Winter trip 2026 - Day 4: Made it!

We woke up early, both excited to get on the road since today was our first day at Big Bend. 

Made a quick stop at the grocery store just down the road to stock up on a few final things. I'd rate H.E.B. 9/10 as far as grocery stores go. 

We had about 5-6 hours of driving today, lots on the same road. Unfortunately, this road had lots of bridge construction so lots of temporary stop lights over areas that were one lane. The two lane parts were pretty rough - Joe says it was like chip and seal with #4 rocks.

The last decent sized town before the park is Fort Stockton. We stopped to fill up our water jugs, last minute van maintenance, and another store for some backup sunscreen. 

Texas had been pretty flat so far, but we were finally starting to see some hills as the landscaped changed.  Made one last fuel stop in Marathon.  There's fuel in the park, but it's going to be pricey.

Stopped and paid our entrance fee, $30 for the week. 

Our first real stop in the park was at a fossil exhibit. People have been finding dinosaur fossils in the park since at least the 50s. This area used to be under water, so sharks teeth and sea animals have been found. Later, the Rockies started growing and this area turned coastal, so during that time T-Rex, giant crocodiles and other 16000# animals took over. Things changed again, dinosaurs died, but mammoths and future horses showed up. This was a cool exhibit, and it was a good introduction to the history of the land.

We stopped at the visitors center, got a little more park information, used the wi-fi. Limited phone/internet in the park. 

We decided to hike Grapevine Trail, about 8 miles from the visitors center. The first two miles were a breeze on the main road, but the next 6 were unpaved and took about 45 minutes. There were multiple signs about high clearance vehicles only, but we did see 2 sedans at the trailhead. We assumed they were rentals. 

This was a really cool hike between lots of neat rock formations. Joe did the final quarter mile by himself, it was up some steep rocks and I could tell from the bottom that I wouldn't like it. 

We picked up the pace on the way back, it was 5pm by the time we finished the hike. It took us about 2 hours to get from there to our site for the night, which was also down another long unpaved road. We will need to plan some more time for the drives that are off the main roads.

Our campsite, Pine Canyon #3, was one of the most secluded places we've ever slept. There was a surprising amount of noise as the sunset, wind, birds, insects. 

As we expected, the best part of the day happened after the sun went down. More stars than we've ever seen. At first we could make out planets and constellations, but as the night went on and more stars crowded the sky, the constellations became harder to see.