By now you know that Jarrett and I are on a mission to visit all 63 U.S. National Parks (if you didn’t know this, poke around on my page a bit, you’ll see a lot of information about them). One of the parks I was really excited about visiting was Big Bend, in southwestern Texas. I knew it would take some planning to visit because it’s so remote. But in 2024, we decided to make it happen, along with visiting Guadalupe Mountains which is also in Texas, plus Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands, both in New Mexico. We’d be flying in and out of El Paso and making a large loop to hit all 4 parks.
Our flight left Boston early in the morning and we arrived in El Paso before noon. We quickly picked up our rental car and stopped by a Super Wal-Mart to pick up our road trip supplies (ice, water, food, etc.). We started the drive south. It was going to be about a four-and-a-half-hour drive to Terlingua, where we’d be staying during our time in Big Bend so we wanted to get on the road quickly. I wanted to stop in Marfa to break up the drive a little bit. We stopped at Prada Marfa (just south of Valentine) so I could take pictures with the famous art installation. While there, we saw some people with a pet coyote…I was like “Yup, we’re definitely in Texas now!”. We grabbed a late lunch/early dinner in the town of Marfa at Planet Marfa, a quirky little open-air bar and restaurant. We had paninis which were surprisingly tasty!
The last two hours of the drive seemed to take forever; the land was incredibly flat and there wasn’t a lot to see besides miles and miles of road stretching out in front of you. That changed when we got closer to Terlingua and we started to get some rock formations and mountains in the distance. We stayed at Big Bend Adventure Resort in their Mission Lodge, right when you get into town. By the time we arrived the sun was setting and we were exhausted after a very long travel day so we were very excited to get to our motel. Our room was super cute and well-decorated, however I will say that the bathroom definitely needs some TLC, like some deep cleaning and updates, but otherwise, it was a great stay and I’d recommend it if you don’t mind some outdated features.
The next morning, we had a reservation for a canoe tour at Big Bend Ranch State Park. We weren’t sure if we’d still be able to go since originally, we were the only two with reservations. However, when we arrived at the meeting spot, we found out another couple (from Poland!) had also signed up. Marta and Andy were awesome and became our park buddies for the day! We used Big Bend River Tours and Hannah, a self-described river rat, was our tour guide. She was awesome and really knowledgeable about the area. I learned a lot of history and facts, which I promptly forgot, but we learned about different plants in the area and how much the river is changing in modern times. It was really humbling getting to canoe on a river as famous as the Rio Grande. The U.S. and Mexico both care for the land in the area and it takes collaboration between the two countries to keep conservation running smoothly. It was fun pulling the canoe ashore so I could say I’ve been to Mexico! The tour was a few hours long but I don’t remember how many miles we went, it was a very leisurely pace though. We did have a few spots where we had to get out of the canoe and drag/push it because of the water levels but for the most part it was smooth sailing. After the tour, we went to DB’s Rustic Iron BBQ with Marta and Andy to get lunch. The brisket and ribs were both very good. It was really nice chatting with our Polish pals and getting their thoughts about different places they had been throughout the States.
After lunch, we went our separate ways. Marta and Andy were heading to the part of the National Park that had a hot spring, but Jarrett and I were focusing on doing the scenic Ross Maxwell Drive. Big Bend is so large that to see everything, it would take multiple days just to drive to each area. We had a lot we wanted to see in our short time at the park so we figured we’d tackle the scenic drives, making stops for pictures and such along the way.
Our main destination was Santa Elena Canyon, located at the end of the scenic drive, where we planned to do a short hike along the canyon wall. I would say it’s a must do, especially at golden hour. There were pit toilets there, which was convenient after the long scenic drive. Beware of free-range cattle though, there was lots and lots of cow poop around! The trail was pretty easy; it had a small area of incline but for the most part it was gentle. It was beautiful getting to see the Rio Grande spill from the canyon. And it was really neat to see how the border of the countries is really just a natural, free flowing river, which is how borders should be. It was beautiful and I really hope the U.S. doesn’t ruin such a beautiful natural area by building a dumb wall…but I digress.
After we finished the hike, we started the drive back along Ross Maxwell Drive. We stopped about halfway at Sotol Vista to watch sunset. There were a few other people there with chairs or truck tailgates popped. Jarrett and I were able to grab a bench with a direct view of sunset, which was great. We also ran into Marta and Andy again! The sunset was incredible and I loved being able see all the layers of the landscape in the distance. This would also be a great spot for dark sky photography, however, my camera was being annoying and died right after sunset so I couldn’t attempt any pictures. It was one of my favorite parts of our trip so if you go to Big Bend, I recommended going for sunset (but get there early so you can get a parking spot)! There are pit toilets there too, which was a pleasant discovery since we were there for about an hour or more.
The next morning, we got up at dawn and headed to another part of the park, Chisos Basin. We were able to see sunrise on our drive and it was beautiful. The park is stunning any time of day but I really love how it looks in the morning and evening. The sunrises and sunsets really bring out all the colors. As a note, in late October, early November, sunrise was around 8 AM and sunset was around 7 PM. The road to Chisos Basin is another scenic drive but it’s much shorter than Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. We drove the road, stopped a few times for pictures but reached the end fairly quickly. The trail we wanted to do, Lost Mine, wasn’t far from the end of the road and when we drove by, we noticed there wasn’t a pit toilet or anything so we went to the Chisos Basin Visitor Center first, then headed back up to the trailhead.
