My wife and I were there about a decade ago, and really enjoyed it. My girlfriend (now wife) was moving from Austin to Boise, and we decided to fly down and road trip back. I think the big reason we liked Big Bend was because it was so spread out. We picked a random trail, hiked out, explored. Found a mountain lion den, fortunately unoccupied! After a few days in Austin, it felt like such a relief to be outside and not see another person for a while! Definitely agree the Western parks are more spectacular - but unfortunately are far too crowded for my tastes now.
You bring up a really good point. Places like Yosemite National park can make for a terrible experience due to over crowding. The reservation system helps, but finding parking in the middle of the day and the traffic in Yosemite Valley will be close to impossible. 2 hours to just go 3 miles. That’s what I’ve dedicated my National Park videos to, giving tips to help people get a better experience. For example, in Yosemite, bringing a bicycle and finding parking early will make for a pleasant experience.
Thanks for the honest review John. I’ve had big bend on my adventure list for 9 years now but I always wondered how I would actually make it that far when I would have to drive by all the places you mentioned (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California etc). I still plan to go at some point in my life but I am not going to prioritize it over so many other places on my list in the western half of the country. I guess I’ll put it in the same tier as badlands national park- I’ll go when I’m retired or if I happen to be going by the area for other reasons. I don’t know how long I will live in California and if I’ll end up back in ohio some day where my aging parents are so I’m trying to get to as many breathtaking places as I can while I’m out this way and it’s always helpful using Google maps, blogs, and TH-cam videos like yours to help plan my road trips
I think people driving from the eastern US who can’t drive all the way to the western states would appreciate it more than a west coaster who has access to a lot of great places.
Not necessarily. The drive time to go from Washington DC (just a random example of an east coast location) to Big Bend is three hours longer than simply going to the mountain towns of Colorado. The choice is easy to me.
I couldn’t agree more. I had a chance to visit Big Bend NP a lonnnng time ago and wasn’t very impressed compared to other national parks and forests I had been. I’m glad I went, but I really don’t think I will return unless there is a really good reason 😂
You can’t offer a decent and insightful perspective on Big Bend in only one day. The parks treasures are buried, and not easy to come by, it’s part of the appeal. I suggest you check out Mariscal Canyon, The Lost Mine Trail, Pine Canyon, Marufo Vega trail, The South Rim, and the list goes on and on. I would put Santa Elena canyon towards the middle of the pack for what the park has to offer. Also, the skies are some of the darkest the lower 48 has to offer. Did you happen to drive up highway 170, or stop in Terlingua for some Texas cuisine? My estimation is that you experienced 5-10% of what the park has to offer. I’ve been to Big Bend 5 plus times, and would recommend folks take your “take” with a grain of sand.
Have you visited the national parks mentioned at 3:31? I’d love to hear your opinion on how Big Bend stacks up. Those national parks offer amazement right through the gates, and I respect that!
I've got to watch this after my meeting, but hopefully you did the "gringo honeymoon" (and listened to the song titled the same by Robert Earl Keen) where you crossed over the rio grande and went into that tiny Mexican town on the other side to sit and have a Mexican Dos Equis or other beer. That's a hiking trip though. For driving around you might think Big Bend state park is prettier. It's got a lot going for it, and if you live in Texas it's a much easier trip than going to Colorado/Utah/further, but that said yeah those places and the west coast are going to be more lush and prettier so I get it. I would say you need at least a week there to truly appreciate the area, but it's probably not worth a second dedicated trip since it's so far away from everything else. Anyway....on to me actually watching the video in 15 min.
Thanks for taking the time to chime in. Someone in our group mentioned that there was somewhere we could cross into Mexico and have lunch. Sounds like an interesting thing to do, but I never considered it since we were on such a tight schedule and I didn’t bring my passport (the blue booklet, not my Honda Passport 😂). I’m a sucker for little boat trips, and I did find the Santa Elena canyon a beautiful and unique place, it’s just too bad the water levels were so low. Still had a good time on that 1 foot of water.
Thanks for the kind diagram Yotagang. I’m a big fan of Trail Recon and have been watching them before I got into overlanding, and I don’t think (or even think I want) to on that level. This is just a hobby for me. Trail Recon has grown into a giant marketing machine. I have respect for the videos they produce. A lot of them have good lessons and information.
