Ernst Tinaja and the Old Ore Road are located on the eastern side of Big Bend National Park. Ernst Tinaja is a popular day use area with a short hiking trail, rock pool, canyon and primitive campground.
Ernst Tinaja
The Ernst tinaja is a 13 foot natural rock pool that has formed in a depression in the bedrock. The trailhead and parking area for the Ernst Tinaja trail is just past the primitive campsite. The tinaja can be reached about 1/3 mile up the canyon.
Do not drink from or swim there as it is a natural trap for animals and can be difficult to escape the pool.
Old Ore Road
Old Ore Road is a 26 mile primitive dirt road that runs from Dagger Flat Auto Trail to just before the Rio Grande Tunnel. The Ernst Tinaja trail and pool is a popular destination, five miles from the southern end of the road.
This is the southern entrance to the primitive road:
The road follows a historic route used to transport ore from Mexican mines to the Marathon railroad station in the early 1900s.