Ben A.
Yelp
I have visited national and state parks in more than 40 states during my lifetime. The notion of preserving natural wonders for future generations is a common theme among all of these places, despite the fact that they are also very different from each other.
Having never visited BBNP Before our family summer road trip in the summer of 2022, I only had a shallow idea of what to expect from photographs I had seen on the Internet, and the promise of our online reservations that we would be camping for four days in a place that was quite warm, but did not offer any kind of water or electrical hook ups for our trailer camper. what we discovered there was beyond my wildest expectations, and arguably one of the most amazing national parks I have visited to date.
I suppose only in Texas, where everything is bigger, the sheer size of this national park is hard to believe considering how desolate it is; this is true wide open space, even though the park itself covers several different microclimates and ecosystems based on elevation.
After a very long drive from Las Cruces, NM, we turn south at Marathon, and kept on keeping on... After what seems like forever, we arrived at the national park sign, stopped a few pictures, then drove onto the entrance gate... Which was closed and dark. Each year we buy an annual national park pass, but there was no one here to show it to, so we kept on driving.
After a while, we arrived at Panther Junction, where we saw the first signs of life... At least the kind of life that drives a park ranger truck, and wears a badge. turning left at the junction, we began the long descent to our campsite next to the Rio Grande, quite literally on the border with Mexico. along the way, we were awed by the sweeping vistas And beautiful red rock mountains, as the shadows got longer with the setting sun, illuminating the whole place with that golden hour magic.
We quickly unhatched our camper at the campsite, and jumped back in the truck to do a little bit of exploring before sundown. If memory serves, sunset was scheduled for 8:51 PM, and we pushed the speed limit a little bit to climb up to the highest point in the park at Chisos basin. Has the sky illuminated with reds, orange, and gold, we hiked down the key pole trail a little ways to snap a few pictures and stretch our legs after a long day in the car. this Highland part of the park features some large Apex predators, including mountain lions and bears. We actually saw two bears during our hike, learning later that they are a Mexican sub species of black bear.
We drove back to camp slowly, as the moon last night blanketed the whole place and darkness. About halfway between Panther Junction and our campsite, we pulled off to the side, cut the lights, and took in one of the most beautiful dark sky views I've ever seen. Seriously, the moon last night made viewing the Milky Way incredible; I was even able to capture it on my junky little iPhone camera.
For the next few days, we explored all different parts of the park. We hiked along the Rio Grande river, admiring little trail - side displays of handmade art items for sale, placed by Mexican artisans from the nearby town of Boquillo.
On several occasions, we encountered people from that town on the US side of the river. While technically unlawful, it became clear after a few days that people living on both sides of the Rio Grande are neighbors, friends, and desert residence first... No one seemed to be trying to do anything illegal, no one was trying to escape or enter anywhere; everyone lives here, looks out for one another, and acts as a steward of this beautiful part of the world. The Mexicans with whom we met and spoke... In my broken Spanish for the most part... Were kind, welcoming, and cheerful. Like every one of my experiences visit in Baja California throughout my life, a little bit of respect goes along way. Same thing seemed to apply here.
Like most other national parks, photographs do not do this place justice. The different roadside attractions throughout the park, like the dinosaur fossil display, the singling dirt road down to an ancient riverside retreat, the slot canyons, fossils and pieces of sandstone just sitting there on the side of the highway and trails, these things make this place like no other I've ever visited.
Falling asleep to singing coyotes, waking up to Javelinas foraging around our camp in the morning, vultures, golden eagles, and evening bats flying in the biggest sky you've ever seen... this is an inspiring retreat from whatever place you call home.
