Big Bend, Big Wonder - Scenic Tours and Drives

The desert doesn’t whisper here—it sings off canyon walls. We headed to Big Bend to chase that sound and came back with a pocket full of must-do hikes, a few hard-won driving tips, and a fresh respect for how wild West Texas still is. From the instant payoff of Santa Elena Canyon to the echoing turns of Boquillas, we show you how to thread quick stops with immersive moments so you actually feel the place, not just check it off.

We start along the Rio Grande, where pale desert frames a sudden surge of green. The Rio Grande Village Nature Trail surprised us with boardwalks and birdsong that felt more Louisiana than Chihuahuan Desert. A flood-damaged road kept us from the Hot Springs Historic Trail, so we traded soaking for summits and took local advice to tackle Lost Mine. With a knowledgeable guide from Big Bend Boating and Hiking, the Chisos Basin unfolded in layers—geology, plants, and long views that shift every step. If you’ve only got one big hike in you, make it this one.

Then we swapped boots for a Jeep and rolled out with Far Flung. Abandoned mercury mines, Terlingua ghost-town lore, and the red-tinged bones of the desert gave the landscape a different edge. Our guide balanced history and wonder, a combo that matters in a park where beauty and risk run side by side. We also mapped the drives that tie it all together: Barton Warnock’s museum-like visitor center, the overlook to Closed Canyon, and a free dark sky star party where the Milky Way looked close enough to touch. Finish with a golden-hour ascent to the Chisos Basin Lodge road—less for the lodge itself and more for the light that sets the ridges on fire.

If you’re planning Big Bend, this guide packs quick wins, deeper routes, safety smarts, and the best ways to see more with less stress. Subscribe for more West Texas stories, share this episode with your travel crew, and leave a review to help fellow hikers find it. Where should we go next?

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Transcript

Setting The Scene: Why Big Bend

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa.

SPEAKER_04 0:01

And I'm Cory.

SPEAKER_02 0:02

And together we are The Romy.

SPEAKER_04 0:05

We are married to each other. Alright, we are a touring musical duo.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

SPEAKER_04 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

And we hope to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

We have been talking with you about our trip to Big Bend National Park. And today we're gonna talk about some of our adventures that we had in Big Bend National Park. From driving around in the car, the scenery is ridiculous, it's amazing, to stopping and doing hikes. Some you can take for a day hike. So you can even do overnight things, I think. And some are really short, you hop out of your car, 10 minutes, you're where you want to be, you come back. Some are a little longer than that, everything in between.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Big variety.

SPEAKER_04 1:07

Yeah, big variety. And today we're gonna talk about some of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Yes, we're gonna take you on some different hikes and drives and explorations that we enjoyed when we were in Big Bang.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Discovered, even that's the fun thing. You drive around and you discover things. It's really it's so big. You could spend, I don't know, three, four days there and not see everything. It's just it's you can bargain. Because you want to spend a couple days in a place to begin with to really soak in the vibe. So, where do you want to start in talking about our adventures?

Santa Elena Canyon: Quick Wow Stop

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Well, this doesn't go in order because this is one of the things we did towards the end of our trip and stay there. But I was told that, like, if you see a picture of Big Bend National Park, you're most likely going to be looking at the Santa Elena Canyon. So let's start there.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Yeah, okay. The Santa Elena Santa Elena Canyon. The Santa Elena Canyon. Yeah, yeah, that was really cool. Some very, really awesome canyons there.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

That's one of the places where you can go if you are super short on time, but you want to catch it, you can park. The hike from the parking lot to actually see and get your big photo doesn't take that long. No, but if you wanted to spend the day there, you could. There is hiking all around like you can walk the Rio Grande River. Like you can just rock across, like walking.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Walk literally across. It was dry. Parts of it.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

No, I couldn't walk across. I went as far as I could, but then I would have had to swim. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Well, I think it's a good one.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Because I was like, I want to go to Mexico, but yeah, well, it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

I mean, once you get down to the canyon area, there are loads of options for hikes. Yes. And one is to go up up onto the walk through it. It's really, really cool.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

It's kind of built out where and we saw people hiking up there in the snow.

