Big Bend and Marfa
Day 1 – Arrive El Paso/ Drive to Ranch near Big Bend National Park
Arrive at El Paso Airport, gateway to the Texas Mountain Trail Region. Pick up your rental car upon arrival. Then drive the approximately 3½ hours from the airport through the West Texas hill country to your ranch-home base for the next five days. Enjoy a dip in the pool or hot tub or a spa treatment before dinner at the ranch.
Day 2 – Flightseeing over Big Bend State and National Parks / Private 4-Wheel Drive and Hiking Tour in Big Bend
After breakfast, you’ll be picked up in a Cessna 205 aircraft at the Ranch Airport for a one-hour scenic flight over the Big Bend State and National Parks and the dramatic Rio Grande River and canyons which form the southern edge of the Parks. Your pilot is a former Big Bend National Park Ranger, who knows this country intimately. Your destination is the airport near the National Park entrance, where you will be met by your 4-wheel drive vehicle and guide for a full day of backcountry travel and hiking in Big Bend, including hikes in the high country with great vistas, fossil beds, historic mining sites, ghost towns, and a variety of Big Bend wildlife, cacti and wildflowers. A picnic lunch will be served enroute. In the late afternoon, return to the Ranch by Cessna 205.
Day 3 – Morning Activities at the Ranch / The Art and Mystery of Marfa / Private Tour of the Art Collections/ The Marfa Mystery Ghost Lights
Enjoy a morning of relaxation or activity at the Ranch; activities include spa treatments, hiking, horseback riding, ATV tour, 4-wheel drive tour, historic fort tour, wildlife tour and more. You can book these upon arrival at the ranch. After lunch, drive to nearby Marfa for a private tour of the contemporary art collections and galleries that have made Marfa one of the leading centers of contemporary art in the U.S. A dinner at one of the fine restaurants in Marfa follows. Your Marfa visit will then be capped by a chance to view the Marfa Mystery Ghost Lights over nearby Mitchell Flat. There are many theories about the source of the ghost lights, since their discovery in 1883; viewing has been popular ever since. You’ll drive the short distance back to the ranch in the evening.
Overnight at the Ranch in a deluxe room with king bed.
Day 4 – Rio Grande Canyon River Trip & Big Bend NP Hike
After breakfast at the ranch, enjoy the 2-hour picturesque drive along the Rio Grande River to the town of Terlingua, just outside the boundary of Big Bend National Park. You will meet your rafting guide here for the short drive to the put-in point for your river trip through one of the many canyons of the Rio Grande in Big Bend. Depending on water conditions, your trip will be in an inflatable raft (higher water) or canoes (lower water). In either case, you will experience the grandeur of red-rock sheer walls rising over 1,000 feet from the river floor. We will stop at several points along the river for short hikes into side canyons. A picnic lunch will be served along the river. Take the return drive to the Ranch in the late afternoon.
Day 5 – A Full Day at Ranch
Enjoy a day of relaxation and/or activity at the ranch. The day is yours to design as you wish. Relax by the pool, hike, mountain bike or fish or take a spa treatment, horseback ride, or take an ATV tour.
Day 6 – Depart
After breakfast, check out, drive to the El Paso Airport, return your rental car and depart.