“Well, at least we were able to see some country we had not seen before.” -Johnie R. Briggs
Perhaps my unyielding need to roam the country is hereditary. Grandad was known for the words above if you drove anywhere and ended up taking a detour. Even a trip a to the dump would incorporate a lot of back roads outside of Tulsa and would turn into an adventure. Usually it also involved finding a little country store for a Mountain Dew.
I had been wanting to wonder out to Big Bend National Park for a few years, candidly to cross it off the national parks I have visited. Not sure I will make it to all of them in my lifetime, but I figure if I can knock one or two off a year, at the end of my time I will have seen the best our country has to offer geographically. Early in the year, I was eyeing a trip out there in the fall. Though a long drive, it was economically feasible, drive my own car, find some reasonable lodging, maybe do some camping. 14 days to flatten the curve turning into infinity, put a damper on any kind of trip planning. A month or so back, I decided to make the trip happen, asked for the days off, scouted out the trip.
Thursday, October 15, 2020, Smithville to Luckenbach to Marfa to Alpine
I stayed Wednesday night at my brother and sister-in-law’s place in Smithville, TX. They gave me a great deal on lodging. 😊
From Smithville, I drove to Luckenbach, Texas and did the touristy thing of taking a few self-portraits and visiting the country store for some cheap souvenirs (stickers and postcards). I would like to go back there and get the full experience when live music is going on, but at 10:00 AM in the morning, not much was happening yet.
If you are planning a trip out that way yourself, let me offer simple but very important advice. Once you leave Fort Stockton and start heading southwest in the direction of Big Bend, gas and restrooms are not to be found between towns, act accordingly.
The next destination was Marfa, Texas. Marfa is literally an artsy sort of town, there are several art galleries. I will not pose like I am deep into fine arts, but there were a few roadside attractions in the area I wanted to see.
Prada Marfa
Prada Marfa is not in Marfa, but 40 miles past. Do not ask me why I wanted to see a hipster-esque store front/art exhibit in Valentine, Texas. Chalk it up to, “I may never be out this way again, I might as well go see it”, and I did. When I arrived a little before 5 PM, there was a model and her photographer (well he was using his phone) reluctant to move out of the way for a few minutes to accommodate the other idiots like me that drove out in the middle of nowhere to take pictures of a not real store/art exhibit.
They finally cleared out (briefly) and two ladies, and me took pictures and left. An older couple in an RV pulled up just as I was leaving.
Supposedly Prada puts out their current collection of shoes and purses in the storefront. On the drive back towards Marfa, I thought out the logistics. Does Prada just ship the collection to someone in town, and they go stage the stuff? Or is this stuff so valuable, that a Prada employee flies/drives in sets it up. Just the kind of things you ponder on a road in the middle of nowhere.
Little Reata, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor
On the way back to Marfa I stopped at a display paying homage to ‘Giant’ a movie released in 1956, which was filmed near Marfa. Large cutouts of Rock Hudson, James Dean, and Elizabeth Taylor, and the mansion façade from the movie sit right off the road. Near the cutout of Rock Hudson behind the wheel of a car were speakers blasting some period country tunes.
Back in town, I drove around Marfa for a few minutes and took a couple of pictures of the Hotel Paisano where the cast and crew of ‘Giant’ had stayed on the 50’s.
The Presidio county courthouse was just down the street from the hotel.
No Country for Old Men
Some key scenes for the movie No Country for Old Men was filmed near Marfa. Near the beginning of the movie, the villain played Javier Barden, has killed a Sherriff’s deputy, and stolen his car. He pulls over a man on the side of the road and proceeds to kill him with a cow gun. For whatever reason, probably the same one that had me driving to Prada Marfa, I decided to go looking for this spot after seeing some YouTube videos where others had done the same. Candidly I had to talk myself into going on this quest, as it meant driving 30 miles out in the middle of nowhere to turn around and come back.
Ranch road 2810 turned out to be a pretty drive. I saw a few people within the first five miles, out walking and running. Then it was just me. I did not see one other vehicle in the time it took to drive out and back, probably an hour. Ultimately, I do not think I went quite far enough, but I did pull over at what I thought was the spot and took a few pics.
The Marfa Lights
About halfway between Marfa and Alpine, is the Marfa Lights Viewing Area. Since the 1800’s people have reported seeing unexplained mysterious lights. A rancher in the 1800’s thought the lights were fires from Apache Indian camps. Within the last twenty years, the State of Texas funded a viewing area complete with benches and viewing scopes. I decided to make this part of the trip and see if I saw anything.
I arrived just after sunset, saw one light on the horizon that was probably lights from a vehicle. After 30 minutes, I decided my curiosity had been satisfied. I headed back to Alpine my stop for the night.
Friday, October 16, 2020, Big Bend National Park, Terlingua
I left Alpine at 5:45 am, and headed for Big Bend, hoping to make sunrise at 7:50 am. It’s about a two-hour drive. Alpine and Marathon are the closest lodging options from the north. South of Marathon about ten miles is a border patrol checkpoint, it showed no sign of life when I passed by.
Around 6:30 am I came to the Big Bend National Park sign. I stopped to take a picture. When I stepped out of the car, I looked up and was amazed by the stars.
The entrance station was closed (since I stayed in the park the whole day, I did not end up paying for my visit).
I continued driving and started to see the horizon light up in the east behind the Chisos mountains.
