Review: Big Bend, big hike, big feelings. Are you up to date now? Great! (If not, go read the Week Five post)
Week six! The week when we started heading toward home. (Sort of. Not actually, but mostly. You’ll see.)
This was a very busy week, so I’m going to go back to that trusty run-down format.
Monday: Biiiiig hike day! Because I was unable to use my phone until that short window on Sunday and because we hit winter break time for college students, I was unable to find a campsite for Tuesday night, thus setting the countdown on our time in Big Bend. As any sane adventurer would do, I decided to pack as many hikes as I possibly could into our last 30 hours in the park. First up on Monday was Lost Mine. This hike, prefaced by a fable of enslaved miners, rebellion, and hidden treasure, took us about two miles up a mountain to look out over another collection of Big Bend’s best geological formations. Because we’d been advised by a park ranger that parking can be a challenge at this popular trailhead, we arrived early and were treated with soft morning light as we ascended. I couldn’t stop smiling. It was so perfect; I can’t even tell you. Even though the hike was not nearly as challenging as Saturday’s, it didn’t feel any less monumental. As I stood and gazed across the earth (it really did feel like I could see the whole earth), I cried. The joy, the gratitude, the freedom, the healing, the victory; it all overwhelmed me in that moment and simply overflowed, spilling down my face. Just, wow. (Note to self: do more morning hiking.)
Next hike: Upper Burro Mesa Trail. Isaac decided to sit this one out because his head was hurting, and he wanted to try sleeping it off. That was fine by me since this was a short, easy hike and a solo adventure sounded perfect. I set off down the trail and within ten minutes I’d taken the hard way down a short drop-off and lost the trail. Lucky for me, my new friend Carlos came along right behind me and showed me the correct path. Sure, I’ll have some humility for lunch, thanks. I’m very glad I lost the trail because Carlos and I spent the rest of the miles to, and all the miles back from, the hike destination chatting and sharing stories, plans, and memories. I didn’t get many pictures and it was too sunny to spend much time looking up at the volcanic canyon walls surrounding us, but that hike was pure joy. What a treasure it was to share that short moment of life with a stranger.
Next Hike: Lower Burro Mesa Trail. This one-mile saunter brought us to the bottom side of the pour-off that I’d hiked into with Carlos. It was super neat to look up into the rock gap that I had cautiously peaked over just an hour before. Big Bend is cool like that. Isaac, of course, climbed up the cliff wall to a shelf that jutted into the sedimentary rock about 30 feet off the ground while I rested in the shade, enjoying the scenery.
After a little snooze, while Ike drove back to camp, I was ready to hit the trail again! Seriously? Seriously. It was our last night in Big Bend and I couldn’t let sunset pass without being admired! The little nature trail heading out from our campsite brought me to an ideally elevated overlook from which I watched the sun set behind the mountains while the Rio Grande reflected the colors. Perfect and gorgeous and absolutely worth that eleventh mile. Haven’t you heard the phrase “beauty is pain”? It obviously refers to hiking, right? Obviously. After sunset, all I had left to do for the day was wash the dishes and make dinner. Not much of a day at all. Sarcasm aside, this was one of the most remarkable and joyful days of my life! Sleep, please!
Tuesday: A goodbye day. I think it’s really wonderful that all our goodbyes have been reluctant. That tells me this adventure has been a success. After packing out of camp, we stopped for one final Big Bend hike at Santa Elena Canyon. This canyon was carved by the force of the floodwaters and the Rio Grande. Its depth is mind-boggling. The walls are 1500 feet tall on both sides and gave me a pretty clear idea of what it feels like to be a bug. It’s quite a humbling thing to stand in so many places in one week and feel so very tiny. If you’re in need of some perspective, go take a gaze at your local mountain. It might help. This was the perfect goodbye to Big Bend National Park. It was definitely one of those goodbye-for-now types of goodbyes because I will be back someday. That’s a promise. Wanna go with me?
We exited the west side of the park, heading to Terlingua. What’s more Texas than a ghost town? Can’t think of much. This fascinating little town was once a bustling center before it was abandoned. Today, it is alive again and seeing restoration. Some of the old buildings are in use again or preserved to give visitors an idea of what the old southwest really looked like. Several old foundations have been reinforced and now support new buildings. We might have seen more if we hadn’t been towing the camper, but the poorly maintained roads didn’t look very welcoming, so we began our drive north. After about two hours, we pulled into the David Mountain RV Park in Fort Davis, Texas. With hungry bellies, we made quick work of setting up the camper and heading back into town for some tacos. Cueva De Leon was the only place open, and even though I’ve had better Mexican food elsewhere, that chalupa really hit the spot.
