There was a bridge over a very wide dry wash that only sees water during the late summer monsoons and a short tunnel through a tall rift that carries the moniker of "Dead Mans Curve" on Google Maps.
Soon we were squeezing into our campsite at Rio Grande Village Campground located in the southeast corner of the park. We stayed here two years ago so we knew what to expect. This is the largest campground in the park with 93 campsites, compare that to Chisos Basin Campground with 60 sites and Cottonwood Campground with only 22 sites.
Only this campground has something none of the others do. Just a short drive from the campground is a hot spring on the edge of the Rio Grande River. You can sit down in the hot spring waters until it becomes to hot and then just stand up and sit on the short stone wall, swing you feet over to the other side and cool off in the Rio Grande River.
Also this is the only place with a legal Mexican border crossing where you can walk or take a very short small boat ride into Mexico. Then it's just another short half mile walk or burro ride into the town of Boquillas del Carmen where you can enjoy a delicious lunch complete with a Mexican Coca Cola or several choices of beer.
Of course there were numerous street side shops where souvenirs are for sale.
We participated in both of these activities last time we were here and are sure to repeat at least one, if not both, of them this weekend.
Peering out the window she noticed just a few feet away that we had some uninvited overnight visitors staring right back at her through the open window.
I don't know if it was buy design or sheer coincidence, but just as the cows dissappeared from sight on the right side of our campsite, a squadron of javelinas (yes! a group of javelinas are called a squadron) came into view from around the left side of our campsite.
After dinner we loaded up into ROVER and headed over to the trailhead for Langford Hot Springs.
It's only .3-mile trail from the parking lot to the hotspring. At the trailhead there are several buildings left over from the early 1900s when this was a playground destination for the more affluent Texas residents.
I wanted to be back on the main highway before dark and we timed it perfectly. The highway is only about 1½-miles from the trailhead parking lot but the first ¼-mile on the way out is a very narrow roadway with a rockface wall on the right and a sheer dropoff ranging from 10-30 feet on the left side, without the benefit of guardrails, not something I wanted to drive in the dark.
Once we arrived back at the campsite I pulled our two camp chairs out of ROVER's backseat and set them up under our pavilion. Tricia went inside to change out of her wet bathing suit and brought out some cold beverages, then it was my turn to do the same.
We were sitting there in the complete dark with an occasional car headlight or someone's flashlight illuminating the area around us. We were startled by a snort or sneeze sound and found we were surrounded by the squadron of javelinas, some as close as just 10-15 feet away.
The javelina eventually moved on and then it was time for the cows to return. Again they silently snuck up on us until we could hear something munching on the grass nearby. Tricia shined her cell phone flashlight and found the large horned steer just a few yards off my shoulder.
These large animals were not trying to be stealthy at all, they were just going about the business of feeding themselves. Imagine how close a mountain lion could be before we even realized it. In case you were wondering, each year more than 150 lion sightings are reported by visitors to Big Bend National Park.
Also, the next morning, we weren't too suprised when we found two new cow patties in the back of our campsite. Gee, thanks for leaving us something to remember you by!
The trail goes up to the top of a small rise where you're rewarded with some excellent views of the campground, the Rio Grande River and surrounding mountains.
RIO GRANDE VILLAGE NATURE TRAIL
AT SUNRISE
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It's 7:30AM now and sunrise is still 13-minutes away at 7:43AM.
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It's 8:03AM now and the sun is just about to appear over the mountains to the east.
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Ocotillos produce clusters of bright red flowers at their stem tips,which explains the plant's name.
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Ocotillo means “little torch” in Spanish.Plants bloom once in the spring between March and June depending on their latitude.
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7:26AM - The Rio Grande River as it approaches the campground from the west.
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7:42AM - Looking westward towards where the hot spring is.
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7:49AM
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7:57AM - Looking to the south and into Mexico.
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8:10AM - The scenery is changing fast now that the sun has reached the mountains.
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8:13AM - A closeup of the canyon that Langford Hot Spring is located in.
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8:15AM - The mountain shadow is rapidly retreating across the foreground.
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The reedy area between the campground and the top of the trail.I circled THE POD in red in the back right corner.
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The reedy area is traversed using these floating docks and gangways.
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Keep your eyes open for these little devils.
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I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but it sure is pretty when it blooms.
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