Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas - August 3rd, 2023
Big Bend Ranch State Park lies west of Big Bend National Park. If you’re in the area visiting Big Bend National Park, Big Bend Ranch State Park is definitely worth visiting as well.
Thursday we explored Big Bend Ranch State Park, just west of Terlingua. We drove along FM 170 which enters the state park near the little town of Lajitas. The road follows alongside the Rio Grande River with Mexico just on the other side, with some spectacular scenery. The views are almost on par with the stunning scenery of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive in Big Bend National Park that we did a couple of days prior (Big Bend National Park: Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, Texas - August 1st, 2023).
Our plan was to drive most of the way to the other side of the park and hike the short Hoodoos and Balanced Rock Trail. We left the campground in Terlingua around 8 am and it was a one hour drive to the trailhead. The trail is about one mile long. Ann’s AllTrails was having trouble with the GPS tracking, so we don’t have the stats of what we actually did. The trail was supposed to be 1.1 miles long with only about a 100 foot elevation gain. We completed it in about half an hour. It was a nice little trail, but not very impressive.
It was just a little after 10 am and the temperatures were still tolerable. The other short trail along FM 170, the Closed Canyon Trail, was just a few miles back the way we came, so we drove over there to try to fit in that trail as well. The trail is claimed to be 1.4 miles long, round trip. It goes from the highway over to a slot canyon, then into the canyon for a little ways.
We were more impressed with the Closed Canyon Trail than the Hoodoos Trail. However, we turned around when we reached the first drop down in the canyon floor. We probably could have gotten down it, but we were concerned about getting back up. The rock was slippery. We had our Garmin InReach (paid link) with us, in case we needed to signal to help, but we’re not sure the satellite signal would have made it out of the narrow canyon. Besides, we didn’t want to put ourselves at risk of needing a rescue. At least AllTrails seemed to be working this time. It claimed we went 0.9 miles with an elevation gain of 59 feet in 33 minutes.
On our scenic drive back to Terlingua, we stopped at most of the overlooks along with the Barton Warnock Visitor Center back in Lajitas. One of the overlooks had a picnic area with tables shaded by large concrete teepees. We stopped for a picnic lunch. The teepees provided plenty of shade to keep us comfortable, while still providing a larger opening towards the scenic view.
The visitor center was also a worthy stop. There were wonderful exhibits, in comfortable air conditioning. At the gift shop, we bought a couple of cold Mexican drinks. Keith got a Topo-Chico Twisted Grapefruit, while Ann got a Mexican Coke, complete with cane sugar in a glass bottle.
We spent the heat of the day back at the campground, under our shade cover with the AC running. Then we packed up and went back into the Terlingua Ghost Town to have dinner at the Starlight Theater. The perfect ending to a wonderful day.
The drive through Big Bend Ranch State Park along the Rio Grande River was very impressive. The hikes were not quite as impressive. If we were there in a cooler time of year, which we would recommend doing, we would have chosen longer and different hikes. Next time.
Check out our related video: Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas
(Ann)