Boquillas Canyon Trail And River Overlooks

SPEAKER_04 3:04

We just didn't have the time, but it only took us about 10 minutes to actually get to the water from where we parked from the parking lot. So that's a that's a really quick one that's worth seeing. And they say that the sunset there is really special. We got there maybe 10 minutes after I think the spectacular had happened, and it was already down behind the canyon. So we just missed that. But we did get to see the canyon.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Now that is considered like a river hike, and the Big Bend National Park website has a listing of river hikes, and so I was like, I definitely want to catch those because I just really love water. I love I love contrast in nature. Like one of my favorite things in life, this is just a side note, but is like the palm trees against the mountains, right? In California.

SPEAKER_04 3:52

Yeah, you like the palm treats and desert and mountains are like water.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

So so Big Ben gives me that fun because you've got lots of different like little water areas with contrast against the rugged mountains, and it's just really beautiful that way.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

And it's the Rio Grande. I mean, it's one of the most famous rivers on our continent.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

So what we so we did a Rio Grande hike, which was one of the you go to the Bokehus Canyon Trail. So like that's what we put in our Google Maps. And really, like you can't really put it in your Google. I mean, you could put it in your Google Maps, but you're not going to have coverage on your phone once you're in the park if you're us. And so well, we got smart enough. Maybe you have some kind of special insight, but they do actually give you physical maps, and this is a place where you want to have physical maps.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

But if you know where you're going, the roads, there's not a gazillion roads that you're going to get lost on the roads. Good grief. And so what Google does, if you use Google Maps and you put in your destination and you when you have Wi-Fi, like before you get into the.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

It won't, it won't reroute you. Right. But it will, you can follow the map and it'll keep you going the right direction, tell you what a turn, and all that stuff, even when you don't have coverage, if you already started it while you did have coverage. Right. So that's it.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

And that's a trip for that's a little trick for life. Yeah. Traveling in general, Google Maps works that way.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

A trick in the park is they have Wi-Fi at all of the at the Ranger stations, the visitor centers. Actually, I guess at the visitor centers where we went. And at the uh the gas station. The gas station had Wi-Fi next to the visitor center. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Okay, now not in this episode. You're gonna have to wait, but we're gonna talk about the gas station in a future episode.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

Big Band National Park.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

So we're gonna, yeah. Just keep listening, subscribe, all of that good stuff. Okay. A similar vibe but different from the Santa Elena. You've got these two huge, like cliff like merging into a corner with the river in between. It looks super wonderful and magical.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Is what that Bochius Canyon Trail.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

If you're looking it up, it's Boquillus.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yeah, if you speak, if you speak uh United States American.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

I guess it's a Boquillis.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

Boquillus Canyon Trail.

SPEAKER_04 6:26

But of course, we'll I'm sure it'll be in our show notes so you can see it. But that's when you see that you're looking at Bochius or something of that nature.

Rio Grande Village Nature Trail Surprises

SPEAKER_02 6:34

So you you go there. Now, what was interesting, you do have to walk quite a bit. It's still not like that, it's not like super long trail.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

No, it's like one and a half miles realm trip.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Right.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

So when you're going to the Bokehus Canyon Trail, one cool thing is you're on the main road and you turn off onto a side road. And as she said, there's not a lot of them. So you see a side road, you're like, well, that's probably interesting. Yeah. Yeah. You could take it, you're not going to get lost. It probably dead ends, and you'll come right back on the same road. But we turned down this little side road following our GPS, which of course was working because we started it at the Ranger Station, not at the Ranger Station, the visitor center, right? Where we had Wi-Fi. So it took us down there, and there was a turn off that said uh it turned off of this off-road, turn off from the road, that said it went to the Bochius Canyon Trail. But I wanted to keep following the main road to see what happened for a while. And it dead-ended, of course, and it dead-ended on an overlook. And so we got out, and this was our first time to experience this particular thing, particular thing. We got out and you could see, you could look over the Rio Grande, which is really cool because I think this was the first place where we could stand up high and look over the Rio Grande. Right, look down on the road. Yeah, look down on it, and you could see quite a bit of it.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah, it's you know, a kind of a blue and green color, so it's very colorful.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Yeah, it's not just brown water. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I grew up with wonderful gumbo-colored brown water, so that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

But I think, yeah, I think I get more attached to the contrast of the beautiful water against the brown rocks and the city. Of course, you do New Mexico girls.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Uh so we got up there, and just off the parking lot, I saw this stuff all over the ground, and I thought, oh, are these like little shrines or something? But as you get closer, you see it's a really large area. And what it is, is the Mexicans come across the Rio Grande and well, they make things over Mexico. It looked like most of it was a lot of it was handmade. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

They make them little like crafty things.

