Even wonder what it feels like to do a solo trip? I can tell you from experience... it's very therapeutic! Imagine being alone in a room with no one else to talk to but yourself. It sounds insane but it's truly is good for the soul. You discover things you didn't know you can do like eating alone at a restaurant, sleeping alone in a hotel or in your car, venturing off the trails without worrying if the other person even likes hiking or listening to them whine about walking for an hour, stopping and taking pictures or taking in the scenery whenever you want, control every second of the adventure. As long as you don't feel sorry about not having friends or loved ones around. As long as you treat the adventure as self-exploration rather than showing off. I think you'll be just fine. It doesn't hurt to have your version of Puu with you 😍
I have a goal: 63 at 63. To see all the "National Parks" (parks that actually say national park on them) by the time I'm 63. I'm getting there and I know I will not visit all 63 national parks because some of them are really remote like in Alaska or in American Samoa that is ridiculous to fly in to. But I'll check them off one by one and check back in a few years to see where I landed.
So... I was playing with the idea of doing a week-long adventure to knockoff few national parks. I was not sure if it was doable but at the end of my first national park tour, I am hooked!
I am a project manager by trade and I hate planning off hours but I think my intense planning made this all happened. Even chad (chatGPT) agreed! Planning this during Thanksgiving week was a little involved because of the weather factor. This actually started when my daughter and I planned to spend Thanksgiving in Costa Rica (blog coming soon!). I'm like, I have a couple more days off, why not ditch my co-workers and take the entire week off. That's when I entertained the idea of doing a national park tour before the Costa Rica vacay.
First I was looking at the east coast national parks. Driving between parks was not bad but the weather factored in so I ditched that plan. Then I looked at southern Cali national parks. Flying out of LAX to SJO was a lot cheaper but the driving between parks are super long and the weather factored in as well. So that plan got nixed but I saved it for future exploration.
Then I get to look at TX and NM and bam!
🏞 Day 1: Big Bend National Park, TX
I arranged with my employer to take the afternoon off on a Friday. I arrived super early at BGR and worked until noon, just enough time to get ready for my flight.
I arrived late at MAF. Got my nice rental car and drove half way to Big Bend National Park. Spent the night at Fort Stockton, TX, about halfway between the airport and Big Bend.
Puu and I explored Big Bend National Park Saturday morning.
I don't have words to describe the scenery when you get to the park. The images below do not do justice either. But I'll them speak to you.
Why did the tarantula crossed the street? Yup! Tarantula crossing is fairly common in Texas. When I saw one, I stopped carefully and safely on the side of the road to get a pic of the fascinating creature. I kept my distance of course especially when it moved its tail up, getting ready to attack, thanks to my 300x zoom lens.
And no matter how many times I read the word "rio grande" while prepping for this trip, I didn't hit me that it's the famous "rio grande" until I saw it with my naked eye. But i was thrown for a loop at first. I saw the sign "Rio Grande view area", slammed on the breaks then turned in excitedly to see THE rio grand. I even started Rio by Duran Duran in my head! But when I got to the "viewing point", this is what I saw:
I'm like... is this a joke? I was super disappointed but was not defeated. I drove around some more until I get to the
Boquillas Crossing. It's the gated portion of the park for a reason. It is where you can legally cross between Mexico and the US. It was very interesting to me that just beyond the gate are Mexicans hanging around, selling stuff, watching park goers come and go. That just beyond the gate, is another country.
And then I drove around some more, still singing Rio in my head... until I get to where I'm like, nah, it's all good, I can turn around here. So I saw a parking lot where I could turn and then this happened:
Duran Duran had never been singing so loudly in my head! LOL. It was a cool spot. And Maine's honor system is nothing compared to Mexican's. LOL
And then I have to start heading out and make my way to
Guadalupe Mountains National Park. On my way out, I decided to do another scenic drive along Ross Maxwell. I'm glad I did.
"Every mountain top is within reach if you just keep climbing"
- Barry Finlay
🏞 Day 2: Guadalupe Mountains National Park, TX
I paid to stay the night at Frijole Horse Campground. It's a group campground but can also be just for one car. I was surprised how many cars passed by the campground. I guess there's a trail beyond the campsite. The parking space is pretty big, can probably fit 5-7 cars. One of the cars that came from the mountain pulled in so I asked them if they are planning to spend the night at
my campsite. They said yes which was fine by me. I actually thought that it was cool to have other people around.
