Our intent on spending the last full day in the Big Bend NP area was to hike to the “Red Rocks” area  near Homer Wilson Ranch in an attempt to see the Lucifer Hummingbird. This is one of the better bird watching places in the foothills habitat. However given our lack of success thus far in seeing birds, we opted to cancel that portion of our plans. Another goal for the day was to visit Big Bend Ranch State Park. Big Bend Ranch State Park is a 311,000-acre state park located on the Rio Grande in Brewster and Presidio counties, Texas. However, further research indicated that road conditions in the interior of the park were very rough with frequent washouts and loose gravel. It was highly recommended that if one is traveling to the interior, at least a 2WD high clearance vehicle is needed and that vehicles with low clearance should not attempt to travel to the interior district. Well, the “old” Honda CRV did not meet the high clearance requirements, so we opted out of this endeavor for the day.

The last item on our “last day list” was a visit to Terlingua. Terlingua was a mining town around the turn of the century and was the site of the first famous championship chili cook off in 1967, that today draws over 10,000 “chili heads” from all over the world on the first Saturday every November.

More than a century ago, Terlingua’s growth was spurred by the discovery of quicksilver, which brought miners to the area and helped them thrive for decades. But the Great Depression hit Terlingua hard, and as the demand for quicksilver dried up, so did the town. During the 1940s, Terlingua’s inhabitants packed up and moved on, leaving behind the crumbles of an eerily quiet ghost town.

Terlingua is quite vibrant with restaurants, lodging, and art galleries. Today, the remains of the town—which include homes, antique cars, a church, and a cemetery—are part of what draws people to visit.

With graves dating back to 1903, the Terlingua Cemetery is one of the MOST photographed cemeteries in the US.

Many of the graves are covered with rocks giving the cemetery a creative landscape. There is no rhyme or reason or even a straight path along the plots.

Some of the graves in Terlingua Cemetery are barely marked with a simple cross, while others are elaborate and festive burial plots.

While there are about 400 graves in the Terlingua Cemetery, the majority date around 1918-19 when the town was hit by the deadly influenza outbreak. The Terlingua Cemetery is both quirky and fascinating.

The visit to Terlingua wrapped up our “life list” item of touring Big Bend National Park. On to the next adventure!