Mule Ears Overlook and Homer Wilson Ranch, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/27/2025	0.3 miles	14 minutes	0'	1.7 mph	95 miles

Parking: 

• Santa Elena Canyon Trailhead, Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Map:

• National Geographic, Big Bend National Park

Directions:

• Take the trail to Terilingua Creek crossing. Return the same way.

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/27/2025	3.8 miles	1 hour 48 minutes	269'	2.1 mph	98.8 miles

Parking: 

• Mule Ears Overlook

Map:

• National Geographic, Big Bend National Park

Directions:

• Take the trail to Mule Ears Spring. Return the same way.

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/27/2025	0.7 miles	1 hour 8 minutes	132'	1.6 mph	99.5 miles

Parking: 

• Homer Wilson Ranch Trailhead, Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Map:

• Gai GPS

Directions:

• Take the trail to Homer Wilson Ranch. Return the same way.

We only had a light sprinkle and some lightning last night, so no flooding of the campground. It was hard to sleep though due to the wind causing my tent to flap. In the morning, we headed out to Santa Elena Canyon Trail, which is 8 miles from the Cottonwoods Campground. People have told us this is the best hike in the park. But it has a crossing of Terilingua Creek. The creek was gushing and too dangerous to cross, so we turned around and headed back. 

We did a couple of hikes, starting with Mules Ears Spring Trail. On our second hike, we went to Homer Wilson Ranch. I stopped there to sketch, and Tara and Dian hiked on from there. We saw a javelina cross the road on our drive. Later on, we would see many more javelinas. We also saw several road runners.

There is no shower at the campground, but there are pit toilets and a spigot with potable water. There is a water shortage here, so water must be conserved. 

It was too hot to hike in the afternoon, so we took a ride out of the park and visited Terilingua, which our map called a ghost town. There are ruins there, but there are also casitas that people live in. We stopped and visited a cemetery there. Some graves have piles of beer bottles. I'm wondering if that is related to celebrating their lives. 

Tara went to bed early, and Dian and I went to a visitor center to charge our phones and take advantage of the Wifi there.

The water was moving too fast to cross here.

We had learned that ocotillo blossoms were edible. They are supposed to be a sweet treat.
We tried them and spit them out. The pollen was sweet, but the flower petals were not.

Feather Dalea

Homer Wilson Ranch

Terilingua Cemetery