediately and got into the trailer. It looked like the “Wizard of Oz” in the bedroom. The screen was off, the window was open, and it just looked like a mess. Fortunately, it was just a matter of putting the screen back on after securing the window. No harm, no foul.
After We got back on the road, we started talking about all the weird things that plagued the trip. As we started talking about the wheel sensor issue that we had on the way there, we heard a very loud boom, it sounded like a shotgun to me. Even Eva got up to look around. I had already begun slowing as the TireMinder alert started to sound. The rear driver side trailer tire suffered a major blowout.
We got over on the shoulder of the highway as far as we could, then Tammy directed me further to the side.
I have to admit my first thought wasn’t how am I going to change the tire. I’ve changed plenty of tires, but this is only the second flat we have had on a travel trailer. My concern was centered more around how this might keep us from getting to Abilene State Park on time. There was no way I was going to wait for AAA, if they even had a service nearby. It would be much faster to deal with it by myself.
It was surprising that I had a blowout. I’ve never hit curbs with the tires, hit road debris, potholes etc. These tires are just three years old with 13,000 miles on them. They are goodyear endurance, which are the only brand I have used on the trailer. This is my third set.
When the blowout took place, I was going 65 mph. As a result, I had very little damage under the trailer. Just a little of the underbelly tape was torn. The floor of the trailer wasn’t even exposed.
This is why I don’t fly down the highway at the posted speed limit (which was 75 here). The faster you go the potential for serious damage increases. I did find a couple other things when I got home. We will talk about that in a minute.
Well, the first thing I did was grab my tool bag. Then I looked for my impact driver. I couldn’t find it. I always put it behind the back seat. Nope, not there. I would later find it at home sitting on my Table Saw. I won’t make that mistake again!
Well, now it was time to do things the old way. I used my sockets and loosened the lugs on the tire. Then I took of the spare. I was so glad that I replaced that spare last year.
I used my Safe Jack to raise the trailer and I pulled off the flat. It had been a victim of ply separation. So, now I was paranoid about the other tires.
As I worked on removing the tire, Tammy stood at the ass end of the trailer, on the road side. She had a pink shirt on, which made her stand out. Now, hopefully the few vehicles that traveled this road would move over as a result.
As I jacked the trailer up higher for the spare, I saw a vehicle approaching. At first, I thought it might be a police vehicle. It pulled up behind the trailer and turned on its lights. As it turned out if was a Texas DOT Emergency vehicle.
He put his lights on and helped me get the spare on. I would say we were done in about 10 minutes after he showed up. It was a relief to have emergency lights behind us.
So, now it was time to start out again. I would lie if I didn’t say that I was now pretty paranoid about the other tires. Not only that but riding without a spare is a little unnerving. We stopped a little way down the road to put a few pounds of air in the spare, then it was on to Abilene.
One thing I was not looking forward to was the road through the Midland/Odessa area. This area was just short of a nightmare on the way to Marfa. Between the construction, poor signage, and the overall conditions, it was not a place I wanted to re-visit.
I took note when we left there heading to Marfa, that the other side of the highway was at a complete standstill for miles. For those reasons, I was not keen on the return trip. However, Waze told us this was the shortest and fastest route. Surprisingly we cruised right through the entire area without so much as one delay. Finally, a little good luck of the Irish shined upon us.
Waze then took us on a back road adventure to Abilene State Park. We wound slowly through the countryside full of windmills. It probably would have been faster had it routed us to Abilene, then to the park. However, the good news was that we arrived at around 3:30, so all was well.
We drove to our spot, backed in, and set up for our one-night stay.
We have stayed here one other time. This is a really nice park BUT there is absolutely no cell service. They really need a cell tower near the park. I think it is totally unacceptable not to have cell service in a state park. What if someone has a medical emergency?
Our iPhones showed the only calling option as SOS. An iPhone displays “SOS” when it can’t connect to a regular cellular network. Apparently, it can still connect to a network for emergency calls. I don’t understand how that can work with zero cell coverage, and it’s unreasonable to rely on that in my opinion.
Eva and I made our rounds that evening mapping out a nice one-to-two-mile path to take in the morning.