Hey Jon! Thanks for the vid. Dzmitry, Jane, Maria, and I stayed a few extra days and a few more full days of exploring in. There's A LOT more cool things to see that I wish you and Braden had time for. Hikes and great offroad trails with exposed fossils everywhere and very cool rock formations, another scenic river canyon hike (like Santa Elena Canyon, but on the opposite corner of the park with a lot of sand and water), and more. One of the trails we went on to get to a hike (that was like hiking in Joshua Tree, but with even more interesting rock formations) had lots of potential jumps, and at dusk we got to see some of the local wildlife. It does take an excessively long time to get from point to point - I feel like the best Big Bend trip would be taking a week or more and booking multiple campsite locations throughout the park going in a circle (chronologically), so you have time to explore different parts of the park each day without having long drives at the start/end of each day. Speaking of the drive, driving there at sunrise/sunset is so beautiful! You get to stare out for long periods into a vast expanse 100+ miles in any direction with essentially no human presence other than the road you're driving on - no buildings, no fences, no farms, no visible roads crossing the landscape or mountains, no cleared fields, nothing made by humans other than the road you're on. It's something I've rarely experienced, especially from a paved road, and that's what makes it pretty special for me. One offroad trail we did part of (Old Ore Road) was really cool, and I actually do want to go back to the national park just to drive the offroad trails and explore some of the more remote parts. Overall, I'd give it a 4/5. It's a park that needs to be treated differently than other parks. It's not a one-day or one-long-weekend type of experience - you really need a week or more worth of time to explore it, and I think it's worth exploring if you can afford the fuel cost and time. If you're retired, or a van-lifer, it'd be a truly special place. If you only stick to the paved roads and don't do *any* hikes for a day or two, you may be pretty bored outside of a couple locations.
This reminds me of visiting Flinders Ranges National Park in Australia. It’s really good compared to everything on the way there, but kind of lame vs the best U.S. western parks. Flinders Ranges was about as cool as northern New Mexico. I lived in Houston for a decade and visited Big Bend National Park twice and Ranch State Park once. They are really good for Texas. Big Bend Ranch State Park is the closest we can actually get to western overlanding in the state. My more frequent trips were to do a long first day to Muleshoe NWR or Mills Canyon as a quick stop on the way to Colorado, NM, and Utah. Spending 4 days of a vacation driving to Colorado and back vs 2 days driving to Big Bend and back is worth it if you have enough time off work.
Well said Mr. LexusGX! You know, I was watching part 1 of you getting stuck in mud, I still need to finish watching it. Good synapses regarding airing down. I overinflated my tires to 40 psi (although my door sticker says 35 psi). I just switched to LT tires instead of p-rated. Running 40 psi I feel like there’s over steer. I’ll finish up and drop some comments, haha
Completely agree. Texas isn't as compelling compared to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Texas is nearly all private land and has a lackluster national Park. Utah's Escalante and Bear ears would be national parks anywhere else. Colorado's San Juan mountains could be a national park in their own right. New Mexico has tons of interesting National monuments and gems like Valles Caldera National Preserve. Arizona's Grand Canyon and Sedona take the spotlight. But from the deserts to mountains the state is dotted with historic mining towns, Native American ruins and stunning rock formations. All four states have a ton of BLM, State and National forest public land.
The Topography of the West is vastly different. here’s a map showing the differences in vertical peaks www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/k6z8m2/topographic_map_of_the_us/? . The catch phrases “eco diversity” and “varied terrain” seem a little bit inaccurate to me (from my point of view), it’s crazy. I still had a good time in Big Bend, but not going to lie, I can’t help feeling “duped”, and other people need to know, because many of those other TH-cam videos just aren’t keeping it real.
@@JonDZ_Adventuring Thanks for the honesty. That graphic shows how the West is just on another level. Yeah, I suppose it's relative too, impressive for Texas. Funny how subject things can be. Some people think the Grand Canyon is underwhelming and are bored after 5 mins looking at it. I mean if they're not hiking down and just looking at it from view points on the rim. I guess it could be anticlimactic. If you're just going to do viewpoints then they should really visit the North Rim.
