To ring in 2018 this year, a couple of friends and I loaded up my friend’s Toyota Prius and took a road trip from Houston all the way out to Big Bend National Park in West Texas. It was seriously one of the best trips I’ve ever been on, so I’m so excited to share it with you. This includes post includes a suggested itinerary, recommendations on things to do, and some thoughts on some things NOT to do so your trip is the best one ever!

Disclaimer: Please note that all information included here is as of December 2017 and may have changed.

 

Driving from Houston to Big Bend National Park

Here’s the thing about living in Texas: it’s HUGE. You can drive for days and still be in the same state.  If you wanted to, you could make the drive straight from Houston to Big Bend in one day, but it’d be a long 10-12 hour day. We decided to split the drive into two days each way, making our drive time only 5-6 hours each day and giving us time to explore the towns we drove through.

– Day One: Houston, TX to Sonora, TX – 5 hours of driving

– Day Two: Sonora to Terlingua, TX – 5 hours of driving

– Day Three: Big Bend National Park

– Day Four: After visiting the park for a day and a half, Terlingua to San Angelo, TX – 6 hours of driving

– Day Five: San Angelo to back to Houston – 5 hours of driving

Road Tripping from Houston to Sonora, TX

Driving to Sonora

In order to avoid Houston Friday afternoon traffic, we left work early and hit the road around 3pm. Picking our route was easy since we just ended up hopping onto I-10 and heading west for five hours. We ended up getting in to Sonora around 8pm.

Staying in Sonora

We stayed at the Surestay Hotel Sonora, a hotel that just opened up in Sonora last year. It was pretty clean (no bed bugs, we checked) and we only paid $75 for the night, split 3 ways.

It was FREEZING when we pulled into town. (Disclaimer: while I used to live in Colorado, my blood has gotten thin from living in Houston so it probably felt colder than it actually was, especially considering half the country just went through a bomb cyclone.) We ended up going next door to La Mexicana for dinner even though it was only two blocks away just because it was so cold. After scurrying in from the parking lot, we found the restaurant was pretty full (always a good sign), though we were the only group not dressed head-to-toe in camo. (Ah, West Texas.)

When we got back to the Surestay, we took turns taking lukewarm, low-pressure showers and prepared our On-the-Road Overnight Oats for breakfast the next day. It was a pretty quiet night, although the following morning it seemed like EVERY SINGLE PERSON leaving managed to set off other people’s car alarms. (I’m serious, the car alarms started before 7am and there were at least three of them that each went on for a minimum of five minutes. It was annoying but also hilarious after a while.)

Visiting the Caverns of Sonora

We eventually gave up on the idea of sleeping in and got up, snarfed our amazing oatmeal and then packed up to the car to head for the Caverns of Sonora. The caves open at 9am and we arrived at around 9:15am with out tickets already in-hand. We ended up having to wait around 30 mins until our tour started so we putzed around the gift shop spending money (which was probably the point).

We were each wearing a flannel shirt, and our tour guide warned us we’d be DRIPPING SWEAT if we went into the cave dressed like that. She insisted the cave was 98% humidity and felt like it was 85 degrees F so that we’d be DYING OF HEAT if we went in anything heavier than tanks or t-shirts. She also told us we weren’t allowed to tie our shirts around our waists or bring in any jackets or bags because it would damage the cave. She insisted we could leave our layers and coats in a pile in the gift shop and they would be moved from the gift shop to the exit of the caverns for us. We ended up leaving our jackets and bags locked in the car, but I was worried about being too cold walking 200 yards from the exit of the caverns back to the parking lot, so I left my shirt in the pile and hoped for the best.

So first of all, that cave did NOT feel like it was 85 degrees F. (Of course, I’m from Houston, so I call 98% humidity “Tuesday morning.”)

Second of all, our tour guide left… some things to be desired. She spoke in the practiced, flat monotone of someone who has no real interest in the topic she’s discussing. She also seemed to be the kind of person who CANNOT ABIDE SILENCE and so she spent the entire hour and half talking non-stop, threatening legal action if we stole anything, often repeating herself and continually asking us if we had any questions as we shuffled through the cave. The tour was more about her pointing out formations and telling us what she thought they looked like (Abraham Lincoln! Mashed potatoes! An elephant!) and less about how the cave formations grew or the history of the cave’s discovery.

Third of all, I never did get my flannel shirt back. It was somehow separated from the rest of the coats of our group and disappeared. Wah wah.

