In December of 2024, we embarked upon our first official US National Parks trip!
Before I begin, I should mention that in July 2023, we had the opportunity to visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. So we went ahead and checked that one of the National Parks list as a family. Now that we've seen a few more, the kids would like to go back someday and do the Jr. Ranger Program there and explore a little more. There are quite a few exhibits underneath the arch, and we discovered it had a lot more to offer than we expected.
Here we are in front of the Arch...
And inside after we took the elevator to the top for a view of St. Louis!
Big Bend
Moving on to more recent events, our December trip was our first National Parks trip in our new travel trailer. We used our Christmas break to visit the four National parks in Texas and New Mexico. The road trip down to Big Bend National Park took us one day, but it was a long day of driving. We learned a few things this first day. First of all, we had decided to eat lunch in the back of our trailer. I forgot to pack one key food item, so Bruce refueled at a Murphy USA while I ran into Walmart to find what I needed. We then parked in the parking lot and ate lunch in the trailer. It is SO much easier and faster to make sandwiches in my little kitchen and have everybody squeeze in there to eat than it is to find parking at a restaurant (fast food or other), go inside and wait, and then march all the kids back to the car (with properly timed potty breaks). Eating in our own space with our own amenities is a game changer.
Also, as we traveled south, we had to be very deliberate about planning to stop for fuel with the reduced gas mileage from hauling the trailer. There is a gas station within Big Bend, but it's a very large park, so it was a good half hour between the entrance and the gas station. We made it there only to learn that their pump is VERY slow! Regardless, we made it to Rio Grande Village to check in and get to our site before the store/office closed.
Our site was in an RV section, so it wasn't very quiet, but it did have full hook-ups (meaning sewer as well as water and electric). Our two younger girls fell asleep in the back seat right before we made it, so we rigged up relatively quickly and thought we were actually going to have energy to go to a night sky program at the amphitheater nearby. 😂 However, we couldn't find it in the dark and ended up just heading back to camp. As we walked to our site, we happened to see a bull and two cows grazing nearby. Apparently, free range cattle are quite common in the area, and we learned that herds of cattle or donkeys regularly graze the area.
Our first full day (Tuesday) in Big Bend, we grabbed a quick breakfast of mini quiche (thanks to Costco) and picked up Jr. Ranger books for the kids at Panther Junction. We then headed off to the Chisos Basin to start the Window Trail a little before lunchtime. The hike in and back took several hours. It was absolutely beautiful though! We saw all sorts of desert flora and fauna! Bright blue Mexican Jays foraged off the path. I heard them, and saw the flashes of blue from their wings before we stopped to watch for a bit. We saw more after that and they were pretty easy to recognize. The Window is a spot where a waterfall runs when it does rain. We took the girls one at a time on the smooth rocks to see the view. We also had snacks (lunch) while there. As we walked back, we took the Oak Springs Trail, which led to a high point lookout where we could see the window from the other side.
A cool tree along the Window Trail
The Window Itself
Panoramic view from a spot we hiked to on the Oak Springs Trail. You can see where the window it from the other side here.
Back at camp, we saw a squadron of javelinas! This, of course, was very exciting to the kids, but we didn't get too close.
That evening we drove to a nearby lookout point to allow our eyes to adjust to the dark so we could gaze at the night sky. The stars were beautiful and the milky way was visible! We spent some time gazing and looking for constellations and planets until everyone was tired and ready for bed.
The following day we left camp and went to the border port of entry into Boquillas, Mexico. Getting there was fairly simple. We were warned that is we didn't make it back before 4pm, we would have to spend the night in Mexico and apply for re-entry at 9 am the following day. Sooo we watched our clocks closely. To cross the river, we all climbed into a raft and were dragged across the river for a fee. The walk to town was very sandy and it was quite windy that day, so we all ended up with sand in our hair and ears! You can pay to ride a donkey to town, but it's not actually much faster than walking.
Boquillas is a very small, secluded and remote town, but lunch at Jose Falcon's was worth the trip by itself. I can be a bit of a tamale snob, but I decided their house tamales are amazing! They come wrapped in a banana leaf and are super soft. We made it back to the border port of entry in plenty of time, but it was a bit of a wait to re-enter, as requests are made through a kiosk and approved remotely.
We then stopped back by one of the visitor stations for the kids to turn in their Jr. Ranger books to earn their badges, then returned to camp and changed into bathing suits before taking off for the Langford Hot Springs. The one-way road to the parking lot was very narrow and winding, which is why it has a vehicle length limit. Everyone enjoyed the walk to the hot springs and the history of the area that we learned along the way, with the old motorcade and post office/store at the resort. The bathhouse on the hot springs is no more, but the foundation is still there, providing a nice spot to soak in the warm spring. We soaked for an hour or so, and then hiked back to our car and explored the remains of one more house. Then it was time to head back to camp for the night!
Headed to Boquillas!
Thursday was yet another full day. We explored the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail, and spied a coyote a couple times, walking his rounds through the campgrounds! There was a Ranger Presentation for kids at the Fossil Discovery Center. We made it to the tail end of it, and discovered that the National Parks System has a Jr. Paleontologist Program as well, so the kids continued their parks education and earned another badge, and two of the Big Bend patches as well for doing some of the hikes during our stay.
The Rio Grande snaking between Texas and Mexico viewed from the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail
The trail winds along the Rio Grande until you can't walk any further, so the obvious thing to do is try to skip rocks to Mexico!
