Week 82: Merry days among the pines.
Christmas in Big Bend National Park, Far West Texas
Hello, hello, and welcome back to another weekly update! We’re so glad you’re here!
This week we stayed relatively put in Big Bend National Park, Texas, primitive roadside camping in Pine Canyon. We had to move to different campsites every few days since we couldn’t get a block together, but it was so worth it!
See the full Big Bend park map here.
Sunday: Pine Canyon #3
We started the week where we left off last time in Pine Canyon #3, spending one last night at one of our favorite campsites in the park. The stars were incredible and the sunrise didn’t disappoint either.
Then we headed up the road to…
Monday-Tuesday: Pine Canyon #5
This was our first time camping at Pine Canyon #5 — we’d been by it many times over the years when we were going to the Pine Canyon Trailhead. Plus I think it’s the hardest of all the Pine Canyon sites to get a reservation in. We were looking forward to seeing what the fuss was all about.
The verdict? It’s a pretty awesome site!
It has amazing views of the Sierra del Carmen range across the Rio Grande in Mexico:
You can look back and see Pine Canyon #3 about 3/4 mile away:
There are still views of Crown Mountain:
And the stars at night are pretty incredible, too! I really need to up my star photography game so I can share pictures — a goal for 2026. If you have any recommendations for star photography using an iPhone I’d love to hear!
On Wednesday we had to change campsites again, so we decided to continue up the road about 1.25 miles to the trailhead and hike to the Pine Canyon pour-off.
Wednesday: Christmas Eve Hike in Pine Canyon
This is one of our favorite hikes in all of Big Bend. It starts out around 4,300 feet in elevation in a desert sotol grassland and then gently continues up 1,000 feet in 2 miles through pines and oaks and ends at a pour-off — where the water pours off the mountain when it rains.
There’s a relic population of bigtooth maples up there — leftover from the last ice age — and I always have to do sketch.
We hit the tail end of the fall color and there were bursts of oaks and bigtooth maples lighting up the peaks.
I called it our “Seventh Fall”.
We’ve actually been there when the water was running and there were ferns! It’s generally 10-15 degrees cooler up there so I always pack a layer to put on while we have a snack or I do a sketch.
One time we were camping in Pine Canyon #3 in October when we still lived in Austin — we got our reservations when the forecast said it would be in the 70s, but it turned out to be in the 90s! So we hiked the trail two days in a row and spent the hottest part of the day up at the pour-off!
We’ve seen plenty of bear scat along the trail — but never an actual bear.
The botany nerd in me loves this hike so much since there are a mix of limestone loving plants plus cool mountain plants too! Examples include Texas madrones, limestone honeysuckle, salvia reflexa, claret cup cacti, Texas mulberry, Mexican pinyon pines, and weeping juniper.
I usually do a sketch of the big tooth maples — check out this year’s edition here on Instagram.
All too soon it was time to hike back to the van. The way back has excellent views of the Sierra del Carmens, and J came up with an awesome poem one time about how the mountains touch the sky and merge into one — but we can’t remember it, darn.
Then we headed down Pine Canyon Road to our next campsite…
Wednesday-Thursday: Pine Canyon #2
We spent the next two nights at Pine Canyon #2 — we’ve been here before and the views never disappoint.
There are great views of Crown Mountain:
Spectacular sunrises:
And so many cool cacti:
A Very Merry Christmas
We celebrated our first Christmas in the new van with a Tofurky that I picked up at Whole Foods in Reno, Nevada. It had been years since we’d had one and it was better than we remembered!
I joked to Jason that I wondered if we were the first people in the history of the world to eat a Tofurky at this camp spot! :)
The kitchen was in complete chaos and our bellies were so full!
Later that evening we did a FaceTime with J’s side of the family in Ohio — hi Mom, Dad, Jamie, Colin and Madi! It was so good to chat and catch up!
Then my sister Chris — hi, Chris! — and I tried to do a FaceTime with my side of the family but had a tech fail, darn it! It was still good to talk to them!
It’s kind of amazing when you stop and think about it how we can chat with people so far away.
Feeling so grateful.
Friday: Down to the Desert and Up to the Mountains
Friday we sadly said farewell to Pine Canyon — until next time! I just had to do a quick sketch a few of the cool rocks I’d found around camp before we left:
We had a long day so I’ll just share the highlights:
First we stopped and had a snack at Dugout Wells and checked on the cottonwoods and cacti
Then we went to Panther Junction and I picked up my replacement glasses at the post office and renewed our park permit at the Visitor Center — plus I got a new Big Bend hat since mine is falling apart!
Since I was thinking about rocks we took a drive out to Tuff Canyon — a canyon of tuff — the geology is so cool out that way but the temperatures were way too hot — it was in the 90s! Blerg!
Then we stopped by the Castolon Visitor Center — it all looks so different since the fire went through there in 2019 and burnt down the old barracks/post office/store.
Then we just had to stop at Sotol Vista — it’s always so pretty!
After all that we finally made it to the Chisos Basin, where we stopped in the store, walked the Window View Trail, and then headed up to our campsite.
What a great day!
As always, thank you so much for following along on our adventures! It really means the world to have you here. Wishing you a very happy new year filled with joy and peace.
See you next year! — Lisa, Jason, and Henry-the-Van
Your pictures are stunning. I had no idea there was scenery like this in Texas. I've only been to the flat parts!
Always fun to read your posts! Your pictures are always amazing! You capture the beauty! Happy New Year!