Big Bend with a 13-year old

Fires. Burning your own food. Throwing rocks in the river. Stuff like that is appealing even to kids that age.

>"a trip across the border if my sister gets him an ID card"

And you have a notarized letter from BOTH his parents that you are allowed to take him out of the country.

Maybe if you share a last name, they wouldn't notice, but I'd want to have the letter with me and not be delayed at the border.

Well I am like you, no kids but he is at an age that the wonder of it should be great.

Here is a thread about Boquillas with kids, I say go for it.

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/general-questions-and-answers/boquillas-with-kids/msg130303/#msg130303

This guy always does great trips in Big Bend with his kids, this one with his 10 yr. old out past Mule Ears like you are thinking about

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/your-trip-reports/smokey-creek-backpack/

And this guy too with his 9 yr. old.

http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/members-only-photos-and-reports/devil's-den-mule-ears-and-more-a-report-314-317/

Are you going over Spring Break? The big issue there will be getting permits and campsites, it could fill up fast.

Rather then retype things I'll give you a link to my thoughts on kids and backpacking

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/backpacking_with_kids1.html#.VPPab-l0zIU

and

https://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/backpacking_with_kids2#.VPPbDel0zIU

Hiking with an older kid should be a bit easier as long as he's motivated. I'm guessing he wants to go on the trip? I suggest starting with a night of s'mores and campfires (if legal). If not try cooking junk food on a camp stove. As an emergency backup bring a laptop and a few DVDs he likes in the car. It won't hurt car camping.
As soon as possible I'd hit the trail and go up to the South Rim. Give him a pocket knife, show him how to use a map and give him a camera to take pictures with.
Have fun and PM me if you want too.

Thanks for the help, guys. I haven't visited all the links yet, but I will. Yes, this will be over his spring break. Most spring breaks in TX are in the second or third week of March, whereas my nephew's spring break (TN) is March 30-Apr 3, so my hope is that the majority of the spring break rush will be over, reasoning that Big Bend is mostly a "within driving distance" destination, though I have no data to support that. And hopefully it won't be too hot by then.

David, fires will almost certainly be banned (years of drought, unless spring brings some good rain), but there are plenty of rocks to throw in the Rio Grande. I'm not too old to throw a few rocks in a river myself. Thanks for bringing up the topic of permission to take him out of the country – I hadn't considered that. I've heard that security at the border is very lax, but why take chances. Worst case, we'll just walk down the shore a bit and swim back across ;)

Ah, does he *want* to go? That's an excellent question. He said he did, then said he didn't. But my sister said "You are!" I won't bore you with the family dynamics, but the poor kid doesn't get much consistency or have very ambitious role models. A couple of years ago I had to fight him to go on a little 1-hour hike with me, actually dragging him out of the car, but one minute after we got started he was running around having a great time and a little later told me I was "the best uncle ever". He just has trouble seeing past the immediacy of cracking out on whatever electronic device he has in his hand. I think that once he gets into a situation with clear expectations, consistency and activity, he'll be fine most of the time.

Now another thing – one of my friends has asked when my next trip was, and I told him about this trip, and he has sort of invited himself along. This isn't too bad as there is a lot of driving to be done and plenty of camp chores to help with. My nephew didn't like this idea and thinks I'll just spend all my time talking to my friend and ignoring him (I think this may happen on camping trips with his dad). My primary focus would certainly be on spending time with my nephew, but I can see his point of view on this and I don't think it is unreasonable. I think that having my friend around might reduce the chance of my nephew and I having more meaningful conversations (or is that a completely unrealistic expectation anyway?) I can tell my friend that he can't join us, though it will be more burden for me. My nephew caught onto the friend idea and wants one of his friends to go with us. If it is the kid I'm thinking about, he's a very respectful boy and I think a good influence for my nephew. I don't know if his parents would really pay for the plane ticket, but I wonder if it would make the trip better for my nephew overall, or would it just turn into me/my friend and him/his friend. If it helps him make a more solid friendship with his friend, that isn't a bad outcome either.

I always liked to bring multiple kids instead of just one. I took my littlest brother out as part of a larger group many times before I took just him. I was afraid he'd get bored by himself. Eventually I realized he liked hiking plenty and not bring a friend wasn't going to change that. We had some great trips together before I moved farther away and he got busy with high school.
Anyway I think a friend is a great idea if you can make it happen.

Do some hiking that involves scrambling, boulder hopping, canyons, something a little more adventurous than walking on a dirt trail.