SPEAKER_04 8:38

Yeah, crafty things. They bring them across the river and set them up near the parking lot so as you're overlooking the Rio Grande.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

It's on the cliff.

SPEAKER_04 8:45

There's no one there tending it. There's a little box. Put your money here, right? Take your things. It's kind of an honor system. Yeah.

Hot Springs Hopes And Closed Roads

SPEAKER_02 8:52

And yeah, so it was things from mugs, like ceramic mugs, to little dolls, to pot holders, little purses and bags.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Some little throw, tiny throw blanket kind of things.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

So just think like Mexican crafty type articles. That you might get like at a gift shop.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

Oh, mugs. You said coffee mugs, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yeah, okay. Coffee mugs.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

So all of that's there. And then we found later as we did another hike nearby. You want to go ahead and talk about that?

SPEAKER_04 9:25

So we drove to the end of that road and and the Bochius, the Boquillus Canyon Trail. So I we went back to the and took the little fork road to the right, and we dead-ended into the trailhead for the Boquillus Canyon.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Boquilis trail.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Right. And uh not a long hike either. Now you do go up a little bit more elevation. Uh it's not hard, but uh it does have some elevation going up and coming down. So then when you go back to the car, you gotta go up again and come down again. Just FYI. Right. But it's but it's easy.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

You've got like some sandy areas.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Yeah, it's not hard.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

I mean you know, so it's like feeling a little beachy under your feet a couple times.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Yeah, especially once you get to the riverside.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

And we were we just like kept walking and walking, and you know, past a couple hikers, and we were like, all right, you know, is do we have further to go? You know, and he's like, Oh yeah, keep going. Keep going.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

He said it's worth it.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

And then so we it was, it was worth it because we finally get to this like opening and you see these huge cliffs, yeah, and a river running through them.

Lost Mine Trail With A Guide

SPEAKER_04 10:32

Yeah, the Rio Grande goes in between the cliffs and disappears eventually. But it's really cool because you're standing on all this like desert sand, and the cliffs are are like this desert-looking cliff stuff, sheer cliffs, and uh well, on one side anyway, and then the river suddenly becomes green. There's like uh trees and bushes and greenery growing all along the river as it goes into the canyon and disappears. Really beautiful setting, really beautiful setting. It'd been it would be really fun to do a float trip in that area, huh?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Yes, I think probably that was one of my favorite little excursions in the yeah, as far as s being at the river and seeing the beauty, I think that was really cool. And there were there was a little group of people that kind of was behind us, and they would they were behind us talking, but you could hear it across the river. So their sound was echoing off of the canyon. So that was just neat, like with the acoustics there and stuff like an outdoor performance hall or something.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

And uh, we got to watch um one of the Mexican kids who apparently brings the wares across to sell them. He rode his horse across the Rio Grande back over to Mexico and then disappeared behind the bushes and greenery and trees over uh going into the canyon. And I was like, Ah, I want to go over there and see what's uh but we didn't. No, we did not really. We didn't have a horse, and I didn't want to get wet. Right, right. We just got our feet wet. Wasn't ready for that. Now, river hike, there's another one we took.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Not far from there, not not too awfully far.

SPEAKER_04 12:04

Of course, you'll take your car. The Rio Grande Village Nature Trail, Rio Grande Village, probably is how they say it, nature trail.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

So what is what was fun about this is being married to a Cajun and going on some Cajun nature trails. I actually saw, yes, in Louisiana, a lot of that like influence.

SPEAKER_04 12:29

Yeah, a lot of the same which is totally it blew my mind.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

I really like these swampy and also like bamboo-y and like wheat kind of looking.

