Texas and New Mexico Whirlwind
After a food and board game filled night in Austin, followed by all the breakfast tacos I could fit in my stomach, we headed onward towards Big Bend National Park. The drive between Austin and Big Bend is a long, desolate one. Keeping an eye on the gas gauge and the location of gas stations felt like keeping an eye on Guthooks for water sources in the desert. I know, I’ve been off trail for about 3 weeks now, but I still relate everything back to the trail.
Big Bend National Park
We made it to the Warnock Park Picnic Area, about an hour outside of Big Bend. Warnock Park is nothing but a couple of picnic tables, trash cans, and a flat, grassy field. We set up my tent next to one of the picnic tables and feasted on dinner tacos.
The next morning, we finished the drive to the Big Bend and went on a couple of short hikes. Big Bend is one of the least visited national parks in the country, seeing only about 300,000 visitors annually. It’s pretty remote, so I can see why so few people make the trek.
We started off with a hike on the Window trail. It’s a very easy trail at the beginning, but got slick once we reached the wet rocks closer to the Window. A couple of hikers with binoculars pointed out a bear that was foraging off in the distance near the beginning of this trail.
Next up was a hike to Santa Elena Canyon. Instead of getting our feet wet and muddy by crossing Terlingua Creek to get to the trail, we opted to take the alternate which was an easy rock hop followed by a semi-sketchy scramble up a steep hill. After the scramble, we were questioning whether or not we were still on the trail, but apparently we were. The “trail” we were on eventually met up with the Santa Elena Canyon trail, which lead us up some switchbacks and along the river deeper into the canyon. We had the canyon completely to ourselves.
The next morning, we stopped in Marfa so Evan could go to a yoga class and I could wander around the town. Unfortunately Marfa doesn’t seem to wake up very early, so I didn’t get to check out the art galleries I’d hoped to see, but I still enjoyed wandering around.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
We spent the next afternoon/evening at Guadalupe Mountains. We only had time for a quick hike since we’d arrived late in the day, so we decided to check out Devil’s Hall. The trail mostly involved walking through a wash, with a few spots where we had to scramble over boulders.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We had hoped to hike to Guadalupe Peak this morning, but the strong winds had other plans for us. So we drove to Carlsbad Caverns and I’m SO glad we had time to check it out. It’s one of my new favorite national parks. I’ve always loved caves, but this cave tops them all. When can I move in? I’m not going to share many photos since they do it no justice, but here are a few:
Roswell, NM
With there being rain in the forecast, we decided it’d be a good idea to stick to indoor activities. So we headed to Roswell. The UFO Museum was cheesy and mildly entertaining, but my favorite things about Roswell were the Christmas alien streetlights and the UFO shaped McDonalds.
Fingers crossed that the rain doesn’t keep us indoors all day tomorrow. White Sands National Monument is so close by!
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