As I came to the stop sign in front of Panther Junction, the landscape started becoming visible. I headed east to the Rio Grande Village. Having been to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon, I cannot say I was seeing beauty I had not experience before, but it was a beautiful sight. Besides a few random cars coming from the opposite direction, I had the road to myself.
I pulled over several times just to take in the sun coming over the mountains.
The Rio Grande Village campground was closed, and it felt strange to be the only person in the area.
I headed back west and took the turnoff for Boquillas Canyon and ended up at the Boquillas Canyon overlook. Again, I kept expecting to be joined by other visitors, but had the place to myself. In normal times you can take a rowboat ferry across the Rio Grande River into Boquillas, Mexico. The crossing is currently closed due to…. (you can guess it easy enough). I noticed Rocks with walking sticks and various crafts, with plastic jugs. At first, I thought it was memorial, then as I walked closer noticed writing on the plastic jugs. These items were for sale, one of the jugs said it was to help fund schools in Mexico. I am not sure if in normal times, people come across from Mexico and sell the crafts in person, or if it is always unattended. I picked out a walking stick I liked and left ten dollars in the corresponding jug. The ranger station in the Rio Grande Village was closed for the season, or I would have asked a ranger about it.
I drove back west towards Panther Junction. The visitor’s center is closed (because you guessed it), but there was a ranger out front with a couple of tables giving out information. Now I was starting to see people and realize I was not going to have the whole park to myself.
From Panther Junction, I kept going west to the road up to the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, this is also the location of Chisos Mountains Lodge, the only lodging inside the park (it has been closed for most of the year, open with limited availability right now). If you want to stay in the park, in a hotel, this would be your only option, provided you could get a room. The road up to this area is in my opinion some of the best sight seeing in the area, the road twists and turns, a lot of switchbacks. Then once you get to the top, there are a few campgrounds (which were full according to the signs at each entrance). The visitor’s center was you guessed it closed, ranger out front giving information. I went in the store that was open and bought a hat and a few stickers for my laptop, because I am 12 years old. This was the most crowded area I saw. Lots of hikers coming and going from the nearby trails.
After spending some time looking around, I drove back down and headed for the Ross Maxwell scenic drive.
According to the Big Bend website:
The thirty-mile Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive leads to the Castolon Historic District and Santa Elena Canyon. Along the way the road showcases some of the historic and geologic features this region is famous for.
The crown jewel of the Ross Maxwell Scenic drive is the Santa Elena Canyon which is at the end of the drive. I took my time driving out, admiring the surroundings. Things in the distance looked very hazy, I am not sure if it is always that way, or just the wind, atmosphere, etc. I did not see a ranger for the rest of the day or would have asked. I stopped at the Santa Elena Canyon Overlook and stayed for about an hour, fixed myself a sandwich (you want to bring an ice chest, with water, food, etc.), and admired the view. From there I went down to the entrance to the Santa Elena Canyon trail, this area was the second most congested area of the park. My guess is if you got there early in the morning, you would be in front of the crowds, not surprisingly at 2pm the area was full of cars. I did not end up sticking it out, but the hike into the canyon is 1.6 miles round trip, that also requires crossing a creek. It was something I was going to do but did not want my slow pace to be holding up people on a trail.
I took my time going back out the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.
Around 3:00 pm I drove out of the west side of the park. I spent about 8 hours in the park, you could spend days there hiking, and camping, or taking Rio Grande River trips from an outfitter in nearby Terlingua, which I would like to go back and do.
Terlingua was my stop for the night. Check in was not until 4pm, so I went to the Terlingua Ghost town, and looked around for a bit.
My lodging for the night was the Chisos Mountain Co Motel. If you need a place to sleep, this is your place. If you are looking for opulence, you are probably going to be disappointed with Terlingua.
After checking in and surveying my room, I went to the Chili Pepper Café for dinner. The people were nice, service was slow. There are only a few restaurants in Terlingua.
After dinner I went back to the motel for a bit, contemplating whether to go back into the park for a few hours. I did drive back up to the entrance and see what kind of view there would be for the sunset. Ultimately, I drove around Terlingua some more and then went back to the hotel and sit outside as the sun went down.
I think I went to sleep about 9pm. No internet, spotty phone service, and a quiet room were a great recipe for turning in early.
Saturday, October 17, 2020, Terlingua to Fort Davis to Smithville
I left Terlingua at 5:45 am, but not before admiring the stars for a few minutes. I drove north to Fort Davis (passed through Alpine again) and watched the sun come up over the Davis mountains.
I arrived at Fort Davis Drug Store shortly before 8 am. The Fort Davis Drug store opened in 1913, and has been in its current location since the 1950’s. They no longer are a “drug store”, but have a restaurant, soda fountain, gift shop, as well as hotel rooms upstairs. When I was scouting the trip, I almost booked a room there for Saturday night, but ultimately decided to drive back on Saturday.
After having breakfast, I drove few miles down the road to the Fort Davis Historical Site. From the website:
A key post in the defense system of western Texas, Fort Davis played a major role in the history of the Southwest. From 1854 until 1891, troops stationed at the post protected emigrants, freighters, mail coaches, and travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road hoping to reach the gold fields of California.
After taking some pictures, I made my way back to I-10 via highway 17, which is a nice drive. It seems like anything south of I-10 has lots to offer scenery wise.
I made it back to my brother’s in Smithville about 4 pm. We had burgers and caught up at the Cistern Country Store, not far from Smithville.
Each trip I can take always gives a fix for my gumption to wander, but also just feeds the need to wander some more. At least we were able to see some country we had not seen before.