Everything’s bigger in Texas, including all the geology squeezed into Big Bend National Park. 

Also big is the 7+ hour drive between Austin and the park, so we started our adventure at the Caverns of Sonora, halfway between the two. There are plenty of caves where you can see beautiful formations, but where else can you squeeze through tiny openings and repel into a cavern lit only by your headlamp? Their 4 hour discovery tour is an amazing introduction to the geology of the region.

Big Bend is big (larger than the state of Rhode Island) and diverse (river, mountain, desert), so we chose to stay in the centrally located Chisos Basin campground. Just be sure to take advantage of the food storage lockers because “one taste of human makes bears want more!”:

From a shallow sea to mountains to volcanoes to erosion to more mountain building, the area has such a complex geologic history that every part of the park provides different types of rocks and views. We found the best place to learn more about the geology of the region is the visitor center at Big Bend Ranch State Park where exhibits go into detail about the events that took place over the 130 million years of geologic time that can be found within the park.

Hiking, rafting, horseback riding – the park is an outdoor explorers dream. Geologic highlights of our three day adventure included: Watching sunrise and sunset over the volcanic rocks of the Chisos Mountains. 

Horseback riding along trails covered with chunks of sparkling gypsum. 

Scrambling among the weathered boulders at Grapevine Hill.

Trying to count all the colors found in the sedimentary rocks along the Hot Springs Trail. 

Then enjoying the 105 degree hot spring itself located in the foundation of a 1920s bathhouse jutting out into the Rio Grande. Somehow we forget to take photos, so this picture is from the park’s website. 

Finding fossil evidence of the shallow sea that once covered the area.

It was also fun searching for signs of human use of the geology, including ancient pictographs and bedrock mortars and more modern rock covered graves. 

Confession: amazing as the geology was, my favorite was the tarantulas!