Big Bend

Driving from Austin to Big Bend National park was looking to be a very long, boring drive. I saw lots and lots of nothing and was wondering if Big Bend was going to be worth the trip at all. But then, before I knew it, I was driving over a canyon that appeared out of nowhere.

Cool canyon I crossed on the drive to Big Bend

And from then on the landscape started to get interesting. But of course that's also when it started getting dark!

One of the better photos I managed to take while driving

I arrived at Big Bend pretty late, so it wasn't until I woke up the next morning that I realized what was around me - some spectacular views! Pictures just don't do this place justice as however big you imagine it to be, it's bigger.

It's a place you could spend weeks, but I was determined to see as much of it as I could in the short space of time I was staying there. The park borders on Mexico with the Rio Grande serving as a natural border so that's where I planned to start.

The river was pretty low, in fact Texas has been suffering from a severe drought for the past few weeks, but after speaking with one of the park rangers, she suggested that I could put-on the river below the St Elena canyon and paddle upstream into it. And so I did.

St Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande

The canyon was spectacular, and I had it all to myself! It was amazing being in such a beautiful place, so far from any civilization. There was no sounds of traffic, no people talking - every paddle stroke I took and every drip of water echoed around the canyon walls.

Chilling on the Rio Grande!

One of the bonuses of the trip to Big Bend, was that I got to make an impromptu stop-off in Mexico. Since the river forms one of the American/Mexican borders, one side of the river was Mexico and the other America. Since my trip to Central America was skipping over Mexico, I had to jump out on the Mexican side just to say I've been to the country!

My first trip to Mexico!

For the afternoon I planned on seeing some of Big Bend by bike. I got some cool views biking along some of the dirt roads but I didn't quite cover as much ground as I intended - biking in 105 degrees is tough going! I had to keep reminding myself to drink water as it was so hot I didn't even feel like drinking anything.

Biking through the desert

It felt bit like the movie 127 hours biking through the desert by myself, and that film definitely flashed before my eyes at one stage when I went head first over the handlebars - sand looks very similar to dirt when you're getting dizzy from the heat!

A farmhouse I stopped off at along the way to take a break from the heat!

I spent the rest of the time in Big Bend hiking some of the trails and taking in the magnificent scenery.

Window Gap in the background

Big Bend is an amazing place, and definitely worth the visit even though it's quite a bit of out of the way, but one thing I won't miss about the place is the border police. Because of it's proximity to Mexico there's a few security checks to keep an eye on drug trafficking and illegal immigration. And for some reason these guys decided that I was a drug trafficker. I got to enjoy a half hour of questioning while they ripped every piece of gear out of my car, and tore everything out of my bags. You know when you pass a border patrol or customs and you see some guy getting searched with the contents of his car strewn about the road and you think to yourself - 'woah, I'm glad I'm not that guy' - I was that guy! When they were done I had to repack everything myself and didn't even get a hint of an apology - pricks! Gotta love America.

Once I said goodbye to my good friends the border police I hit the road for New Mexico...

Lots more pics (yet to be organized) here: https://picasaweb.google.com/105659496923832797916/BigBendNationalParkTexas02