Big Bend National Park is in the southwest corner of Texas and 10 hours away from Houston. The trip was planned nine months ago because the lodge inside the park is extremely hard to book.
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It was the day and we were hitting the road. As a Texan, Buc-ee's is a must-stop every time for an out-of-town trip. It is a great place for coffee, snacks, souvenirs, a break, and of course, gasoline.
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On the way to the park, we passed cities like San Antonio, and Del Rio, small towns like Sanderson, and Marathon. We passed through the desert and went up and down the hills. The park information center is self-service located one hour outside of the park in Marathon. We even saw a small house with Buc-ee's sign at nowhere. Finally, the sign of "Big Bend National Park" was in front of us.
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Besides the landscape, another reason for me to visit Big Bend is it is a great place for night photography. Big Bend National Park has some of the darkest night skies in the lower 48 states. In 2012, Big Bend National Park was awarded International Dark Sky Park status by the International Dark-Sky Association. The middle of September 2023, is the start of the new moon phase, it will be perfect for taking photos of the Milky Way and star tracking. For two nights, the sky was clear at 10:00 PM after heavy rain. I was lucky enough to see the beautiful night sky and take the photos. It was my first time doing this, but I was really happy with the results.
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Another thing you definitely don't want to miss is the beautiful sunset and sunrise. I took those photos at two different places. One is the Window View Photo Spot which is just half of mile away from the Chisos Mountains Lodge. Another place is Sotol Vista Overlook at Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. It was raining at first dusk, so we had to move to the visitor center next to the lodge, but it was still a fantastic view of the Window View.
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Beside the road from the main entrance to the Panther Junction Visitor Center, there are three main routes in the Bid Bend National Park. They are Basin Jct which takes us to the lodge, Park Rte 12 which goes to Rio Grande Village near the US-Mexico border, and Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive with many stops. Panther Jct Rd and Gano Springs connected them together. Pather Jct Rd is the way to Terlingua, the ghost town on the west of the park.
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On the way to the park and back home, we had chances to stop by Amistad National Recreation Area, Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site, and Kickapoo Cavern State Park. The passports of national parks and state parks have new stamps added.
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Our five-day trip had to be cut short to three days due to my wife having an unexpected high blood pressure on the third day morning. We didn't have a chance to visit Big Bend Ranch State Park and other small towns around it. After we arrived home, her blood pressure returned to normal. If we can come back in the future, it may be in springtime, because the Milky Way will cross the sky at that time. The disappointment that happened on this trip was one of my cameras fell down to the ground because of the heavy wind when I was shooting the Miky Way on the first night. The camera couldn't be started on the second day. The stability of the tripod is really important.
The end
Wonderful! I lover Kevin’s work. Last night I left a message on your site. Somehow, not able to publish.