Great video Jon! As a participant of this trip you know my opinion, but I agree with everything you've said. Very beautiful in very specific places, but if you aren't going here for other reasons, I would be hard pressed to recommend the significant time investment required.
I appreciate the G-rated comment, I disclosed I was only here for 2 nights and the “one full day” on purpose to be completely transparent. At 3:31, Big Bend National Park just doesn’t compare to the level that many of the other National Parks are at as far as physical beauty and presentation. It’s all subjective and relative to the eye of the beholder, and there’s a high probably that us folk from the higher elevation areas wont enjoy Big Bend as much. Quite honestly, our scenic highways in Eastern California blow Big Bend out of the water, and the points of interest are more dense. The 3 out of 5 rating still means that Big Bend National Park is still better than bad. I think that’s a fair assessment, it’s just my opinion, and it’s all subjective. Now in my next video I’ll be going over Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This was a very unique experience that I couldn’t have got at any other national park. The presentation with the cave lighting was superb.
Big Bend is a unique and vast ecosystem. If you didn’t get enough immediate eye candy and gratification in a drive by … sorry. More magic for the rest of us.
@@deanlockwood2124 I can’t wait to show you Eastern California, where we have the highest point in the 48 states (Mt. Whitney 14.5k feet) and the lowest point (bad water basin -282 feet) that’s all within 100 miles of each other. If big bend is a vast eco system, what do we call Eastern California? It’s all relativity.
My wife and I were there about a decade ago, and really enjoyed it. My girlfriend (now wife) was moving from Austin to Boise, and we decided to fly down and road trip back. I think the big reason we liked Big Bend was because it was so spread out. We picked a random trail, hiked out, explored. Found a mountain lion den, fortunately unoccupied! After a few days in Austin, it felt like such a relief to be outside and not see another person for a while! Definitely agree the Western parks are more spectacular - but unfortunately are far too crowded for my tastes now.
You bring up a really good point. Places like Yosemite National park can make for a terrible experience due to over crowding. The reservation system helps, but finding parking in the middle of the day and the traffic in Yosemite Valley will be close to impossible. 2 hours to just go 3 miles. That’s what I’ve dedicated my National Park videos to, giving tips to help people get a better experience. For example, in Yosemite, bringing a bicycle and finding parking early will make for a pleasant experience.
Thanks for the honest review John. I’ve had big bend on my adventure list for 9 years now but I always wondered how I would actually make it that far when I would have to drive by all the places you mentioned (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California etc). I still plan to go at some point in my life but I am not going to prioritize it over so many other places on my list in the western half of the country. I guess I’ll put it in the same tier as badlands national park- I’ll go when I’m retired or if I happen to be going by the area for other reasons. I don’t know how long I will live in California and if I’ll end up back in ohio some day where my aging parents are so I’m trying to get to as many breathtaking places as I can while I’m out this way and it’s always helpful using Google maps, blogs, and TH-cam videos like yours to help plan my road trips
I think people driving from the eastern US who can’t drive all the way to the western states would appreciate it more than a west coaster who has access to a lot of great places.
Not necessarily. The drive time to go from Washington DC (just a random example of an east coast location) to Big Bend is three hours longer than simply going to the mountain towns of Colorado. The choice is easy to me.
@@TheFraziers I live in Florida, Big Bend is closer.
I couldn’t agree more. I had a chance to visit Big Bend NP a lonnnng time ago and wasn’t very impressed compared to other national parks and forests I had been. I’m glad I went, but I really don’t think I will return unless there is a really good reason 😂
You can’t offer a decent and insightful perspective on Big Bend in only one day. The parks treasures are buried, and not easy to come by, it’s part of the appeal.
I suggest you check out Mariscal Canyon, The Lost Mine Trail, Pine Canyon, Marufo Vega trail, The South Rim, and the list goes on and on. I would put Santa Elena canyon towards the middle of the pack for what the park has to offer. Also, the skies are some of the darkest the lower 48 has to offer. Did you happen to drive up highway 170, or stop in Terlingua for some Texas cuisine? My estimation is that you experienced 5-10% of what the park has to offer.