Wednesday: Without much of a plan or reason to rush, we took Wednesday morning slow. After making the decision to stay in Fort Davis for another night, Ike and I headed into town to do some touristing. First stop: Fort Davis National Historic Site. You might be wondering if I’m tired of touring historic places yet. The answer is no. Every time, every building, every obscure fact; I still love it! It’s just such a cool feeling to stand in the same spaces that were filled with life a couple of hundred years ago. Fascinating! After we saw all that Historic Fort Davis had to offer, we hit the antique mall, a cowboy hat shop, a candy shop, and a silver shop before heading back to camp to make dinner and plan for tomorrow. After our week in Big Bend, it felt odd to have any energy left at the end of the day.
Thursday: A driving day! The day’s miles took us as far northeast as Abilene, Texas where we set up camp in Abilene State Park.
Friday: Urban adventure day! Abilene is known as the Storybook Capital of America, and I will attest to the magic of the city. The crowded, historic downtown is littered with bronze statues depicting characters from various children’s books and there is one particular park scattered with Dr. Suess’s characters. How magical is that? I loved it! We toured the Grace Museum, which is a curated art collection displayed in the Historic Grace Hotel. The variety and quality of the works showcased was incredible and I marveled at the human mind’s ability to see beauty in so many forms. I had just left a vast wilderness that was more grand and gorgeous than I could comprehend, and yet I could stand in front of a tiny painting and be moved by its beauty as well. Creation is really something! We ended our day of exploring with a few antique shop stops, scoring a couple of treasures before heading back to camp.
Saturday: Oops, we made plans. As usual, the plan didn’t pan out, but we found ourselves on a much better adventure than we could have made for ourselves! Today that adventure was Frontier Texas! This historical museum is a multi-medium, multi-media display of the history of the Texas frontier from the time before white settlers took over, until just after the civil war. Probably the best part was sitting in the covered wagon that was used as a Hollywood prop in several well-known movies. We’re basically famous now. No big deal. That museum kept us entertained for a couple of hours, satisfied our need for adventure, and was a fantastic way to spend our Saturday.
Sunday: Another driving day. Mostly. Today’s miles took us to an eastern suburb of Dallas where we set up our camper in the driveway of a generous Boondockers Welcome host. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the area, so we really partied it up that evening by running a couple of loads of laundry at the local laundromat and stopping by Walmart for a few essentials and a refill of our drinking water jugs. (We ran out of drinking water on Saturday morning. Whoops.)
And that was a wrap on week six. We traveled a lot of miles, both on foot and on road. Man, what a week. Writing this so long after the fact has me marveling at how much we packed into these past few weeks, but especially this one. Yay adventures!
Week seven was extra short so I’m just going to tag that on to week six. This is my blog so I can break the rules if I want to.
Monday: Today took Isaac to cowboy heaven: the Fort Worth Stockyards. What was once a bustling center of livestock sales is now a busy tourist town filled with trinket shops where sheep pens and cattle stalls once stood and parking lots instead of corrals. Isaac was entirely dazzled by the western goodies tempting him in every store. We meandered through the old holding pens, stepped inside the historic trading post, and watched a group of cowboys drive longhorn cattle down the tourist-lined street. I can’t imagine a more perfect way to spend our last day in Texas.
Tuesday: Time to fly home!! We got up and packed in the morning, leaving our Boondockers Welcome sight before 11 am. We were so excited to get home and hug our family that we arrived at the airport a few (and by a few, I mean five) hours earlier than we needed. There just wasn’t a whole lot to do in the couple extra hours we had, and we wanted to be sure we had enough time to situate our vehicles at our friend’s house, get an Uber, and get through TSA amid the holiday bustle. And to be totally honest, the idea of sitting inside all day sounded kinda nice. We hadn’t really done that since… Early November. Our flight took off around 9 and by just past midnight, we were home!
It feels so cozy and Christmassy and happy to be home with our family. We pray your Christmas was as joyful as ours and that the New Year brings a new hope and new adventures to you!
Our adventure begins again in the first week of January with a flight back to Dallas and continued camping adventures in the Southwest.
Until next time!
