Del Rio, TX–Big Bend National Park TX

Well, we might have made it to our Lake Amistad campsite before sunset if there hadn’t been a big wreck in Del Rio that every city police officer seemed to necessary to direct traffic around. And if we’d been able to find a grocery store easily, instead of trying to find our way around a stopped train using Street Atlas’s “radar” function. The campground was quite nice, once we finally got there. We started up a fire and heated up some canned chili for supper.

We spent the last two nights in Big Bend National Park, down where the Rio Grand makes a sharp bend into Mexico. Who knew there were mountains in Texas? Big Bend is beautiful, but should definitely be visited in the winter rather than summer. During the day, it was too hot sitting in direct sunlight to be wearing more than a T-shirt.

During the night, though, the desert gets cold. On the second night, our drinking water froze halfway. Fortunately, we have a four season tent. Berck has a -5 degree rated down sleeping bag, and I have a -15. So we were actually quite cozy.

Here’s a picture of a canyon we hiked into. Through it flows the Rio Grande. We stayed on the US side.