I’ve been to Big Bend 5 plus times, and would recommend folks take your “take” with a grain of sand.
Have you visited the national parks mentioned at 3:31? I’d love to hear your opinion on how Big Bend stacks up.
Those national parks offer amazement right through the gates, and I respect that!
I've got to watch this after my meeting, but hopefully you did the "gringo honeymoon" (and listened to the song titled the same by Robert Earl Keen) where you crossed over the rio grande and went into that tiny Mexican town on the other side to sit and have a Mexican Dos Equis or other beer. That's a hiking trip though. For driving around you might think Big Bend state park is prettier. It's got a lot going for it, and if you live in Texas it's a much easier trip than going to Colorado/Utah/further, but that said yeah those places and the west coast are going to be more lush and prettier so I get it. I would say you need at least a week there to truly appreciate the area, but it's probably not worth a second dedicated trip since it's so far away from everything else. Anyway....on to me actually watching the video in 15 min.
Watched it. Yeah you need to set aside a whole week, but the distance between things does make it a pain.
Thanks for taking the time to chime in. Someone in our group mentioned that there was somewhere we could cross into Mexico and have lunch. Sounds like an interesting thing to do, but I never considered it since we were on such a tight schedule and I didn’t bring my passport (the blue booklet, not my Honda Passport 😂). I’m a sucker for little boat trips, and I did find the Santa Elena canyon a beautiful and unique place, it’s just too bad the water levels were so low. Still had a good time on that 1 foot of water.
@@JonDZ_Adventuring I'm glad I gave you a chance to make a passport joke there. 😆
Jon > trailrecon
YOU'RE WRONG! DOUG AND HIS JEEP ARE WAY COOLER THAN JON AND HIS HONDA! RAWWWRRRR!
Thanks for the kind diagram Yotagang. I’m a big fan of Trail Recon and have been watching them before I got into overlanding, and I don’t think (or even think I want) to on that level. This is just a hobby for me. Trail Recon has grown into a giant marketing machine. I have respect for the videos they produce. A lot of them have good lessons and information.
@overlandoverloaded , I agree 💯. I never claimed to be cool.
Hey Jon! Thanks for the vid. Dzmitry, Jane, Maria, and I stayed a few extra days and a few more full days of exploring in. There's A LOT more cool things to see that I wish you and Braden had time for. Hikes and great offroad trails with exposed fossils everywhere and very cool rock formations, another scenic river canyon hike (like Santa Elena Canyon, but on the opposite corner of the park with a lot of sand and water), and more. One of the trails we went on to get to a hike (that was like hiking in Joshua Tree, but with even more interesting rock formations) had lots of potential jumps, and at dusk we got to see some of the local wildlife.
It does take an excessively long time to get from point to point - I feel like the best Big Bend trip would be taking a week or more and booking multiple campsite locations throughout the park going in a circle (chronologically), so you have time to explore different parts of the park each day without having long drives at the start/end of each day.
Speaking of the drive, driving there at sunrise/sunset is so beautiful! You get to stare out for long periods into a vast expanse 100+ miles in any direction with essentially no human presence other than the road you're driving on - no buildings, no fences, no farms, no visible roads crossing the landscape or mountains, no cleared fields, nothing made by humans other than the road you're on. It's something I've rarely experienced, especially from a paved road, and that's what makes it pretty special for me. One offroad trail we did part of (Old Ore Road) was really cool, and I actually do want to go back to the national park just to drive the offroad trails and explore some of the more remote parts.
Overall, I'd give it a 4/5. It's a park that needs to be treated differently than other parks. It's not a one-day or one-long-weekend type of experience - you really need a week or more worth of time to explore it, and I think it's worth exploring if you can afford the fuel cost and time. If you're retired, or a van-lifer, it'd be a truly special place. If you only stick to the paved roads and don't do *any* hikes for a day or two, you may be pretty bored outside of a couple locations.
This reminds me of visiting Flinders Ranges National Park in Australia. It’s really good compared to everything on the way there, but kind of lame vs the best U.S. western parks. Flinders Ranges was about as cool as northern New Mexico.
