Blog 2: Ten areas we visited in and around Big Bend

By the way, in our last post ‘Three Stops on the Way to Big Bend’, I made a mistake and wrote that we camped on Boliver County Beach, which is incorrect. The correct name is Brazoria County Beach. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Adventure # 2 Big Bend NP Part 1

January 8-14, 2023

Big Bend National Park is huge and there is a lot to see and experience. Therefore, I am dividing our Big Bend explorations into two parts, for this and the next blog:

This blog, Big Bend National Park, part 1 will have a bonus part which describes our explorations of the town, Marathon TX. Then we will start with sights along Highway 385 to Big Bend, and the areas closest to the Rio Grande campground, which was our campsite. These include Boquillas Canyon Overlook, Rio Grande Overlook, Fossil Discovery Exhibit, Hot Springs, and Rio Grande Nature Trail.

Big Bend National Part 2 will cover Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, Sotol Vista, Santa Elena Canyon, the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas, and climb to the Balanced Rock.

January 8, 2023, we left Marathon, Texas to fulfill our plans of spending time exploring Big Bend National Park. But first, we wanted to take a look around the town of Marathon. The day before, we started a bike exploration of the town; however, plans we diverted when Mike’s back tire blew out.

BONUS: Around the Town of Marathon

The beautiful Gage Hotel in Marathon includes a 27-acre garden, spa, coffee shop, and restaurant. The hotel and garden is a venue for events. The grounds include an elaborate play yard with this chess board set up. We took this picture because Mike likes to play chess when he can find a partner (not me).

We first spotted the back of this building. It looks like several different styles of architecture put together, very interesting and puzzling.

*From the front, it looks like a grand hacienda.*

We discovered that it is Eve’s Organic Garden Bed and Breakfast. The owner built seven unique guest suites. I think it would be an adventure to stay in one of them. There are several other interesting places to stay in Marathon.

Marathon Cemetery

A walk through this cemetery tells the story of Marathon – it’s history and citizens, since 1902. The residents of the town still use the cemetery. The oldest graves are furthest back, and the newer graves are in the front.

Many of the old graves are designated with unnamed wooden crosses.

*Unnamed graves marked with old wooden crosses.*

*Through the years, some family members replaced those old crosses or added more modern, named markers.*

These little handmade grotto markers are common throughout the southwest.

*The newer graves are in the front of the cemetery.*

On the way to Big Bend

Three points mark Big Bend entrances and exits. From the north, starting in the Texas town of Alpine, along Highway 118 or from the west along Highway 170 leads to Terlingua, Texas and the Study Butte. Our route was from Marathon which is about 40 miles to Persimmon Gap Visitors Center. As we drove along this scenic route, I couldn’t help but get excited about the things we would see.

*Route from Marathon, TX to Big Bend NPS*

*Stopping to take pictures, we discovered a hitchhiker on our van. He was huge, but according to popular opinion, everything is huge in Texas!*

Big Bend has a unique environment combining mountains, river, and desert. It is the most ecologically diverse park in the US National Park system having more species of birds, plants, butterflies, bats, reptiles, and ants.

*These are some of the pictures we took.*

*The mountains were majestic and gave us a glimpse of what sights we would be seeing.*

1. Views from our Rio Grande Campground site.

*The mountain view from our chairs outside our camper.*

International Dark Sky area

Evenings, Mike and I would sit outside our camper watching the sun go down. Big Bend is a designated Dark Sky Area that means there is no light pollution from neighboring large populated areas. Thus, we are able to see many more of wonders in the night sky.

The National Park Service (NPS) sets up ‘Ranger Talks’ in amphitheaters in the NPS campgrounds. Mike and I attended two on separate evenings. One topic was the night sky and how light pollution affects the viewing of the moon, stars, and planets. The ranger challenged the audience to think about our own communities and the lights we produce. Communities can decide if all the lighting is necessary, or assess the direction light shines, which can affect night skies. Communities can incorporate light fixtures that point downward, that reduces a significant amount of light pollution.

*The moon above our Big Bend campground.*

Exploring Big Bend

2. Boquillas Crossing and Rio Grande Overlook

Our first exploration was the section closest to the Rio Grande Campground, which are Boquillas Crossing, Rio Grande Overlook, and Hot Springs.

Boquillas del Carmen is the little Mexican town right across the Rio Grande from Big Bend. American visitors to Big Bend can cross the river and spend the day in Boquillas. From what I read, you can cross in a canoe, ride a mule, or walk across the shallow river. Unfortunately, Mike hadn’t received his passport yet, so we didn’t get to visit the town. Nonetheless, we enjoyed viewing from across the river.