SPEAKER_04 12:39

All of the water plants are growing. It was totally unexpected for me. We we were walking and and we're just completely. I mean, you're surrounded on all sides by these uh the growth that is so high you can't see beyond it, and it it's crowded in. You can see a little bit of water down there just off the little walk path and uh these bridges, little bridges, walking bridges that go through. But generally there are no open, at least when we were there. I'm sure when the river's higher, maybe it flows through, but there were no really open spaces, and it was beautiful. You could sit in there, listen to the birds, and just sort of be peaceful. I thought it was really nice.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Yeah, and just like the contrast of what was growing there, and we didn't see anything else in the park the whole rest of the time that resembled that. No, so it's just very super unique that, like, just right here is this growing area, you know, well, in that yeah, that particular area that was growing, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Like Louisiana. We did take another drive that we'll talk about in a minute, where you can see down along the Rio Grande where the foliage just grows like crazy. The uh flora is really thrives along the river. And then desert yeah, I mean like such a contrast. So you drive up and you get to the overlook, you're like, wow, that's gorgeous! Holy cow! Uh seeing the river wind through this green area, and then around it's all this desert stuff. Really cool worth seeing.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Yes. Now, also on the river hikes grouped in there is the Hot Springs Historic Trail.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Now, if you have been following us or listened to some of our other episodes, we did a series on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. We, I don't know if you remember. Of course you can see. I remember of course you remember us talking about it. I remember that because of the weather and the time of year that we were there, the road was closed to the hot springs. Yeah. In there.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Yeah.

Jeep Tour To Abandoned Mercury Mines

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Well, now in Washington. In the Olympic Peninsula. Now we go to Big Bend. Guess what? There is a hot springs historic trail, and there are hot springs in Big Bend. And guess what? The road was closed and we didn't get to go. It's so sad. It's so sad.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

We're not meant to be in hot springs. Although we did do that one. Where did we go? We hiked uh somewhere. Oh, it was in uh up in Oregon. Yeah, we've been able to get it. Yeah, we hiked around until we found these natural hot springs alongside a lake.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

And in Pagosa Springs, I went with my friend Heidi, and we have an episode about our visit there.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

We talked about sitting in the hot springs along the river in the middle of the street.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

So we're not so we know how to do them. We have done them, but we just our last two trips where there was an option, road closed.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

I don't get it, because I didn't I mean it's not like I peed in the hot springs before, at least not that I remember. So I don't know why they like want to keep me out of all these hot springs anymore now, but obviously.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

It's just not fair.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

They do, yeah, it's not fair.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

It's because they had flooding in this past July, and so we went in November, so the effects of the rain were still being seen months, months later. Now you can still get to the hot springs if you wanted, like we could have gone if we wanted to do, I think it was like an 11-mile hike or something like that to get to them. And I think I think it was the same thing in the Olympic Peninsula, like that you could have gone if you did, like if you skied there and did like these.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

Yeah, but it was the whole road up to the resort was closed and everything, so we actually couldn't get to that one, I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

So let's talk about another drive that we did.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

But we've been talking about hikes. Well, true. We've been talking about hikes.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

No, well, let's let's try to stay on hikes then.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Y'all, I got to go see the lost mine trail.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

She did. I didn't get to go because I was feeling under the weather.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yes. So and we have suspicions. We have suspicions about why he was under the weather, so we'll tell you about that in a minute. So I had a guided hike, and Charlie was my awesome guide, and he took me.

SPEAKER_03 16:44

Chuck.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

And he I don't know if he would prefer you to see.

SPEAKER_04 16:49

Yeah, you did a hike without me with the big band boating and hiking company. Yes, and I Sans Rory.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

I'm sorry, Rory. But I got to go. I had a private guide, so Charlie took me up the mountain. So it's really cool because you meet at their company base in Terlingua, and we got in the van, and Charlie drove me up to the Chisos Basin. And the Chisos Basin is kind of the center of the world of Big Bend, right? So that's like where the lodge is and kind of the central and every all of the goodies are based out of the Chisos basin. And most people are gonna Yeah, most people are gonna like that's kind of the heart of Big Bend. Part of that is because a lot of the wonderful trails and all of the views are in that area. So you kind of park in the basin area, and then you find your trailheads out of that.

SPEAKER_04 17:48

And so we chose And you can stay right there because as you said, there's the lodge.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Right. So we chose the Lost Mine Trail and parked, walk up. By the way, there are no bathrooms and on the trail. On the trail or at the base of this trailhead. Oh so there is a visitor center not far. So stop at the visitor center and then head up to Lost Mine.

SPEAKER_04 18:12

Do your business at the visitor center.

Safety, Guides, And Rugged Reality

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Because I was concerned that maybe I would have to go use the bushes, and Charles' like, you're gonna have to use the bushes, but I actually like survived the whole time.

