About twenty years ago, my son took a trip to Big Bend National Park during one of his college winter breaks, and returned singing its praises, and telling me I should check it out. A few weeks ago, I was finally able to visit Big Bend National Park, thanks to a tour offered by Road Scholar ( www.roadscholar.org ) that fit in with my budget and travel calendar. The photo above shows our group, as we posed beside the entrance sign at Big Bend National Park. 
When my son went with college friends, they camped and cooked out. As you can see from this photo, our group had a much more upscale experience! The photo was taken as we dined at the Chisos Basin Lodge, surrounded by great views of the Chisos Mountains, which form a circle around the basin. 
Chisos Basin Lodge area is a great base for exploring the area, as there are many hiking trail heads located here. One of the most popular is a winding trail that leads to an overlook of the entire basin. The trail is paved, and fully wheelchair accessible.
I was pleased to see this historical placard along the trail, that paid tribute to Stephen Tyng Mather (1867-1930). The plaque reads "He laid the foundation of the National Park System. Defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done." He was the first director of the National Park System. 
The foreground of this photo shows the prickly pear cactus, which is VERY prevalent throughout the park. However, this plant is just one of the 1,295 species of plants found in the park. This diversity is due in part to the fact that the park has three distinct habitats: desert, mountains, and river. The background of the photo (where the rocks come to a "V" is called "The Window", and is one of the most popular photo opportunities in the park.
The paved trail makes a "U turn" at the end of a slightly elevated overlook area, where hikers can pause to rest, or take photos.
The interpretive placards along the trail, tell of the park's volcanic origins. It was this volcanic landscape that was the impetus for some of the astronauts to do moon-landing training maneuvers in some of the remote areas of the park. 
This placard has "writing in the sky" that shows where "The Window" is located, and states that volcanic activity similar to that as Mount Saint Helens, formed the Chisos Mountains. 
As you can see by the way the walkers are dressed, it was a perfect day---both in terms of temperature and clear skies!
It seems every time I am hiking in an area with informational placards, I am on a limited time budget, so I usually end up photographing the placard, and reading it later. Plus, as you can see, if other people are standing in front of the placard, you will need to wait your turn!
The early proponents of making this area a national park knew that a water source was going to be mandatory for its future success. Therefore, the Chisos Basin was the site for early explorations of the"quest for water"!
This is another shot of "The Window", but without any people visible. There is actually a very long, dirt trail that will take hikers to the base of the valley, between the mountains, but our group did not attempt that endeavor.
Some of the mountain formations look like castles in the sky. to give you an idea of how big this formation is, look at the very bottom of the photo on the left, and you will see the a rectangular shape. That is the multi-story Chisos Basin Lodge, where we had lunch.
Another stop along our Big Bend National Park was the Visitor Center at Panther Junction. At the Visitor Center, we learned that the park has was designated as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1976.
At the Visitor Center, one can make inquiries about programs that are scheduled, ranger-led hikes, and get maps. 
I always like these places because I can use their rubber stamps to mark the occasion of my visit---the stamps tell the name of the park, the name of the Visitor Center, and the date. 
After our group left the Chisos Basin, we took the scenic road up to the Boquillas Overlook. The Rio Grande River is below the overlook, and Boquillas, Mexico, is just across the river. Painted walking sticks have been a popular item for tourists visiting the very informal Boquillas Overlook "market"!
For decades the Mexicans have been making these wire scorpions, and selling them to tourists who come to the Boquillas Overlook.
There was a heavy rock inside the money collection jar, to keep it from blowing away. 
Big Bend National Park has 196 miles of the Rio Grande River, and the park shares 118 miles of International Border with Mexico.
As you can see from this photo, the Boquillas Canyon overlook has ample parking for buses or large trailers. It is also an opportunity to brag on the transportation service that Road Scholar used---Daisy Charter Service ( www.daisycharters.com ), and the magnificent driver we had, named Levi. He is the one with the blue shirt on in the photo.
This bronze placard at the Boquillas Overlook is a reminder to comment on something the NPS website for Big Bend lists as a "Issue of Concern"---WATER---both its quantity and quality. Since Biblical times, water issues have often been the topic of very important conversations. The Gospel of John (Chapter 4, verse 10) in the New Testament tells the story of Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. "If you only knew what a wonderful gift God has for you, and who Jesus is, you would ask Him for Living Water, and He would give it." I was thankful to see an announcement posted at the Chisos Basin Lodge, telling about worship services going on in the park on Sundays, so that visitors can learn more about the "Living Water" available to them through Jesus Christ!
This photo shows not only the "display area" for the local Mexican crafts for sale and the "honor system" money jar for payment, but also the distant village of Boquillas, Mexico, nestled in the greenery of the trees next to the Rio Grande. Our group also visited Santa Elena Canyon, and did a hike there above the Rio Grande. In the photo below, The cliffs on the right are in the USA (which is the side we hiked on), and the cliffs on the left are in Mexico. The Santa Elena hike was so magnificent, I will do a separate blog, with lots of photos, in a later post.
The final stop our group made in Big Bend National Park was the Fossil Discovery Center, and I was particularly impressed with this flat panel art piece that depicted an ancient alligator fossil, and also provided shade and decoration for the covered picnic area. 
The Fossil Discovery Center is one of the newest structures in the park, and has an eco-friendly design, that does not rely on electricity for heating or cooling.
The exhibits tell about the ancient life of the park, and I especially liked how they related the size of the fish, to the size of a human, in the black and white drawing of the Xiphactinus. 
They had some very big turtles back in the "olden days"!
This replica of a now-extinct flying creature that used to inhabit the park takes up most of the ceiling space!
Many of the exhibits are tactile or "touchable", and this is particularly helpful for the visually impaired.
The entire fossil discover center is wheelchair accessible.
The replica bone of a dinosaur fossil is huge, and makes me glad I did not have to contend with critters of that size on MY visit to this area!
All of the displays make it clear that the displays are replicas of fossils from the pre-historic era of the park, and not the actual fossils.
For additional resources about these exhibits, visit
There is a short, paved trail that leads to an overlook of Big Bend National Park, where the visitor can see a panoramic view, with interpretive placards pointing out nearby geologic points of interest. 
Since this facility is in such a remote area along the Persimmon Gap entrance road, there is no water available, and the toilet is a vault toilet. 
The daisy has always been my favorite flower, and now I can say that the trip in this "Daisy" motorcoach, has been my all-time favorite motorcoach experience! Traveling around Texas with about 30 fellow Road Scholar participants gave me "Miles of Smiles"!! Tricia