Tammy warned me to watch out before we left, showing me a picture of some deer that were in our campsite earlier. Well Eva and I never saw any deer, just some rabbits, and folks backing their trailers into place.
It ended up being a really nice cool evening and we sat outside for a while and relaxed, (Eva not so much). We also walked our loop and Tammy wrote down some preferred sites for future stays.
I’ve mentioned many times that the Texas State Parks are fantastic, Abilene is no exception. The sites here are all back-in but they are really nice. Only a select few have full hook-up, but that’s ok, a dump station is available. So, if you want to have a long stay, take your poop wagon. Better take some books too, since there is no cell service. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to get air TV there either. So, if you are really looking to be modern, you may need Starlink. However, with all the trees I’m not sure that would work very well, but I don’t have Starlink so I can’t tell you for sure. After this experience I am starting to consider it though!
The next morning Eva and I made the trek around our area of the park twice before the sun came up. Again, we saw a few rabbits and that was all for wildlife.
Then after breakfast we put Eva in the truck, rolled the slides in, disconnected power and water, locked everything up and we were off for home.
This was a relatively short travel day at 235 miles. The only possible problem could be highway 30 going through Dallas, which is always a bottle neck. Surprisingly we cruised right through there at 2:30 PM without a single issue.
Finally the trip was over, but the fun was just beginning. What was the complete fallout from the blowout plus a few other things?
- There was a broken brake wire on the tire ahead of the blow out. I have no idea if this was related to the blowout or just a loose connection. I repaired that with a gel connector, just like the factory uses.
- I found a broken skirt bracket. These are cheap aluminum, and I’ve had three of these break for no apparent reason in the past. I’m thinking this was just another one of those situations as it was far from the tire that failed. In trying to source a bracket from Grand Design parts, I left a return phone number. They called over a week later, after I had already come up with an easier, cheaper solution using a valance bracket. It cost a whopping $3.00 at Home Depot.
- There was some rubbing off of the underbelly tape that I removed and then added a new strip.
- Chloroplast had broken around four bolts. This was due to the blow out. I fixed it buy using 3”x4” pieces of plastic as large washers to go over the torn pieces. Actually, this is something they should consider at the factory, it is so much more secure. I covered over the plastic with belly tape.
- Next it was on to Discount tires. They found that the other tire on that same side had the beginnings of ply separation. Their opinion was that the tires were defective. They inspected the other side of the trailer and found those tires to be fine. So, they replaced the two “defective” tires for free.
- I found a torn D-seal on the door side of the trailer. The tear was right next to the Schwintek rail. Changing the D-seal is about as easy as it gets. Remove the bottom screw and then feed the new seal in and reinstall the small screw. Obviously, this it was just time to replace this after eight years.
- Tammy was right! We needed emergency triangles, just in case we ever get stuck on the highway again – we should have had them. I purchased a set on Amazon, hopefully they make their way into my truck along with the impact driver.
After all of that I did my usual roof wash and inspection. Then the trailer body wash and inspection. The next day it was time to do some odds and ends stuff inside the trailer along with a very thorough cleaning.
The dust from the trip was really impressive. By impressive I mean disgusting. After about three hours of work inside, I was really happy with how clean the trailer was. The truck was a disgusting dusty mess too. I pulled the air cleaner and ordered a replacement along with a cabin air filter. There was just too much dust and dirt to not change those.
After three days of sitting in the driveway it was time to back it into its spot under the shop. Then I drained the water lines and flushed out the water heater. There was quite a bit of minerals build up in the tank, so it looks like I will be doing that more often. I had recently descaled the water heater, so maybe there was some residue.
Would I do this trip again – Absolutely! In fact we are going to in the next year or so. However, I would bring my impact driver…that was a big miss. I would also now be more prepared for what the weather is like in Marfa and be more prepared for it. I would get the reflective insulation, like reflectix, for the windows, and bring booties for Eva due to all the burrs.
I hope you guys found this series helpful and that it gives you a heads up for what you may run into if you go to Marfa or big bend. If you want to see my 44 minute recap of this part of the trip visit: https://youtu.be/fYAm-Bxj33E?si=4TYphv9A4yQPOnyK
Leave a Reply