Day Four at Big Bend: Maverick Drive

We spent three days at the campground in Rio Grande Village on the south-east side of Big Bend National Park which was our base for exploring the eastern portion of the Big Bend National Park.  In the coming days we want to spend more time exploring the western portion of the Park and also taking a driving tour through Big Bend Ranch State Park -- from Lajitas to Redford -- reported to be one of the most beautiful drives in Texas.   Therefore, today we moved to an RV park in Terlingua, just outside the western entrance to Big Bend National Park.

 

Our drive from Rio Grande Village to the Panther Junction Visitors Center was early in the morning so the sun was brilliant on the stone mountains on our left.

 

When we arrived at the Panther Junction Visitors Center we took time to wander through an outdoor exhibit of 34 plants and flowers that are found in the Chihauhuan Desert.  We already recognized some of them, but the printed guide was helpful as we learned names of some that we did not yet know.

Cane Cholla blooms from April to June.

Formations visible from parking lot at Panther Junction
Visitors Center.

View from Panther Junction Visitors Center.

 

As we traveled west from Panther Junction toward Maverick, the west entrance of Big Bend National Park,  we observed desert scenery with magnificent mountain backdrops.

On the road from Panther Junction to Maverick.

Tule Mountain south of the road gets its name from the tules
(cattails) that grow at a spring southwest of the mountains.

Now that we are settled in at our campsite in Terlingua, just west of Big Bend National Park, we are planning hikes and day trips for the next several days.

At Terlingua we are still surrounded by mountains.