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Well, because the hike was several hours, and for you, that's a long time.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

That's a long time. So, and plus you have to drive from the base into the park, right? So you you start out and you've got like this 45-minute drive or whatever to get in, and then you're trail hit. Right, then you got the hike on top of that.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

The hike was absolutely gorgeous, of course. And as we're walking, you are seeing different the what's so great about a hike and just being like in mountain area, mountainous areas is that e each way you turn, the sun hits the mountain and a different view, and you you see a new thing every time you kind of take a little right and all of that. And it even though you might be looking at the same mountain range or the same peak or the same crest, and and so it's it's just absolutely beautiful. We took up there, and you know, and then we went to the very top and got to just enjoy an overlook for a while.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

Yeah, she sent me a couple of pictures, and I was I was actually in bed.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Y'all, I had Wi-Fi at the top of that mountain. I could not believe it.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

Crazy. The pictures were cell covers really spectacular.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I could not believe I was able to send Rory a picture.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Yep, I was jealous, and then I went back to sleep.

Scenic Drives, Visitor Centers, And Star Party

SPEAKER_02 19:41

So highly recommend it. And and the reason we chose Lost Mine is because a lot of the locals and like the park rangers we asked, they're like, Yeah, lost mine. If you have to pick one, pick the lost mine. So that's what we ended up doing. The other one that was kind of in the running to do instead of Lost Mine was the window top. Trail and so that is also a recommended hike, but which we did not take, we did not do that one. And so enjoyed that wonderful hike. Enjoyed having a guide and just like had to have the conversation and also passionate about the whole thing. Yeah, he loves just to talk about like, hey, here is what's going on, this cactus, you know, and and that's where I learned that it's called the purple prickly pear, y'all. Okay, I'm obsessed, and I need a purple prickly pear, prickly pear in my yard. More on that later. So he loves just talking about like the history and all of that kind of of the rocks and everything. Yeah, and the area. What you told me.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

He's really into the geology and everything. Very, very knowledgeable. So good, good guide.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

For sure. What amazed me is so we we hike back down, we get in the Jeep, and then he takes me to the visitor center so that I can use the restroom, right? And we just kind of like regroup or whatever. We start the drive back. Well, apparently it's like a different route back, or it just looks different because you're going the other direction. But the drive out of there was uh amazing.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

Yeah, it's probably the same road, but depending on the direction, it can look totally different.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

It was floored. And I just leaving the hike was amazing, but like the drive out of there was just totally different mountain structures, these beautiful kind of almost red type rocky structures, rugged mountains, yes, just not your not your typical thing, and like we go to Switzerland all the time, it's very different mountain vibe. And this is the desert mountain vibe, right? And so it was just gorgeous. I loved that drive out of our hike that floored me. And then as we kept driving, we finally get to where it's just like a little more flat around you, you know, and then you're kind of back into where everybody is living and hanging out and stuff like that. Now, you know what else is in the town? Another tour company called Far Flung. And Far Flung gave us a really cool experience.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Yeah, we took a Jeep tour.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

That was so cool.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Yeah, got a Jeep tour.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

So it was supposed to be a four-hour Jeep tour.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

And four-hour tour.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

We ended up getting a six-hour Jeep tour.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

But this takes you to the mines. And so um abandoned mines. They are abandoned mines. So, y'all, this whole area terlingua and all of like these areas around Big Bend are ghost town mining town. Like mining ghost towns.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

It's been abandoned since the 70s at the latest.

Chisos Basin Lodge Drive And Golden Hour

SPEAKER_02 23:00

And so we're gonna dive into more of the ghost town, I think, in our next episode. But we got to go to these mining areas and we had a super fun guide. Yeah, he was super fun, yeah, Chris. And his his stage name, we realized his YouTube moniker. Yes, is Hiker Dad or his TikTok moniker.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

Yeah, TikTok moniker. He's known as Hiker Dad. Hiker Dad, yes. So we had we had a famous guy. TikTok famous.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Yeah, we had a famous guy to us.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

So that was really, really cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:31

Totally cool. And he knew the history of the area and stuff, gave us a lot of folklore, not just the mines, but of the towns. Uh we learned about the mining process, what they were doing. It was really cool finding mercury there. Like that's what they were getting out of the rocks. And this is just a little side note. Our yurt was called Cinnabar. Cinnabar. And I pulled up and thought cinnabar. Oh, what? It's like cinnabon, cinnabar, it's some kind of food. I had no idea.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I just thought it was cinnamon color because of the yurt. But we talked about that with Jenny.

