McDonald Observatory has been one of our travel “almosts” since 2022, when a surprise snowstorm during our Big Bend trip made us hightail it back home, leaving the Star Party and Fort Davis for another time. Skip forward to April 2026, and it was time for a redo itinerary centered around Fort Davis.
This time we made up for everything we missed: getting our nerdy side on at the Observatory, experiencing frontier military life at Fort Davis National Historic Site, driving on the Davis Mountains scenic loop, swimming at Balmorhea, drooling over the cactus collection at Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center, and eating authentic Salvadorean food at an unassuming food truck!
Here’s a 3 to 4 day itinerary that hits everything in the area:
Day 1: Long Drive to Fort Davis
Houston to Fort Davis is roughly 9 to 10 hours; a grueling drive that’s easy on the eyes! Watching the surroundings shift from Piney Woods to desert scenery with pretty Hill Country roads in between is a treat.
Leave well before sunrise, to arrive with enough daylight hours left to check out the area. We made a few stops around Junction and Fort Stockton to refuel and stretch our legs a bit – and then had a picnic lunch at a roadside stop close to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center.
Stop 1 – Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens
Reaching the Nature Center at 2 pm, we had a good 3 hours to see their flora and fauna before the center closes for the day. The center has nominal adult entry fee and is free for kids under 12. Must sees at the Botanical Gardens include:
- Powell Visitor Center
- Cactus Collection
- Trans-Pecos Native Plants trail
- Pollinator Garden
- Scenic Vista Loop Trail and Overlook
- Wildscape Garden
- Mining Exhibit
- Bird Blind
The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute also has longer hiking trails which we were unable to do due to lack of time. Map here.
After the gardens, we headed to our AirBnB – a rambling rustic West Texas ranch – accessible by a dirt road! Seriously, so much fun. Then it was time to grab some dinner at the El Salvadorean food truck in town – completely delicious, and head to the main attraction of our trip!
Stop 2 – McDonald Observatory Star Party
McDonald Observatory, sitting high on some of the tallest peaks in the Davis Mountains, is the Pride of Texas. It is operated by University of Texas at Austin and is one of the finest observatories in the world. The dark skies here are perfect for a stargazing party – talk about Big and Bright! You should add it to your bucket list!
Let your eyes adjust and enjoy the sky come into focus before you. We got to see the Orion Nebula, Jupiter, Big Dipper through the telescopes. We also saw shooting stars and satellites in the sky. Plus the laser pointers the staff uses to point out stars in the sky is super cool!
If you’re thinking of going, a couple of insider notes:
- Plan your trip on a new moon night
- Book the tours well in advance as they get sold out
- Keep a spare day in case they reschedule your tour due to poor weather conditions
- Dress warmly, temperatures dip quite a bit this high in the mountains
- The party ends at 11pm, so you’ll be out pretty late. More info here.
Day 2 – Downtown Fort Davis and McDonald Observatory
In addition to the star party, you should also attend the solar viewing and guided tour of the research telescopes. These start at 1 pm, so we had plenty of time to grab breakfast in town and check out Downtown Fort Davis before heading to the Observatory.
Stop 1 – Downtown Fort Davis
Stop 2 – Solar Viewing at McDonalds Observatory
Stop 3 – Guided Tour of the Observatory
Stop 4 – Davis Mountains Scenic Loop
Post the guided tour, we took the scenic drive on TX-118 past the Davis Mountains Preserve and then on TX-166 past Sawtooth Mountain and Balanced Rock. Coming back to Fort Davis we stopped at Point of Rocks Park, a must if your kids like scrambling up the rocks.
Stop 5 – Point of Rocks Park
Then it was time to head to Alpine for dinner and back to our Ranch stay, for a busy day ahead.
Day 3 – Davis Mountains State Park and Fort Davis National Historic Site
Stop 1 – Indian Lodge Fort Davis
Stop 2 – Davis Mountains Skyline Drive
Stop 3 – Fort Davis National Historic Site
Stop 3 – Balmorhea State Park (optional)
We stayed at a hotel in Junction for the night.
Day 4 – Llano River State Park and Back to Houston
Stop 1 – Llano River State Park
And just like that, it’s time to head back home. Seeing the light pollution and traffic on the way back makes you yearn for the impossibly dark skies and utter solitude of Davis Mountains. It makes you nostalgic for the incredible views of the Milky Way. This road trip is almost therapeutic for city slickers like us.
Protecting Big Bend and its legacy
This is hard to write. Travel is supposed to be relaxing, beautiful, and stress free. But things don’t always stay that way.
Throughout our trip, we saw signs opposing the Proposed Border Wall. It was sobering to imagine a wall cutting through the Big Bend region – across majestic sites like Santa Elena Canyon – and potentially making areas south of the River Road in Big Bend Ranch State Park inaccessible. The damage it might cause to the local flora and fauna, dark skies, and the tourism economy is difficult to comprehend.
Hopefully, good sense prevails and minimal harm is done to this sensitive environment. I would love to see Big Bend remain as it is – for my children and for all future generations to come.