OT, Vacation

Wife and I are planning a vacation in Big Bend National Park in a week and plan to stay in a B&B near Terlingua, Texas. Any advice on things to see, do, or places to eat at? What about nnalert virus in the area? TIA

Haven't been down there in many years!

But looks like the best parts are all closed. All the back roads, trails, are closed. Which makes perfect sense, close the places you might drive or hike all day and not see another person... Yep, our government is looking out for us!

Last time I was there, food was best DIY, the restaurants were few. The ones near the cabins and camp grounds were outrageously expensive, the outlying ones were unreliable as for being open or what you get. But that's my kinda place!

Found one little place, a one room adobe shack half way between Study Butte and Lajitas, "5 Star Restrant"! Said so right there on the screen door! The people were friendly, the breakfast burritos were great, the orange juice was spoiled...

If you go, hit the Panther Junction Visitor Center first, load up on maps (to places you can't go). The brochures show the paved and unpaved roads. Anything not paved is labeled "4X4" only, which is not true. Very few roads that can't be traveled with anything with a little extra ground clearance, unless there has been a rain, which is very rare.

Don't mess around down by the river at night alone in the remote areas. It is very remote, things go on down there that shouldn't.

It's a beautiful place! Takes days to see all the roads (if they were open), a lifetime to hike all the trails! One of the best walking trails (but it's closed) is to Pine Canyon. It's a pretty strenuous hike, following a dry river bed. Start out at the desert floor, hot, typical desert, then suddenly you would think you were in the mountains of Colorado! Pine trees everywhere! Birds, squirrels, rabbits... The temperature drops 20*, and a good thing, you are doing some serious up hill hiking. Nothing challenging, just steady up hill. At the top of the trail is a huge waterfall! It's usually running. Every drop of water crashes down on the rocks at the bottom, and disappears underground! The river bed only flows when it rains. First time I was up there was at Thanksgiving, hiking up, I kept hearing something crashing. I thought someone was up top rolling rocks off. Turned out to be giant icicles breaking off and crashing on the rocks! Crazy, I would have never thought it would have been cold enough for that!

Personally, I would not waste my time to go drive the paved roads. That just doesn't get you much. You can see the surrounding areas, Lajitas, buy Clay Henry a beer, Terlingua, explore the ghost town, Study Butte, not much to do there since they tore down the old store with the front porch...

But they do have a general store there in Study Butte that has about anything you would need, life is simple there.

Like I say, I haven't been in years, it's probably been a lot more tourist-fied since then.

If you do go, take something you are not afraid to get scratched up and bounced around in, get off the paved roads as much as you can. Take easy to fix food, plenty of water just in case. Stay with your vehicle if you get stuck! Walking or hiking is rough, super easy to underestimate distances or get lost, stay on the roads or trails. The ground is hard pack gravel, not blowing sand like you see on TV. Every step must be watched, plants grow up on little tufts of ground. Every plant will stick you or trip you!

While you are there, go visit Marfa, if you are into artsy-crafty stuff. Strange little town with even stranger people! It's in the middle of nowhere, with it's own Prada store!

I want to go one more time while I can, but not unless it's all open. If you can wait, maybe a couple months it will open.
The Bad News

The Starlight in the Ghost town was pretty good and the restaurant at the Lajitas resort was too. There is a little Mexican place across the highway from the Study Butte store that was real good. Doesn’t look like much outside or inside. While you’re down there drive river road to Presidio then you can go up from there to Marfa . If you’re at Marfa after dark you can try to see the Marfa lights. Try to spend some time in Alpine. There are several restaurants there. The Reata steakhouse was always good and a little Mexican place south of the tracks don’t remember the name. The White Buffalo at the Gage hotel in Marathon is also good. If you have time Fot Davis is a neat town too. The McDonald observatory is there and the old fort. The Mueseum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross university in Alpine is good too. The Crystal Cowboy bar in Alpine is probably closed. The Big Bend Saddle Shop in Alpine is a neat place to shop or just look around. It’s in Alpine also. I don’t expect there to be much virus problems out there but you can look up the numbers for Brewster county Texas on the internet. My daughter went to school at Sul Ross so we have spent a lot of time out there. If I ever sell out here in South Texas that’s where I’m going. It’s big country a long way to everywhere. The closest Walmart was in Fort Stockton an or so from Alpine. You will either love it or hate it. I love it out there. Like Steve said keep plenty of water in your vehicle and fill fuel every chance you get. One more suggestion I have is if you have a firearm, preferably a handgun, carry it at least in your vehicle. If you have any questions I or my daughter may be able to answer them. Tony

What part of the country are you coming from. If you’re driving on highway 90 there are more places I can tell you about. Tony

The wife has it planned out. We are from Missouri, coming down from Kansas City on I-35 through Oklahoma City and in Texas cutting across to Abilene and Midland, and then on down to Terlingua. Are planning to avoid Dallas. I plan to check out the highways she has planned later.

(quoted from post at 18:26:27 09/23/20) But looks like the best parts are all closed. All the back roads, trails, are closed. Which makes perfect sense, close the places you might drive or hike all day and not see another person... Yep, our government is looking out for us!

Click to expand...

Where do you think all the city people who have nothing to do because everything is closed in the city are going to go when they find out a place like this is open?

They will flock to these places in droves, creating crowds like these places have never seen, and they are not equipped to handle that. What happens when big crowds of people get together? People contract the virus and get sick.

There IS a method to the madness. You close the country destinations so the city people stay home, and slow the spread of the virus.