Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State park and the incredible drive down FM 170 to get there

A young, in-shape guy, came through the Rio Grande Village (RGV) store while we were working at Big Bend National Park and mentioned his hike through Closed Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park.  He said the slot canyon was amazing, the hike was great and we should definitely do it, and then he mentioned that he'd gone too far into the canyon, going over a rock formation that was too slick to climb out of, and he was not able to get back out. He said that to get back to civilization he had to continue down the canyon to the Rio Grande and hike another 7 miles until he found another canyon that he could climb out of.  Well, we got excited just hearing 'slot canyon' and not much else really made any sense, until we faced a similar choice in a place similar to what he talked about.

When we got there we found an unexpectedly beautiful place to explore.

We decided to make the drive through Terlingua and on to the State Park's eastern visitors center, Barton Warnock Visitors Center, near Lajitas.  This was really the only way to get to the state park from Big Bend, and we'd been wanting to visit Barton Warnock since we'd heard how great it was.

This was still a long drive for a hike. From the southeastern part of Big Bend, it would be an hour and a half drive just to get to the visitors center.  Then we'd have 20 miles to go down FM 170 to get to the canyon.

Google map from RGV to Barton Warnock Visitors Center

Another reason to make the trip was FM 170 or River Road, one of the most scenic and unknown drives in America.  We often talk to Big Bend visitors about 170 out of Terlingua as a way to see an almost entirely unknown, and therefore, unexplored part of West Texas; an incredible drive above and through the canyons created by the Rio Grande over millions of years, River Road is undoubtedly one of the most if not the most scenic drives in North America (Texas Monthly and National Geographic agree).

Barton Warnock Visitors Center

So, we began at Barton Warnock asking questions about Closed Canyon.  By the time we got there, mid-afternoon, it was about 105 degrees (it was August!). The folks there were very helpful, providing all the details we needed.  As it turned out, they said Closed Canyon was a relatively easy hike and we'd get some shade because of the high walls and narrow slot canyon.  The Ranger mentioned not hiking too far in and paying attention to what you climbed over, under or through.  Many formations and boulders were not easy to climb when coming back; so he said we would not be getting to the Rio Grande River on the hike.

And I got to buy a state park T-shirt and support Texas State Parks!!

Closed Canyon trailhead marker

The parks trailhead marker sign provided much-needed safety information everyone should take in before hiking the trail and mentions being aware of drop-offs that become 'too great to safely negotiate'.  Point taken!

Heading into Closed Canyon

The hike began in the dry creek bed leading in.  We began to realize it was much cooler and windier in the canyon.  The air began to travel faster and cooled as it was compressed, forced through the slot.

The path curved to the left as you enter the high-walled slot canyon. Small creek rock and black dirt covered a hard but smooth canyon floor. 

The canyon was rather wide as we started with variations in the color and texture of the rock, smoother on the lower parts of the walls and rougher up higher where the water had not affected it as much.  

Looking into the canyon as we walked you could see how the water traveled through it, smothing it over millions of years, carrying sand and rock with it.  

With cliffs and caves above us, the slot canyon began to narrow, becoming even more smooth-walled along the way; large boulders were exposed as the canyon narrowed. 

Each left and right we took through the canyon gave us a new view around the corner with something unexpected and different ahead.  

We began to do more boulder climbing to continue on through the narrowing slot. 

Eventually, the flat ground disappeared, and all we had was boulders to climb to continue the hike.

At about .87 mile, we came to a drop-off of about 12 feet that we could tell we'd not be able to climb out of on the way back.  

We both tried and could have gotten past the standing water tinaja but getting back up the rock seemed like 'too great to safely negotiate'.  

With the smoothed rock walls and about 8 feet apart, we would not have been able to push against both walls, like a bridge, hands on one side, feet on the other, to get across both ways.  This is a technique we've seen (on youtube) to get past the point where we had to stop at Ernst Tinaja!! 

It was tempting to consider just dropping into the water and continuing the hike, but climbing up and out would have been very difficult or impossible for both of us.  We do need to practice 'bridging' for next time!! 

So we hiked out, happy as clams that we got as far as we did! 

Here's my short video of the hike out

 

On the way back, we spent some time exploring and taking photos of FM 170.  

Here's a panorama photo taken from Fandango Dome Rock, a high point on the road, looking toward Presidio.  

And another looking toward Big Bend National Park with the Rio Grande's green path in the lower right.  

Here are our related posts!

Kayaking in Big Bend Ranch State Park, passing below Fandango Dome Rock.

Hiking into Ernst Tinaja, were we got stuck at the big hanging rock.

And here are our all our videos and photos from this hike in our Google Photo Album.