SPEAKER_04 24:01

Yeah. But it turns out cinnabar is the rock they were mining because cinnabar contains mercury. You could get mercury out of it. Yeah, so it was.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

And that's what they were using for their weapons. Very intimate. To create weapons for the war.

SPEAKER_04 24:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Well, they didn't need that anymore, so they stopped. That's why the town is no longer there. Or the mining town.

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Yeah, we don't use mercury in as many things as we used to. It's dangerous, you know? Yeah. And they were using it for bombs. Uh, the mercury would work as the bombs would fall uh to get it the timing right so they would blow up at the right time.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

See, Roy learned all of this by traveling. See how much you get, how smart you get when you travel, and by going to school. And by going to on a Jeep with hiker dad.

SPEAKER_04 24:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

And you learn all these things. But what was fun too is not only learning about the history, but also learning about the current community, the present community. It was just a very rich experience.

SPEAKER_04 24:58

It was one thing one thing I loved about Chris is that he has not lost his wonder of the whole thing. So we're there at the mine and we're seeing stuff, and he's like, What do you think that used to be? I mean, he's been doing this tour for a long time. And then still he he likes to to wonder, like, oh, what is this? That curiosity. Yeah, and oh, I want to go, I would totally want to go in there. Oh, yeah, but I'm afraid I don't I don't think you can get out if you go in and we're talking about that kind of stuff. And he's the wonder and folklore of the town as well, all that stuff. He still loves all that. So a wonderful guide because it builds your excitement because I've was feeling the same way. Yeah, super fun.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

We were out for six hours without lunch. You had a snack, but we, you know, cleaning water and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 25:41

We were drinking lots of water, but it was strange. Even my skin started hurting. So and I had this sort of scratch on the back of my leg. And so I'm not sure if I didn't get scratched by a plant or even some kind of something or another out there and got some sort of something in my system that made me feel some court of something, sort of something not good. You know, all those sort of somethings came together.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

But I kept asking, I was like, if if someone's overheated, can they have these kind of symptoms? And they were like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

So anyway, it knocked me down for an entire day.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Yeah, the whole rest of it.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

That's why I was in bed. Well, she would have tour with Charlie.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Yeah. I got to take the cool guided tour on the Jeep. I would recommend that too. And I think I think the four-hour tour would be enough for you to get to you get to the mines, see things, and get back, and you can plan something else in your day as well.

SPEAKER_02 26:28

Right.

Trip Wrap-Up And Socials CTA

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Just saying that's it could be a really good way to do things.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

So that was with Farflung. That was super fun. We highly recommend, and Farflung has tons of different options. Oh my goodness, yeah. And I think that really Big Bend is very rugged, and I think it's important that you experience a lot of it with a guide.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Yeah, they've had people get lost out there for days, and it's not uncommon. Every season, he told us they have people who die out there because they think, ah, this is no big deal. I'll do it on my own. And they never come back. Uh, and they find the bodies or they don't find the bodies.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

So don't be one of them.

SPEAKER_04 27:07

Yeah, guides are really great to have out there. And they can show you the best stuff the fastest.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Right, right. They're gonna maximize your time there because when you're visiting somewhere, you can't be there forever. Yeah, and they're gonna take you to the best places and all of that. So it's really I I I highly recommend that you get adventures with a guide back in the Big Ben boating and hiking company as well.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Like, and so you can like I mean horseback riding, yeah, river floats, and Charlie told you that he does overnight camping tours too, like multiple night tours. So even if you're wanting to go out and camp Big Ben and really get out into the nature of things, how great to have a guide with you, huh?

SPEAKER_02 27:46

There's so much variety with these companies, and so check out the adventures that they have and pick something that suits you and that excites you, and you you'll just experience the park a much better way, and you'll stay hydrated and all of that.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Yes, experiential, uh yeah. Yeah, I think a richer way because they know things that you don't know. Let's just face it. And they can tell you cool things. Not only did we do hikes and uh the guided Jeep tour and fun things, of course, all fun things. We also we love driving, and I we I mentioned at the very top that driving through Big Ben is gorgeous. Yeah, we stopped at a visitor center. What was the name of that visitor center?

