First trip: advice Big Bend National Park

[ChadTx]

Picking up my 2 door Rubicon next week from the dealer. Excited for her to finally be here. Wanting to do a Jeep trip to Big Bend in October. What advice do y’all have for someone on their first trip? Things to bring? Tools and the like? Also anyone who has visited big bend what are the trails I can do in my stock Jeep? Good places to eat and stay? Places y’all recommend we see? Looking for lots of advice! Thank y’all in advance

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[Reinen]

That's a really open ended question. It would help if you provided some more background.
Are you new to off roading, new to Jeeps, or just new to the JL?

 

[Jeepeto]

Trying to find a place to stay has always been my issue when trying to plan trips to Big Bend NP. It's enough of a struggle that I've never actually made the trip. The Rubicon is a very capable rig in stock form, depending on driver skill it'll take you very far. From what I have seen in research, I don't believe there's anything down there that you couldn't accomplish in your new rig. It would be a good idea to check out something like TrailsOffroad.com or AllTrails.com to research each trail before you take anything on. They will usually have a difficulty rating and reviews will often have rig descriptions (i.e. completed in stock 4 runner) that will give you a better idea of what your in for with each trail. Congrats on the new rig, and happy trails!

 

[bigbaozi]

First question: Did you book any campsites? Chisos is probably full by now and it is by far the best place to stay in the park. The other stuff is at lower altitudes and going to be a lot warmer unless you get lucky with a cold front. Be prepared for cold nights / hot days. There is camping in Terlingua if the park is full.

Keep your gas tank relatively full, there is a gas station in the park at Panther Junction. Otherwise it's Terlingua/Marathon/Alpine.

Terlingua has a decent grocery store, there are limited stores in the park, the lodge might be serving food again if you don't want to cook.

Once you leave the paved roads, damn good idea to have an air compressor and something to deflate with. A lot of the dirt roads are just full of rocks and you'll want to air down. Good idea to have a shovel and some tools, maybe a tire patch kit. It's usually not traction limited but there are occasionally sandy spots. Mostly it's just driving over bumpy stupid rocks. Black Gap is pinstripe city, so if you don't want to scratch your paint stay off it. Unless someone went and did cleanup, it's narrow and full of things covered with spikes. It can be helpful to have a spotter there. River Road had some interesting stops, we didn't do Old Ore but I've heard it's good.

If there is rain in the forecast or nearby, stay off the dirt roads. You can easily end up cut off or washed away by flash floods. Water travels a long way in the desert and it doesn't take too much to fill up the streambeds.

Make sure you have some food and water to survive off in case you break down, it may be hours or days before someone else drives by. They sell a 4x4 road guide at the visitor center, worth a read, Gaia has good maps too. We saw exactly one other vehicle the entire time we were on the high clearance roads. If you can bring another car, even better.

Really, the best stuff in the park is off the paved or improved dirt roads, so don't feel like you are going to miss something amazing by not hitting the rough ones. The coolest thing I remember seeing was the Mariscal mine, but you do get some unique views of the Chisos.

 

[BDinTX]

My experience down there was it’s mostly gravel roads. Black Gap road is the only obstacle and I was able to do it in a full sized truck (pre-Jeep). It is beautiful down there though and extremely remote so cell service is spotty.

Normal safety precautions - spare tire, extra water, first aid kit, give somebody your itinerary and check in with them.

We’ll be going down again to pick up the Badge of Honor (oh yeah, download Jeep badge of Honor app if you haven’t already) Wednesday 9/22 if you have that kind of flexibility.

We got an Air BnB up in Marathon TX. The last time we went we got one up in Alpine and it took an hour just to get to the park, so wouldn’t recommend. We saw, but didn’t reserve, an Air BnB with a little telescope observatory. It’s a dark sky area so outside lights are forbidden I believe. No light pollution makes for good star gazing.

The Marfa lights is a cool story but their observation area is right next to a busy road, lots of headlights, ruins your night vision. I’ll skip it this time.
https://visitmarfa.com/marfa-lights/

 

[ChadTx]

That's a really open ended question. It would help if you provided some more background.
Are you new to off roading, new to Jeeps, or just new to the JL?

Had an old Jeep before but never went to far off-road. Just backroads and on ranches. New to the JL and definitely on going on backcountry trips in the Jeep.

 

[Matanzas]

Is La Kiva still there at Terlingua? Had a great steak there once. Agree roads are mostly dirt/gravel. Scenery is stunning.

 

[jlang]

Stay in Marathon (Gage hotel) or Alpine (Eve's bed and breakfast) if you want to be able to eat decent food but prepare for a longer drive in. You can try Lajitas Golf Resort if you are into golf and your lady friend likes the spa. Terilingua (la pisoda if I remember correctly) is closer and has good food. The trails are easy but the scenery is breath-taking.

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