Big Bend day 1, January 28, 2020

Since we couldn't check in to our room at Chisos Mountain Lodge until later in the day, we decided to head out to the eastern side of the park. Big Bend has 3 distinct feature areas going east to west: the river (the Rio Grande), the mountains (Chisos Mountains), and the desert (Chihuahuan). We started our exploration by heading east to the river area, and stopped at the Rio Grande Village area to take a trail to an overlook over the river. 

After that, we continued to the end of the main road to take the Boquillas Canyon trail. The trail takes you along the river to the mouth of Boquillas Canyon. Along the way, we passed a few little Mexican souvenir stands that run on the honor system. They

Mexican "store" on trail

had little wire figures, signs that touted "No wall!" and other stuff. A jar was left for passers-by to leave money. I can't say I was too happy to see this trash littering the beautiful scenery. Not far from the entrance to the canyon, a Mexican man sat on the other side of the Rio Grande, yelling at hikers to buy his stuff. Later, he took his canoe across to tend to his "store". For Americans who want to visit, if you have a passport, you can walk across a small bridge to visit the Mexican town of Boquillas del Carmen. On the Mexican side, we saw burros grazing on the hillside. The canyon itself is scenic, and the trail was an easy walk.

Our last stop was at the Hot Springs Trail. The trail passes by some buildings that comprised a resort here in the 1920s and leads to a hot spring. The fact that the spring was crammed with bathers made it easy to pass up. 

Finally, we headed to our resting place for the night at Chisos Mountain Lodge, the only lodging in the park. Our room was in Casa Grande, a section of basic motel rooms with 2 double beds and a balcony. The balcony did have great views. Dinner was at the lodge as well, the food was pretty good and the prices reasonable for national park dining places.