And then it got dark. Looking at the Guadalupe Mountain and the back of El Capitan, I saw a lot of campers along the trail which was cool. It was cool to that I was able to get a pic of the night sky.
And then it got even darker and paranoia kicked in. I was not comfortable with people around and I was not comfortable being out in the element without anything to defend myself except my wits and willingness to survive so I called the hotel in New Mexico that I was going to stay at the next day anyway and asked if they have a room for me to stay in that night. Thankfully they did and accommodated my request. It was just 25 miles from the campground so it was not too bad. And I was glad I did because the long drive from Big Bend was exhausting. I felt safer in the hotel and revived the next day, ready for a little hiking!
The Guadalupe Mountain peak is the tallest in Texas. I did not hike that. I think it's about 8.5 miles in and out and would take maybe 4-6 hours to do the entire hike (hiking and stopping a lot to take in the scenery and take pics). So I opted for the
Devil's Hall hike.
It was not bad at all. It was about 4 miles in an out and it's rugged and rocky and was challenging especially when you get to what I call the amphitheater.
Also saw some interesting critters, cool trees and the her royal highness, Queen Butterfly.
And then I decided to have a good meal and see what Carlsbad, NM has to offer. 🏞 Day 3: Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM
The next day, Sunday, I'm off to
Carlsbad Caverns National Park which was just next door to where I stayed which worked out well. The park opens at 9am so Puu and I decided to check out the store across the street from the hotel. Puu had fun. LOL
I was iffy about
checking out the cave. I don't like closed spaces. But it did not feel like that at all. The cave was massive. Massive enough that it has, in the cave, inside the cave, it has a restaurant, restrooms and an elevator. Crazy!
I had to reserve the hike/tour and was grateful for the park ranger who changed my reservation to an earlier time otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do this...
Day 3: Detour
When in New Mexico, you'll know you're in Roswell when the first establishment you see has alien decorations in front of it.
When McDonald's is shaped like a spaceship and has aliens all over the place.
🏞 Day 4: White Sands National Park, NM
Puu and I arrived at White Sands National Park Sunday afternoon. I was hoping we'll get there early enough to see the sunset and we did but not enough time to explore the park. It says it was closed but a lot of people was still entering. And because I follow the rules, I turned around and head out to our hotel in Alamogordo, NM which was like 5 miles away from the park.
I like
White Sands NP. It reminds me of Bogus Basin in winter but with white sands instead of snow. It offers a few hiking trails and the longest was like 5 miles and it was more intimidating than walking in the woods of Maine. Wrong turn and you'll be walking for hours to try to find your way back. Everything looks the same - white sand. It was cool though that next door is an air force base where they test missiles. I hang around for a bit to see if I can catch some action but no. But at night, you can really tell that you're next to the base because of the fly overs.. and there were a lot.
The next day, it was time to fly to Costa Rica. I left the hotel at 3am to drive to ELP. The sky was pretty but my attention was definitely on the gas gauge. Going with what the remaining mileage that's showing on the dash and how far I needed to go to get to the airport, I winged it and did not fill the tank at all. I paid for pre-fill that why. But of course, as I'm getting close to the airport I made a wrong turn. It was cool because I made it to the edge of Texas but then again - little voices are shouting - YOU NEED GAS! But I didn't. I arrived to ELP without any issues. But I do like the
Chevy Equinox that I rented. I'm seriously considering it over a Subaru Crosstrek.
So to recap, if you're in the east coast and want to explore the national parks in Texas and New Mexico, you need at least 6 days: 2 full days of travel and 4 days of exploration. Maybe more if you want to really explore the two states. I'm sure there are more to see like the
pistachio farm with the biggest pistachio display in the world!
Solo trips or soloventures are fun, as long as you're well prepared not only physically but more importantly, mentally. You need to be ok with dining by yourself, staying in a hotel or camping by yourself, laughing out loud by yourself, rocking to your favorite song by yourself, talking back and anwering a podcaster. You need to be hyperaware of your surroundings and your walls must be extra high while soloventuring - you cannot lay back, be trusting or easy going. You can look like it and you do need to relax but at the right time. You need to set boundaries and be prepared to be disappointed. Once you trash all expectations of a perfect vacation, you are ready for your soloventure!
Where to next, Puu?
I said on my last post but I did not post it because I was so excited to post about my national park experience. But yes. Puu's next adventure is all about family visits!