Road Tripping from Sonora to Terlingua, TX

Driving through Fort Stockton, Alpine, and Terlingua

To get to Terlingua, we took I-10 W to to US-67 S. We stopped in Fort Stockton for an amazing coffee at the Garage. I got something called the Atomic Fireball, which was a creamy dessert coffee that had cinnamon added so it literally tasted like Red Hot candies. It was so good.

We decided not to go see Paisano Pete (the huge statue of a road runner in town) and got back on the road.

 

US-67 ends at US-90, and we drove west to Alpine, an ADORABLE little town with an amazing book shop and record store as well as other little gift shops that are worth a visit if you like that kind of thing (which you should).

If you’ve never been to this part of West Texas before, you may want to go to Marfa while you’re here, just 26 miles west of Alpine. Marfa would be another great place to spend the night, with an observatory, the Marfa lights, and plenty of things in town to see.

 

After Alpine, we took TX-118 S until the turn off for Terlingua, FM-170. By this point we had little to no connectivity, so it’s a miracle we didn’t lose navigation, so the next time I go out there I’m going to do a better job preparing for a loss of network.

Staying in Terlingua

When we walked into our Airbnb, there was a large group sitting around a dining room table drinking whiskey. A guy in his mid-50s caught sight of us and asked, “You here for the party?” Turns out this was our contact Jason, although we were never quite sure if he was the manager or the owner of the place. On the property was a large barndominium with two rooms for rent, a galley-style kitchen, and a single restroom. Jason was really trying to sell us on the outdoor shower he had recently had installed, but it was January so none of us were chomping at the bit to rinse off in the cold desert air.

I had been warned Terlingua was a party town, but I had figured that any tourists staying in town would be like me and want to go to go star gazing and then go to bed early. (Not so.) Luckily Jason let us stay in the little cottage on-property our first night in town, a cozy and quiet little house. There was nearly a full moon that night, so there was no star-gazing to be had, but I did get up early the next morning to enjoy coffee and oatmeal while the stars went down (amazing) and the sun came up (AMAZING).

 

Visiting Big Bend National Park

We spent a day and a half in Big Bend National Park and it was an amazing experience. I’d say you can absolutely see enough of the park to “get it” in two days, although we obviously didn’t have enough time to see everything or do any really long hikes. Be prepared to spend a lot of time driving around on roads where the speed limit is 45 mph haha!

If you only have a couple of days in the park, here’s what we did (and would recommend):

• Take the Window trail hike. If you’re wanting more, take the Oak Spring trail up to the top of the mountain, but don’t bother following it when it turns sharply right and begins heading down into the Valley. Not worth it, and you’ll accidentally end up hiking 8.5 miles round trip and climbing about a million stairs according to FitBit.
• Drive to the Santa Elena Canyon viewpoint. Absolutely stunning.
• Take the Lost Mine trail hike. This was one of the best hikes I’ve ever been on. The trail was well-maintained and started slowly so you weren’t climbing steep inclines the whole time. The parking lot at the trail head was small enough that the trail was never crowded. The views were stunning enough to make life make sense.

Another hike that was recommended by people I trust was the South Rim trail, which is more challenging but is purported to have more stunning vistas.

Road Tripping from Big Bend National Park to San Angelo, TX

After we left the park, we drove up to San Angelo, TX. This drive was brutal as ice storms were rolling in and the road was slick, so it took us almost seven hours to make the drive. Along the way, we stopped in Marathon for some coffee at V6 coffee bar (super cute little coffee shop connected to the famous Gage Hotel, and I got a bag of coffee beans for home!).  In San Angelo, we ate dinner at the Cork and Pig, where we had reservations we probably didn’t need and were rushed out the door because it was 9pm on New Year’s Eve, but the salads we got were good and the wine was better.

 

Road Tripping from San Angelo, TX to Houston, TX

Houston, sweet Houston! This was the best day of driving by far–we broke the drive into one-hour chunks and made frequent stops, including at LLano, TX for some coffee and Austin, TX for lunch! We decided to take I-290 into Houston since it was a Sunday afternoon and we figured driving east on I-10 would be a parking lot. We were home by 2pm and doing laundry by 3. 🙂

And there you go! A five-day, round-trip roadtrip from Houston to Big Bend National Park! Is there anything else we should have done on the road?

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Looking for more information? Check out my Pinterest board for history, cultural information, and other things to do on your Houston to Big Bend Road Trip!