SPEAKER_02 28:29

That was the Barton Warnock Visitor Center.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah, we went through Lahidas to get there. Yes, I think.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

So that's a different direction. Yep, and Lahidas is a small town, but it's like the poshy part of you know, talk about a small town.

SPEAKER_04 28:46

It's like just a group of buildings. That's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

But they have golf.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

They have a few.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

And so that's why they're the fancy cushy area because they have a fancy golf resort.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Yeah, I didn't get to play, but man, it's that's this plush green in this desert, it's just really cool.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Yeah, just a cute little area for, you know, they've got a little bakery and pizzeria and ice cream.

SPEAKER_04 29:12

And a store that we stopped at, like a general kind of store.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

Yeah. It's it's just a really, really cute town. And Jenny mentioned Lahidas in our previous episode. So you if you caught that, um that's the area. But there's a visitor center near there, and so we stopped in there, and that visitor center is really nice because it has this whole like tour of the history. Yeah, it's very well done.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

It's like a museum. You walk through, and there's all these displays and all this and all this information. It's cool. Yeah, it's like a museum, and it's not I I can't think of what you call those things. It's like a museum, it's like a big scenic display where you walk through the winding halls and it goes. I mean, man, you could learn you learn a ton about the park and the area and how it came to be and the history and all those kind of things.

SPEAKER_02 30:04

And the park ranger was super helpful as well.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

He told us, hey, you want to take this drive. He told us about a drive that that, in his opinion, we wanted to take, and we said, Well, okay, whatever, we'll take a drive. No, yeah, it was really amazing. Yeah, beautiful drive. Wow, some overlooks that were really ridiculous. What was that one particular one where we stopped?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

We went to closed canyon and looked at Closed Canyon.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Oh, that was the one where I was talking about you're driving through these mountains and desert and these sheer cliff walls, and there's an overlook, and you see the the Rio Grande down below you, yeah, going through this green like channel. It's what what? Oh, it's really pretty, really beautiful. It's gorgeous, thoroughly enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

So basically, this visitor center is the entrance to the Big Bend State Park. Yeah, you have a national park right next to the state park, and we even hit some some of the area of the state park on our Jeep tour as well.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

Yeah, yeah, that's right. On the Jeep Tour, and then of course this drive.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

But what was really cool is through this drive, you see all of these beautiful things and all these overlooks and little hikes that you could do. But that night they were having for free a star party. So they have them on kind of a regular basis. It's not every night. That's a dark sky. And so that's just super cool. Like you can take that drive and take it to the end of the park, stop your car, look up, get your free star party. Yeah. And you've got scientists there explaining what's going on, or park rangers there and explaining the different stars and what you can see, and they have the telescopes and all of the wonderful things.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

Because of this being a dark sky area, you definitely want to take advantage of that really aspect while you're uh in the big band area, the whole dark sky thing. That's I mean, you look up and you can see the arms and branches, whatever you want to call them, of the Milky Way. It's uh really cool. On the way back on that drive, we were driving back, the sun was going down, and I saw off the road like a dust cloud, and we're windy mountain roads, and so there's really nowhere for the dust to jump up like that. And I I was it took me three or four seconds to figure out a rock slide right in front of us coming onto the road, like danger, danger. So I was like, get your camera, get your camera, it's a rock slide.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

I don't know if she got any of it, but we I got like the end of it.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Yeah, if if there'd have been a car passing by, hit by that, and so we we stopped, and uh there were there were no cars coming either way, which was amazing. Right, the the road was empty for a bit.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

God like sheltered that little car from the road.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

We got out there and moved all the rocks out of the road, and we're able the rocks were big, but we're able to pick them all up and get them at least out of the lane before any other car. Actually, one car was coming, and I got out of the road and I was flagging him like slowed down and he totally ignored me. Like, I'm standing in front of him, like slow down until he got maybe 50 yards from the rocks, and then he hits his brakes really hard. He's not skidding, but and then he's like, Oh, okay, he's waving at me. Thanks. I'm like, okay. Anyway, we got the rocks cleared out, so that was kind of fun seeing a rock slide that didn't actually destroy the road or cover the road. Yeah, but uh yeah, fun experiences you have in Big Bend.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

Right. You always have to be careful and alert, aware, alert. That's why it's good to have a guide with you.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Well, not in that car at the time, or a strong, awesome husband.