Luckily, we were able to get a parking spot at the trailhead. It’s a small lot with only a few spots but I recommend trying your best to go because this trail was my favorite in the park. This part of the park is at a slightly higher elevation so while you still see some cacti and similar desert plants, there were a lot more trees and greenery here. There were some fantastic rock formations too, which I’m always a big fan of. It was a beautiful sunny day but we had some dramatic cloud formations in the morning that just amplified how pretty everything looked. We timed our hike pretty well though because on our descent, there were so many people just starting. It looked like a lot of them had to park down by the visitor center and walk up to the trailhead, which added about another mile (uphill) to their hike. Once we finished at Lost Mine, we went back to the visitor center and did a very short little trail call Window View that starts and ends right behind the building. This gives you a view of the Window in the distance. You can do the full, longer version of the hike to take you directly to the Window if you want, but we didn’t have time to do so.
We sadly left Big Bend and headed north to our next stop – Carlsbad, New Mexico. Again, it was going to take a few hours, so we made another pit stop at Planet Marfa for lunch and to break up the drive. While our next park was still in Texas, it was very close to the New Mexico border and Carlsbad Caverns National Park so we figured we’d stay in Carlsbad (the city) to make visiting both parks easier. The afternoon was mostly full of driving but we did find a cute spot called Milton’s Brewery to try some local beers. I had the Caveman Cream Ale, which I enjoyed. They didn’t have food there, but the vibes were great! We stayed at a Comfort Inn in town which was clean and had a friendly staff.
The next morning, we headed back to Texas to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This park isn’t small, but most of it is remote and requires backcountry hiking. There isn’t a scenic drive through the park either, so most of the front country park is explored from one small area. The park was surprisingly stunning. And I only say surprising because we had no idea what to expect. We went to the Pine Springs Visitor Center first and then walked through the campground to the start of the Devils Hall Trail, the first hike we wanted to do. At the trailhead we chatted briefly with a park ranger named Pam and it turns out she was from New Hampshire and spent lots of time recreating in the White Mountains, where we hike a lot. She was older, probably mid-seventies, but was such a badass. Not only was she a park ranger, but she did search and rescue as well. As a side note, I just found out (a year later!), in a random series of events, that she actually had a movie made about her and a winter rescue she did when she was living in New Hampshire. Check out Infinite Storm if you are interested in hearing her story. Anyway, it was really fun meeting her and throughout the hike we crossed paths with her a few more times and she told us a lot of different things about the park and surrounding area.
The Devils Hall trail was really fun, but beware if you have mobility issues, there are a lot of lose stones and rocks to navigate. I did roll my ankle at one point if that gives you an idea of the terrain, but it was worth it! After a quick lunch break, we headed over to Frijole Ranch for our next hike – the Smith Spring Trail Loop. At first, we weren’t super impressed but it got more interesting the further along we went. It was a little overgrown in spots but manageable. I’d recommend doing it earlier in the day or later when the sun isn’t so strong because there isn’t a lot of shade. We were there mid-afternoon and the sun was beating down on us. After the hike, we said goodbye to Guadalupe and went back to Carlsbad for the night. We went to Guadalupe Mountain Brewing for dinner and beers. There was live music and it was packed so I’m assuming it’s a popular place most of the time. We got pizza and cheese curds, and of course beers. The Yardwork Cream Ale was my favorite!
The following morning, we drove about a half hour south Carlsbad Caverns National Park. On the drive in we saw Aoudads, an invasive sheep species, right by the park sign. I always love seeing new kinds of wildlife. We started our tour of the caverns around 9am. It was a self-guided tour that started from the Natural Entrance. Our minds were blown by how unreal the cavern was. It’s really impossible to describe but I really think everyone should see it once in their lifetime. It’s absolutely stunning, but I think the pictures above speak for themselves. It’s a good thing that it was a self-guided tour because we kept stopping every five seconds for pictures and videos. All in all, we probably walked about 2.5 miles throughout the caverns. Afterwards, we checked out the visitor center and we wanted to explore the park above ground but the short, scenic road through the park was closed for road work. On our way out of the park, we saw more Aoudads, so that was neat! We left the park to head over to Alamogordo. We took US 82 through Lincoln National Forest and it was such a beautiful drive! The weather dropped down from about 75º to 39º and we even got some snow flurries! I would love to go back to the National Forest to spend some time exploring there eventually! When we got to Alamogordo, we went to 575 Brewing, which was very cute. We had good beers and great service! I originally wanted to go into White Sands National Park for sunset, but unfortunately it was raining.
The next morning, we headed into the park. It was beautiful! It was our favorite “sand” based park that we’ve visited. We did a short hike and did some sand sledding. It was pretty windy and the skies were looking a little ominous so we skipped the longer hike that we wanted to do. There is a military base nearby and we actually got to see some of the military jets fly over, which was pretty neat! We left the park in the early afternoon to make our way back to El Paso. On the way we stopped in Las Cruces for some quick beers at Bosque Brewing and then later for dinner, we went to Boozy Tacos and Taps by our hotel. The street corn taco I had there was really yummy! We called it a night early and headed back to New England the next morning.
We really enjoyed the trip and had so much fun exploring all four parks. We saw a lot of wildlife too: creepy centipedes, rabbits, roadrunners, Canyon wren, Big Bend sliders (turtles), free range cows, ducks, pronghorns (from a distance), horses, coyotes, Lubber grasshoppers, some lizards, aoudads, elk and bats! The desert is such a beautiful, unique landscape and I’m so glad I got to experience a few different versions of it during this trip!
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Coahuiltecan, Ndé Kónitsaaíí Gokíyaa (Lipan Apache), Mescalero Apache, Jumanos, Chiso, Tampachoa (Mansos), Sumas, Piro and Chiricahua Apache people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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