I lived in Houston for a decade and visited Big Bend National Park twice and Ranch State Park once. They are really good for Texas. Big Bend Ranch State Park is the closest we can actually get to western overlanding in the state. My more frequent trips were to do a long first day to Muleshoe NWR or Mills Canyon as a quick stop on the way to Colorado, NM, and Utah. Spending 4 days of a vacation driving to Colorado and back vs 2 days driving to Big Bend and back is worth it if you have enough time off work.
*Someone once said that Texas is "The South" and not the West... as you noted by the lack of BLM areas* ✌️
Well said Mr. LexusGX! You know, I was watching part 1 of you getting stuck in mud, I still need to finish watching it. Good synapses regarding airing down. I overinflated my tires to 40 psi (although my door sticker says 35 psi). I just switched to LT tires instead of p-rated. Running 40 psi I feel like there’s over steer.
I’ll finish up and drop some comments, haha
@@JonDZ_Adventuring 🥲
Thank you for sharing!
Wow, you drove so far to Texas!! Welcome to Texas!
Completely agree. Texas isn't as compelling compared to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. Texas is nearly all private land and has a lackluster national Park. Utah's Escalante and Bear ears would be national parks anywhere else. Colorado's San Juan mountains could be a national park in their own right. New Mexico has tons of interesting National monuments and gems like Valles Caldera National Preserve. Arizona's Grand Canyon and Sedona take the spotlight. But from the deserts to mountains the state is dotted with historic mining towns, Native American ruins and stunning rock formations.
All four states have a ton of BLM, State and National forest public land.
The Topography of the West is vastly different. here’s a map showing the differences in vertical peaks www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/k6z8m2/topographic_map_of_the_us/? .
The catch phrases “eco diversity” and “varied terrain” seem a little bit inaccurate to me (from my point of view), it’s crazy.
I still had a good time in Big Bend, but not going to lie,
I can’t help feeling “duped”, and other people need to know, because many of those other TH-cam videos just aren’t keeping it real.
@@JonDZ_Adventuring Thanks for the honesty. That graphic shows how the West is just on another level. Yeah, I suppose it's relative too, impressive for Texas.
Funny how subject things can be. Some people think the Grand Canyon is underwhelming and are bored after 5 mins looking at it.
I mean if they're not hiking down and just looking at it from view points on the rim. I guess it could be anticlimactic. If you're just going to do viewpoints then they should really visit the North Rim.
Great video Jon! As a participant of this trip you know my opinion, but I agree with everything you've said. Very beautiful in very specific places, but if you aren't going here for other reasons, I would be hard pressed to recommend the significant time investment required.
Never been there but a video jon
Did you guys even do any of the hikes up top?
We were there 2 nights and 1 full day, we prioritized a Santa Elena canyon paddle trip over any hikes, so no, we did not do any hikes.
You spent one day in the park and feel you’re qualified to give it a rating? My review of your video - Lame (G-rated comment)
I appreciate the G-rated comment, I disclosed I was only here for 2 nights and the “one full day” on purpose to be completely transparent. At 3:31, Big Bend National Park just doesn’t compare to the level that many of the other National Parks are at as far as physical beauty and presentation. It’s all subjective and relative to the eye of the beholder, and there’s a high probably that us folk from the higher elevation areas wont enjoy Big Bend as much. Quite honestly, our scenic highways in Eastern California blow Big Bend out of the water, and the points of interest are more dense. The 3 out of 5 rating still means that Big Bend National Park is still better than bad. I think that’s a fair assessment, it’s just my opinion, and it’s all subjective. Now in my next video I’ll be going over Carlsbad Caverns National Park. This was a very unique experience that I couldn’t have got at any other national park. The presentation with the cave lighting was superb.
Big Bend is a unique and vast ecosystem. If you didn’t get enough immediate eye candy and gratification in a drive by … sorry. More magic for the rest of us.
@@deanlockwood2124 I can’t wait to show you Eastern California, where we have the highest point in the 48 states (Mt. Whitney 14.5k feet) and the lowest point (bad water basin -282 feet) that’s all within 100 miles of each other. If big bend is a vast eco system, what do we call Eastern California? It’s all relativity.
It's not Small Bend NP for a reason.
Everything is bigger in Texas.