Near and Far: Big Bend and Davis Mountain Parks — To whoever is not listening to the sea

Big Bend National Park

If you want a little bit of everything Big Bend National Park is the place for you. Mountains? Desert? Rivers? Bears? Border Crossing? It's got them all. You just have to get there! It was about 180 miles from where we stayed...and pretty much everything else. It is REMOTE. (There's a gas station in the park!) Sadly we only made it there once. But it's definitely worth a longer stay if you are able. Spring and Fall seem ideal — temperatures and flooding are a bit of a problem in August!

Bears & Lions are afoot! Chisos Mountain area of the park.

We've never been to Great Britain....but wondered if the country-side there looks something like this.

The Window. Chisos Mountains area of the park.

There used to be a number of ranches in the area. The ruins of which are still accessible through a number of short hikes.

Davis Mountains State Park/Fort Davis National Historical Site

The Davis Mountains State Park was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and was the first state park in Texas! It boasts a number of buildings, including the Indian Lodge hotel, built by the CCC and plenty of trails to keep us busy. It links to the Fort Davis National Historic Site – home of a calvary division in the 19th century – by a 3 mile trail (also built by the CCC).

The small white dots in the distance are part of the McDonald Observatory (Star Date!)

The Indian Lodge, a adobe-style hotel by the Civilian Conservation Corps...looked to us like a really nice place to stay!

There are several bird watching areas set up around the park.