I have a few more things to share with you about our trip to Big Bend in February.
The last installment about the trip (“The Big Bend Trip Continues,” April 27, 2026) ended with our tour and our attempt at taking pictures of the stars. The tour was great; our star pictures left a lot to be desired! But the next day we devoted to visiting the hot spring Erin had read about. So, off we went.
We drove ourselves to the place where you had to park along side the park’s paved road to get to the spring. We were told it was a mile hike, round trip, but it felt more like two miles round trip! And then after it was all over, we found out that normally you can actually drive to a parking lot close to the springs and then walk a short distance to the river, but they were doing some construction work on the road and that parking lot, so we had to walk. Maybe it will all be finished by the time you get to go.
AJ was nice enough to walk slowly with me as Erin and Ben struck out at their natural pace, and of course, got way ahead of us, eventually out of our sight, even.
But we trudged on, stopping to take more pictures, which put us even farther behind them! AJ kept finding cactus before I saw them, like this nice Echinocactus horizonthalonius in front of the Agave lechuguilla, both of which are all over the park and especially in this area.
When the park has had rain, the ocotillos are green and will have a red bloom at the top of each stalk. In this drought, they, along with lots of other plants, are brown and dry. And if you look closely, you will see three more of the E. horizonthalonius close by, two on the left, and one with a little grass covering it up to the right rear. And if you look past the ocotillo, that is typical of what the landscape looked like on our walk to the springs.
We walked on a wide gravel road, but we saw this more narrow road to our left that had been built up using the rock in that part of the park. I think that would have made our hike shorter, but we didn’t see it when we passed its entrance. Oh, well.
AJ spots another cactus before I do, this Ferocactus hamatacanthus growing out of some rocks. We saw a lot of this cactus as we walked.
The road was coming to an end, and up on this hill was an abandoned rock house. It may have had a sign of explanation, but I didn’t go up there. I think it was left over either from when the CCC built things in the Depression, or when the hot springs had been a tourist attraction in the 1930s, as we found out as we still had to walk some more to the river and the springs.
And then when we turned the corner, all of a sudden, here were palm trees and more buildings!
Turns out the springs were popular during the 1930s and people drove their cars to it, spent the night in some simple accommodations, and enjoyed the warm water. And I guess the palm trees have survived because the river is nearby and may have cooled things off and supplied a certain amount of water from time to time.
These were actually some of the rooms where visitors could stay, or at least perhaps change clothes in after they dipped in the river and the springs.
I thought at this point we were going to turn the corner and be at the springs. Oh, no, we were at the river, but not the springs, so we got to walk, I don’t know, maybe another quarter mile or so to get there.We followed the river and saw a few things along the way. And that is Mexico on the other side of the river, which is rather low at this point.
As we made the turn, the river was fuller.
And finally, there it is!
It was like a day at the beach! Here were all these people in bathing suits, with chairs, camping stoves, swimming, just having a big time. Big Bend is hundreds of miles from Texas beaches, let alone Pacific Ocean beaches, so this was just the next best thing. Erin was asked to take a picture of a group that had come from Austin, which we got kick out of since Erin and AJ live in Kyle, right down the road! Small world syndrome at work again.
Erin had no problem getting in the warm water, and it was warm. I didn’t get in, but I did test it, and it really was warm. The funny part was that if you strayed too far from its origin coming into the river, the water got cold, as Ben found out when he went out in the middle of the river.
After Erin soaked up the warm water, it was time to go. We traced our steps back to that road that led back to our vehicle. We had walked down there in the middle of the hot day, full sun, and I am sure I didn’t drink enough water. As I walked slower and slower, AJ made me eat little oranges and drink water and of course, I kept finding pictures to take! Finally it was Guadalupe Peak all over again. My legs just finally gave out, and he asked a couple of men walking back if they would ask the park rangers to come and give us a ride back. I was angry, embarrassed, and disappointed that I couldn’t go the distance. They assured me they had rescued weary hikers much younger than me. That didn’t help!
As we drove back to the motel, we ran into more road construction and had to wait at one of those single lane situations holding us behind a red light, which happened to be in a small forest of ocotillos. They seemed to have a little more color than others we had seen.
We kept passing places where I saw nice, perfectly round clumps of probably echinocereus and finally found a place to stop and get that picture I kept wanting.
We drove back into town and figured out somewhere to eat dinner.
Erin googled and found a Starlight Theatre and Restaurant in another part of town new to us. Well, it had a three hour wait time, so we wound up at a bar and grill we had passed and ate there.
And the day ended with a nice sunset.
The next morning we were up early, drove to Alpine and then headed opposite directions to home. Big Bend is down there pretty much all by itself, but it is worth the drive. We are all glad we went. You should, too.
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