A Visit to Big Bend National Park:

The least visited National Park in the United States

When visiting the SW of the United States we looked on the map and realized we weren’t too far from Big Bend National Park in Texas, a national park we’ve never heard of before. It looked close on the map, but we learned quickly why it’s the least visited park in the United States-the nearest city is six hours away! This park is massive and one of the largest National Park’s in the U.S. The park is so big, that they have three entrances and five visitor centers. Also, when you arrive, instead of paying for a one-day pass, they hand you a 7-day pass! We drove straight to the Panther Junction Visitor Center and learned so much from the awesome volunteers. It was so cool to learn how the Rio Grande is the only thing that separates the park from Mexico! They recommended the Window Walk that starts from the Chisos Mountains Lodge so we made our way there. I couldn’t believe all the different rock formations in this park!The trail is 6 miles round-trip and once we started we decided to do it when we had more time the next day so we wouldn’t feel rushed. So, we snapped this picture of the window from far away and made our way East to the Boquillas Canyon. We were here in Mid-November and the weather was awesome! We learned it was their slow season and things start to pick up the first week of December. We also learned this was a good time to see wildlife before the crowds come, we were told there were bears and hoped to see one! Welp, five minutes later we got pretty damn lucky… Never in my life did I think we’d see a black bear in Texas! When we saw the sign pictured below when we entered the park, we were like, “Yea right!” But, of course, we stopped after seeing one to take a picture of it.

The Drive to Boquillas Canyon

Be prepared to drive a bit from place to place, remember this park is massive! It took us about an hour to drive from one trailhead to the next. There are a few gas stations scattered across the park, definitely, fill up when you see one!

boquillas Canyon

We started to sense a theme, most of the trailheads had small parking lots so that is another perk of visiting in the off-season. Once you park it’s a short easy walk in and it’s just over a mile round trip. It was awesome to walk along the Rio Grande and see Mexico right next to us!
We had the place to ourselves which made admiring the rock formations even better. In a weird way, Boquillas Canyon reminded me of what I’ve seen in Yosemite National Park. So once again, I couldn’t believe we were in Texas.
We looked for rocks, screamed to hear our own echoes and then heard someone singing off in the distance. On the way back to the car we saw this sign. It’s hard to read but says “Donations for singing Mexican Jesus”We took one last look at the canyon before searching for the singing Mexican Jesus!I’m just going to leave this here…Not only did we get to hear him sing some beautiful songs, as we turned to leave we saw even more wildlife. It might not be as exciting as a Black Bear, but this roadrunner was our buddy. It was so funny to watch run right in front of us!One more look at Boquillas Canyon before heading to the Boquilla Hot Springs!

boquilla hot springs

We kept hearing about hot springs in the park and had to find them. We were extra excited because there was a Super Moon on this particular night! It only took 30 minutes from the trailhead of Boquillas Canyon to get to the hot springs. It was a beautiful drive in with a ton of cacti and red rock on each side of the road. Be prepared for a narrow road and limited parking, the lot only holds about ten cars.Now, palm trees!? This park was so full of surprises. Apparently, there used to be a hotel here, but it has since shut down. They still have the building and a picnic table though, so it’s fun to imagine an old hotel here! The picnic table is a great place to enjoy a meal before you walk to the Boquilla Hot Springs.From the picnic table, it’s just a quarter of a mile to the Boquillas Hot Springs. Keep in mind, if you are here during busy season these hot springs can fill up! We had them to ourselves for about an hour, before sharing them with five other people throughout the night. We spent the first hour drinking wine and debating if we were going to jump in… I still can’t get over the surreal feeling of being in the United States and knowing if you swam across the river you’d be in Mexico!Finally got the courage to jump in and it was awesome! The current is fun to jump into and then it shoots you out about 50 yards after. Only do this is if you consider yourself a pretty good swimmer!After jumping in a few times, meeting new people and admiring the giant moon we made our way back to the Chisos Mountains to find a place to sleep for the night. We should have expected this after the day we had, but on our way back we met another friend! A coyote under the light of the giant super moon 🌕The wildlife alone blew my mind and then to add Boquillas Canyon and the Boquilla Hot Springs?! The first day in Big Bend National Park was so fun and to be honest, unexpected!