SPEAKER_04 33:43

Yes, yes. I was thinking when you were talking about the the rugged mountains and all that, I was thinking you probably were thinking of me when you were talking about coming back with Charlie. The mountains were rugged and uh I don't know, use some other words. You guys go back and listen to that and just imagine me. Yes, I'm sure you were thinking of me.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

Uh-uh. Duh.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:02

All right. Now, speaking of hikes, other hikes and views, you can do the grapevine hills, you can do the dugout wells, the Sam Nail Ranch.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

So I'm gonna circle back around real quick because we drove. I wanted to see the lodge, is what I wanted to see. The Ranger told us that the lodge, uh the foundation has broken so badly that they're gonna have to tear the lodge down very soon. And I was like, wait, I love lodges. I want to see the lodge. So we got in the car and drove an hour and a half or something like that to the lodge. Yeah. Uh the drive, once you get near the Chizo Space and start driving up into the hills to the lodge, it was spectacular.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 34:44

And we were there at golden hour. Oh my goodness. So it's as she said, we drove in and I was like, Oh, we got a video of everything we see. I got getting out of the car, taking video, jumping back in the car, driving a hundred yards, getting out again, you know, like every it was just it was gorgeous. So we get up there, we get to the lodge, we look around. The lodge was kind of unimpressive. I have to it was it was built in the 60s, it looked like or something.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Yeah, but they're also because the the foundation is cracked and they're closing it down, like they're yeah, it's all like closed down.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

So it's not but but I'm just saying, I was thinking lodge, like you know, you you were thinking like log cabin vibe. Oh, well, like the one uh, you know, in California, we saw that one. That's the big famous part. Yeah, Yosemite. We saw the like the lodge at Yosemite, it's gorgeous, it's historic, and expecting that, and it's not that. So I'm okay that they're gonna build a new one. But I did want to see it, so we got to see it. And on the drive out, again, everything was different. The sun had moved, we there were shadows and really cool things happening. So we took tons of video. Highly recommend driving. So visit our socials.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

To whet your appetite so you can get out there yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

And make sure you plan enough time to stop a lot and take pictures and video as you drive. Yeah. Maybe just mount the camera on your car so that you can see everything. Oh man. Or have like several people with you to take video as you drive. It's really spectacular.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

So do you want to just lead them to our socials and close out?

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Yeah, I think so. Unless there's other adventure things we need to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

I don't think so. We'll just put Robert on the last episode.

SPEAKER_04 36:24

Yeah, I guess so. So we highly recommend Big Bend for adventuring.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Yes. Yeah, adventuring and sightseeing. Yeah, and there's so much scenic drives.

SPEAKER_04 36:37

So much we didn't do.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Yeah. That would be really and we were there like four days, something crazy like that. Like overnight hikes for us is a long time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:47

Camping out there. Oh, yeah, it'd be really cool. So highly recommend Big Bend National Park and Big Ben State Park. Is that what it's called? Big Bend State Park? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

So beautiful. In the meantime, visit our socials because all of this week we are going to be posting all of the well, you don't know. There's not enough time on socials to show you all.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Yeah, all of this.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Um, but you'll see even more when this goes to YouTube down the road. On our socials, you'll be able to see a lot of the wonderful views and places that we love when we had all of these adventures.

SPEAKER_04 37:22

Yeah, we take a lot of video of us driving at the Romies. You can see the road we're on and everything that's around us. So those are fun to check out. Yeah. Slowly, but it looks bad.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

Right.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:35

We'll get one of those up for y'all.

SPEAKER_03 37:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Alright, so follow us at the Romies. We'll see you there, and we will dive in even more into the Big Ben Park area, Terlingua, surrounding areas, all of the Big Ben world.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

And we're even going to talk to an expert on the whole park on one of our upcoming episodes.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Yep. So we've got lots in store for you. So make sure you're subscribed. We hope we've inspired you this episode. So join us next time. Please subscribe to, rate, and share our podcast with your friends.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

Or, you know, whomever.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

And please like and follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

We are also on X and on all social platforms. We are at TheRoamies. That's T H E. R-O-A-M. And our main hub is our website.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

At www.theromies.com.

SPEAKER_04 38:27

That's right, that's T H E.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

R-O-A-M.com. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening. Bye.