25 Mar Big Bend National Park

Well, Big Bend National Park felt very big. Although at only 801,163 acres this one is just 15th when comparing sizes of other NP’s. It is the vast spaces in between destinations throughout the park, and all of the driving to get to them! From the highway that you will need to take to the NP it is an hour drive, once you arrive at the entrance. There is a visitors center here, we continued on and stopped at the Panther junction visitors center. It is a bit larger and there is a gas station, you WILL need gas and this is the only place you will find it!

We stopped at the Fossil Discovery Exhibit first, located 8 miles north of Panther junction. The 130 million year fossil record preserved at Big Bend is one of a kind. Over 1200 fossil species have been discovered thus far in the park.The entire exhibit is beautifully done, when you stand and look over the landscape you can imagine the dinosaurs roaming.

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Due to the previously driving requirements inside this park, you must have a plan ahead of time. Choose what you want to see if you’re limited on time. Our goal was to hike one of the most popular sites. The Santa Elena Canyon Trail which was about a two hour drive from the entrance. is an easy to moderate hike. Plenty of stairs to keep you breathing heavy, and the heat at this location is pretty intense. When we arrived it was nearly 100 degrees, bringing plenty of water is very important. The photo ops are incredible and the water felt amazing once we arrived, totally worth it!

It is important to mention that finding accommodations inside the park would be ideal, and therefore very difficult to come by. We mostly travel spontaneously which meant we were not able to camp inside the park and needed to find someplace as close to the park as possible. The charming little town of nearby Marathon, TX was the perfect choice to settle for a few days. Our campground Marathon Motel & RV Park was a parking lot with full hook ups, yet the property was truly charming with original buildings, a cantina, and oasis with a large stone fireplace to relax by. It is an easy 10 minute walk to town where the biggest attraction here in town is the Gage Hotel, where you can stop in for a meal or sit in the courtyard and enjoy a prickly pear margarita. (which we did) The meal in their restaurant was “okay” there was a wedding during our visit so it’s possible that had something to do with the quality. They took some of our meal off the bill to apologize which was a very kind gesture. Make sure you stop into  The French Grocer for plenty of staples you might need, they focus on natural and organic products. They carry sandwiches and salads etc too that look delicious. The Rusty Rabbit was a cute antique shop, we enjoyed chatting with the owner and hearing about the town.