Location 9: Big Bend, Texas

By Betty JohnsonJanuary 8, 2020

Big Bend’s wide-open spaces and crisp, gorgeous, unpolluted skies have us calling it a new favorite place. Big Bend is a region in western Texas along the border with Mexico, roughly defined as the counties north of the northward bend in the Rio Grande as it passes through the gap between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico(see blog map for map view).

The Big Bend National Park includes the entire Chisos mountain range and a large strip of the Chihuahuan Desert. It is one of the least visited national parks in the US.

We stayed at the Lajita RV Park that backs up to fabulous mountain scenery. The park was great with wood fire pits at each site (which have been uncommon so far) and hiking paths from the park up into the mountains. The park is a dark skies park, which means lights are to be out after a certain hour. The pictures above are taken from our site and the Lajita Cemetery adjacent to the park entrance.

We visited Terlingua, a ghost town near Lajitas and the Big Bend National and State Parks. Amazing sites with wild donkeys and wild Texans from Terlingua thrown in. The drive from Lajitas to Presidio takes you along the Rio Grande through the Big Bend State Park. This is a meandering drive that we are happy we did not miss. Brian took the opportunity to wade in the Rio Grande River. We both thought the the river would be much wider than it is in this area.

The Lajitas RV Park is a stone’s throw from the Blackjack’s Crossings Golf Course at LaJita Resort. Brian golfed the course and I rode along and wore several hats: personal photographer, flag pole attendant, and golf ball finder. The golf course greens were dormant but that did not affect the astounding views of the mountains and the Rio Grande. The golf cart path was like a roller coaster in spots, there were spectacular elevated tee boxes, and roadrunners were spotted throughout.

The clubhouse at the course holds the largest longhorn collection in Texas. I have developed a serious liking for longhorns since arriving in Texas.

We had the good fortune to view the Quadrantids meteor shower while we were at Big Bend. The starry skies were chock-full of twinkling and shooting stars once the moon went down around 5 am. I found that I have work to do on my astrophotography, but you have to start somewhere.

On our last morning, I woke up to a glint of red skies coming into the bedroom window. I quickly walked the dogs, grabbed the camera, jumped up on the picnic table and started shooting. The skies changed by the minute and each direction was another wonderful shot. The photos below were all taken within a matter of 20 minutes and then the normal azure skies for the day revealed themselves.