As we went around each curve, each view one after another was magnificent.

*You can see the town from here. It’s amazing to think another country is right across the river.*

Wares from the residents of Boquillas del Carmen at the overlook.

At the overlook and several other points in Big Bend, the residents of Boquillas make their way across the river to set up displays of their work to sell to the tourists at Big Bend. The craftsmen are not present to sell the items. They set up their displays with the price on each item and a container for buyers to place the money. It is on the honor system. Unfortunately, NPS posts warnings that discourage the purchase of these beautiful objects because they are considered contraband.

*Hand carved and painted wooden sticks.*

*Several of the citizens display their objects in the same area. They leave reminders to the tourists, who are buying from several vendors, that the payments must be made in the individual containers.*

3. Hot Springs

The hike to the Hot Springs is short, but what we saw along the way was impressive. Massive rocks were amazing to look at and held surprises.

Walk slow, gaze up and down, and look hard.

*And pictographs from the ancient people who lived 2000 years ago in the area.*

*The Native Americans used minerals to make the paint. Some symbols have faded over time, but we must do our best to preserve them.*

*Through our travels, when Mike and I look at pictographs and petrographs, we wonder about the ones who made them. What are they depicting? What do the symbols mean?*

The difference between a pictograph and a petroglyph is that a pictograph is made with paint and a petrograph is chipped through a dark, shiny, hard coating that accumulated on the rock over many years. This coating is known as desert varnish. To help me remember the difference between petroglyph and pictograph, I associate the ‘pict’ as in picture with paint and ‘petro’ as in pecking or chipping away. In another blog, we will show petroglyphs from Three Rivers Petroglyph Site in New Mexico.

In 1909, J.O. Langford came to the Hot Springs from Mississippi. He had been suffering from malaria for several years. The hot springs relieved his suffering, and he wanted to share the healing waters with others. He built the bathhouses for other people to partake. Soon, there was a community of buildings and services surrounding the bathhouses including a motor court, post office, store, and homes.

Peter and Etta Kotch lived in the Livingston house in the 1940’s. Etta Kotch painted the murals in the post office and motor court.

No picture of the Hot Spring: Unfortunately, the picture I don’t have is one of the actual Hot Spring pool. It is not very big and is located on the side bank of the Rio Grande River. There were so many people in the pool, that I decided it was not appropriate for me to take the picture.

Sunrise at Big Bend

Waiting for the sunrise Jan 12, 2023. Sunrise and sunset was a busy time for photographers in Big Bend. The mountains by the Rio Grande Village area were a beautiful backdrop to watch the day break into its splendor.

*Cars of anticipating photographers including Mike.*

4. Nature trail behind the Rio Grande Campground

and Village

Remnants of a homestead

Our campground is near the Rio Grande Village, which encompasses a gas stations, grocery store, laundromat, showers, and a privately owned campground with full hook-ups (electricity, water, and sewer; however, it was basically a parking lot with hook-ups). The NPS campground we were staying in had no hook-ups at the campsite but did have bathrooms. And the campsites were on grassy sites, spaced apart, and under beautiful cottonwood trees. Every day a few campers were notified that their campsites would be irrigated and to move anything on the ground, such as a tent, to a higher spot. Then, those sites had puddles of water in low lying areas. We were wondering about this irrigation process in the dry climate.

Our question was answered. Beyond the Rio Grande Village Campground (parking lot) was a beautiful walk-through large cottonwoods. Apparently, in the 1940’s, the area was a farm homestead. To grow crops and cottonwood trees for shade, the farmer established an irrigation system that is still being used today even though the farm is gone. The alley through the cottonwoods is a serene walk and has areas marked off for blackbird nesting, so that they aren’t disturbed.

*Wild horse enjoying a snack under the cottonwoods.*

*An old but effective irrigation system*.

*The ponds are also important to the animals in the area. These are wild horses enjoying the vegetation.*

5. Fossil Discovery Exhibit

Upon entering Big Bend from Persimmon Gap before you approach Panther Junction Visitor Center and Headquarters, one of the first things you see is the Fossil Discovery Exhibit. It’s so well done, mostly an open-air exhibit, but you feel like you are outside while you are inside.

*Overlook view of the exhibit building.*

Ancient Big Bend was warm and humid with marshes and estuaries like the swamps and bayous we now associate with southwest Florida and other Gulf Coast areas. During that time, Big Bend was a perfect dinosaur habitat.

*Trionyx – a soft shelled turtle that lived in the ponds of Big Bend*

End of Part 1. We will submit Part 2 at a later date.