this is big bend national park an explosion of color on the rio grande in the middle of nowhere
west texas if you didn't think texas had sweeping mountains dramatic peaks and endless mountain
views prepare to be wowed this is 48 hours in big bend national park on my way to escaso texas
in a park as big as big bend at over 150 square miles it can be hard to narrow it
down to the highlights but i think i did a pretty good job
it's snowy where i live now oh yeah lake tahoe famous ski area
i actually began in the big band ranch state park with one of the best river views you can find for
the sunset this area is known as big hill or if you check on google maps it's called dom rock
named after a bottle of hidden dome perennium from the movie fandango
be sure to get there around 45 minutes before the sun actually sets because it goes down those
canyon walls quickly you'll be able to find this on the scenic highway 170 just past the
town of lajitas from here you'll be looking out at the view straddling texas and mexico
partitioned by the meandering river as the sun sets it is stunning
all right here's my room
very cute there's a super bowl i think i need to get up around like 5 30 tomorrow
for the sunrise i want but if i go to bed as long as i get eight hours i'm good and i don't think
this is the kind of place where there's rowdy people so hopefully that works early the next
morning for sunrise head deep into the park for the lost mine trail it provides stunning sunrise
views good morning it is 606. i'm up i'm going to drive about an hour i'll hike for a little bit and
should just get some really nice views of the sun illuminating the mountains
there it is
okay
lions too huh early morning or evening cool okay a blog post i read about the
best sunrises in this park said that her favorite view is about a mile into the trail
and get that means i got about a third of a mile left i'm battling time though you only need to
hike in about a mile on the trail to watch as the rising sun paints the rocks red and then gold
sweeping out across the valley in the distance well this is nice it's starting to light up too
she goes like the wind a sip of coffee
so i was the first one here when i got here uh like a half hour before the sunrise
but now the lot is almost full where do the wise after taking in the beauty solo i headed
to panther junction to meet up with a local guide so i just met up with steve dyer of west
texas tour and transport hi there he's a local and he's going to show me all around big bend which is
good because it's huge it's a big place and it's beautiful out here and we hope you come to visit
what's your first stop then first stop is the dinosaur display which shows you the uh
the wildlife that was living here a long time ago and uh then we're gonna go to santa elena canyon
and uh do a little hike in the canyon and there's gonna be a great big view at a place
called sotol vista and uh i think you'll like that our first stop was the dinosaur exhibit to
get a look at the hoodoos in the distance and a little bit of history of the area that is large
so is that
there was a enormous uh volcanic explosion that they say was many times greater than krakatoa
east of java rocked the world and created a lot of the landscape that you see here now from here you
could hike all around the hoodoos but we decided to head back towards the park entrance for the rox
maxwell scenic drive this was my favorite drive in the entire park taking in views of the back
side of the mountains that i had been hiking in that morning this is an absolute must do when you
come here on the scenic drive there are several little side hikes and overlooks that you can do
including the easy and very worthwhile sotol vista overlook love the purple cactus the purple cactus
big bend is the product of volcanic activity long long ago in a lot of ways it reminded me of
another one of my favorite desert national parks death valley in california so now i've gotten back
in my own car and i'm following stevo up there and we're going to santa elena canyon which is like
kind of the postcard place that everyone seems to go when they come to big bend i'm excited to
see that so i'm gonna follow him and then hop back in his car just so that we're not doing
a whole bunch of back and forth because this park covers over 800 acres apparently or maybe
don't quote me on that is it 800 000 i'm not very spatially aware but anyway i'll write it
somewhere here i'm excited about this one what you're looking at over there is a separation
between the united states and mexico the left wall is mexico and the right wall is the usa see
how the river goes through when it cuts through the canyon it cuts the countries in half the
centiolina canyon is iconic in big bend national park and for good reason look it's a heart
standing in texas and looking across the rio grande river to mexico i truly felt like i was
in two places at once wow we clammed all that yes we did so i'm standing in texas
but that's mexico right there right right right i think uh keane's were the way to go
but i didn't get that memo it's okay though my feet were hot your feet are hot anyway right
yeah the feet are hot anyway yeah might as well get them wet thank you so much for showing me
around it's my pleasure i enjoyed it very much nice to meet you nice lady
later on that evening i had a choice to make most people go to the windows
a famous rock formation in the park that perfectly frames the setting sun
but i had seen the other side of it from the rox maxwell scenic drive and i knew that i wanted to
go back and watch the moon rise in the sun paint those mountains red although you can't go wrong
with which area you plan to watch the windows from the only benefit is i had it all to myself
there is another place that is supposed to be good for both sunrise and sunset so i was thinking
about going there but then on the way to santa elena i just kept seeing this beautiful view at
mile marker three and so i followed a little dirt and gravel road down here and i just think this is
gonna look amazing with the sun like reflecting on it i wanted to do something that was a little
bit different from everybody else although i think the windows is probably a really good
choice especially if you only have 48 hours here so i'm doing a little bit of a gamble with this so
i'm gonna wait out a little bit longer for it to like set and paint the mountains like a golden red
i recommend checking out the moon phases when you're in big bend
because if you happen to get there during a new moon you could see this
bright and early the next morning i made my way back into the park to hike the grapevine hills
to balanced rock or at least that was my plan but i was in for a little bit of a surprise
that does not look ideal
that really doesn't look ideal i didn't know it was like a six mile dirt road but i'm racing the
sunrise so let's keep going i think after all of that waking up like an hour and a half ago to do
this is i don't think i'm gonna drive any further on this road i only have a half mile left but
that just doesn't look good i just don't think it's wise to keep going i think i'll miss the
sunrise if i try to hike from here there's nowhere to pull off anyway so this is frustrating but
i'm not going to do it wish i'd done more research time to austin powers this turn
actually after like a 50-point turn i did find this little parking area
so i will miss i'll miss the most of the sunrise but i don't want to give up after coming all
this way so i'm gonna hike that last mile on this road and then the mile into the viewpoint
you know sometimes you just gotta make lemonade okay
here's to when you think you're making the logical easy choice and life just freaking laughs at you
just laughs at you here we go i'm off to see the view looking back from this very phallic rock
all right sun is just beginning to illuminate those hills so i should be able to get to my
spot by the time this illuminates beautiful sun is starting to light these up too now
wow
it's just about to light this up
there's the tripod
there is the view oh stunning let's uh see what this
not at all phallic shaped rock is all about huh
we're here oh my gosh what that's gorgeous this is also very nice right over there
loves mountains that's where i watched the sunrise where we watched the sunrise yesterday
i'm sorry but that also looks like a penis i mean is it just me seeing them everywhere i go
i don't think so so pretty that's the trail i was just taking pics on
so this would be another nice angle all right that is it friends that is the
the balanced rock i would say it's more about the journey than the destination with this trail
because the surroundings are beautiful unless you're like really a phallic rock enthusiast
okay which i am the penis national park what does that look like just penises everywhere
venus you said a sea of penises earlier this could not be more accurate well i gotta say big bend is
super cool and if i had more time i definitely would have hiked the south rim because it looked
amazing as well so you could consider doing that with today if you're filling up for a 12 miler big
bend is a gorgeous spot out west definitely rivals a lot of the other beautiful things out west
and if you're going to be out here honestly you might as well go to white sands because
it's just north of here in new mexico i spent a month traveling new mexico last may it was
amazing so check out those videos next i've got tons on this channel about utah california nevada
all kinds of uh tips for you traveling in this part of the world see you soon