The end of the Santa Elena Canyon Trail
Attempting to skip rocks across the canyon to Mexico
Another attempt at smiling for Mom
After four nights spent in Big Bend, we decided to wake up early Friday Morning and hit the Boquillas Canyon Trail before we broke camp and took off to New Mexico. The trail was very quiet that morning, and we saw some donkeys grazing the desert grass. At one point, we thought we hit the end of the trail before realizing there was a narrow passage we could climb through and continue. When we did reach the end point, we saw some horses cross the river to continue their grazing. It was very picturesque. The river flowed over an area where you can walk on some rocks to the middle, and we got a picture of the kids sitting on a large boulder in the river.
Looking back through the Boquillas canyon at the end of the trail
The kids hanging out on the river!
We left Big Bend with a new appreciation for the desert and all the diversity of mountain ranges within the park, and a feeling that we'd love to return. Our camp for the next four nights was in Whites City, NM. It was a location we could day trip the next three National Parks from.
Saturday morning we set out on the three hour commute to the west to visit White Sands National Park (formerly White Sands National Monument until its recent promotion in 2019).
So here's the thing about White Sands. It's sand. Lots of sand. It's sparkly white gypsum sand in great expanses with a single road that loops out and back. The road is packed sand and very cool to walk barefoot on. In fact, forget shoes. You won't want to walk in them or fill them with sand. Just leave them in the car and go slide down the dunes! We rented two sleds (they are only a couple dollars each and you can't properly experience the park without one). Beeswax also helps immensely to get a smooth ride on the sleds. This was not a hiking day or even a history lesson. It was a play-in-the-giant-sandbox day (with a science lesson on where the sand came from)! The kids had a BLAST and adults learned to be kids again. My children would 100% go back if we had the chance. It's definitely a one-day experience though, and we learned the hard way with the first child to hop in the shower, that they each needed to take 10 minutes to shake sand out of hair and brush it off from everywhere else BEFORE rinsing off! We survived the aftermath, and bagged up our clothes to finish the sand removal process after the trip.
Walking the dunes
Bruce managed to prop his phone on the sleds and set the 10 second timer to get a pretty good shot!
After a much-needed night's sleep, we woke up the next morning to take a nice little 30 minute cruise south to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Guadalupe is a popular hiking destination for Texans, but we hadn't ever made it down there before. I know, I'm a terrible Texas Native. But at least I've made the trip now! Honestly, out of all the parks we visited on this trip, Guadalupe is probably the first we would return to (for the adults at least). It represents a merging of multiple biomes - desert, forests, and riparian most notably. The scientist in me was constantly observing the plant life and how it changed as we hiked. The marine fossils in the Capitan Reef add yet another layer of intrigue to the park that I look forward to exploring on another trip. With only a day to spend in the park, we had a few ideas on how to spend our time. But we changed our original hiking plan after speaking to the Park Rangers at the visitor center, and decided to hike the McKittrick Canyon Trail. The gates at that trail close at 5 pm, so we wanted to make sure we made it in and back to our vehicle in time. The trail was definitely worth it! About two miles in, we came to the Pratt Cabin, and learned about the man who purchased the canyon and lived there. We continued the hike to a cool grotto that possibly connects to the cave system that includes Carlsbad Caverns! This particular hike showcase the mixture of desert, forest, and riparian biomes I mentioned earlier. Back at the trail head, we learned about the Permian Reef, but did not have time to hike the Permian Reef Trail.
A nice shady rest spot along the McKittrick Canyon Trail
The Grotto at the furthest point of our hike
From there, we drove to the Frijole Ranch and Manzanita Springs Trailhead. We managed to fix sandwiches at a picnic table by the parking lot, despite the wind that had picked up, and then went to explore the ranch. The spring, springhouse, schoolhouse and history lesson just from reading the plaques was great for the girls, but the building weren't staffed in the winter, so we couldn't go inside.
We walked part of the trail, but had to head back early because the sun was setting and it was getting dark. I did manage to take some pictures of the sunset though!
The Manzanita Springs Trail at sunset
We were definitely glad we prioritized McKittrick Canyon over Manzanita Springs, because it was much more scenic. The girls collected their Jr. Ranger badges, and we returned to camp to rest up for our final park of the trip!
Monday, December 23, we headed down the road to nearby Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This was actually not our first visit to the park, as we had walked the cave back in March 2022. However, only our two older children really remembered the first trip, and we hadn't started our National Parks Passports back then. This time, we rented the self-guided audio tour devices for each of the kids. We toured the Big Room (the main tour) and attempted to capture photographs. It is always fun to explore all the cave formations, and in addition to the Jr. Ranger program, they have a Sr. Ranger program for ages 18+ (which of course we did to set an example for our kids - and have fun). AND a Bat Biologist Program which conveyed knowledge my children referred to for months! We stayed at the park after the visitor center closed, for their night sky program. We enjoyed it, but after Big Bend it wasn't as impressive. Several constellations and planets were visible, but Carlsbad Caverns is close to cities and not a dark sky preserve. All in all, it was a good day and we went back to camp to rest up so we could drive home the next day.
Selfie with the girls at the Natural Entrance to the cave
Stay tuned for my report on our second National Parks Adventure installation, where we went to Arizona to watch MLB Spring Training and visit Petrified Forest National Park and Saguaro National Park.
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Thank you, Deborah. Almost as good as being there with you
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