It's Like Another World: Big Bend National Park, Texas.
Driving into this southern part of Texas is like entering another world!
We recently visited Big Bend National Park in Texas and checked off number 26 on our list of the 63 official National Parks in the United States. This park is among the least visited and is located in one of the country's most remote areas. There’s not much around it, and it’s about a couple of hours' drive south of Interstate 10, but it’s definitely worth the drive!
James and I both grew up in Oklahoma, so Texas is a state we have often visited. We’ve been to numerous places around the state and enjoyed the vast array of things that Texas offers. But we had no idea that something like this existed in Texas!
Wow! It’s just stunning to see!
This park must be visited between late fall and very early spring. It’s way too hot to be there in the summer, and many things are closed during the summer as well. We were there in mid-April and it was great! I will say that it did get a little warm during the day, though, so even April was pushing it for being a little late in the year — especially if you’re wanting to do some major hiking.
If you’re visiting during the right time of year, you could spend days exploring various hiking trails, checking out all the popular viewpoints, visiting the various visitor centers, and maybe even doing a little off-roading. But if you’re like us and you have a couple of days to check out the highlights, here are the things we recommend.
Find a great place to stay.
We stayed at Big Bend Station and highly recommend it. The location can’t be beat for proximity if you’re staying outside the park. It’s in Terlingua and it’s minutes from the west entrance. We have a rooftop tent that we camp with, so we booked a pop-up site with electricity and water, and it was right near a nice bathroom with showers (the showers were $2 for 6 minutes, but everything else was included). It was only $39 per night, which we thought was a great deal. They also offer full RV sites and motel rooms you can rent.
They had a small store/gift shop on the property, and a convenience store right next door. They also had a cool game room. This room had books and games, tables and chairs, a couch, a TV, and a pool table. This was a nice feature because the temperature got pretty hot during the day. On the second day we were there, we hung out inside for a bit before setting up camp — waiting for the temps to go down with the sun.
Once we got our camp set up, we enjoyed walking around to take in the views, watching the sunset, seeing vultures and bats fly around, and gazing at the stars after dark. It was a fantastic experience.
If you’re anything like us, you have to stop for the classic photo at the entrance sign. If you stay in Terlingua as we did, there is a sign before the Maverick Junction entrance on the west side, and there’s a parking area so you can easily hop out and get your photo.
Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive
As you head into the park on Highway 118 from the west, you’ll go about 9 miles, and you’ll find this scenic drive that heads south into the park. This is a great paved road with many viewpoints along the way, leading to the Cliffs of the Sierra Ponce Mountains and Santa Elena Canyon.
These are the highlights that we recommend along the way:
Chisos Mountains Exhibit
This overlook not only has amazing views, but it also has some information on signs that tell about the mountains that you’re looking at and how they were formed. It’s pretty fascinating information.
Homer Wilson Ranch Overlook
There is a hiking trail here that goes down to the Homer Wilson Ranch if you’re so inclined, but just stopping to take in the views and see the pretty plants at this overlook was amazing. Definitely worth the stop!
Sotol Vista Overlook
This overlook offers a distant view of Santa Elena Canyon. It looks small from here, but as you’ll see later, if you go all the way to the canyon, it’s pretty large! The views of the whole area from this viewpoint are quite breathtaking.
Goat Mountain
This viewpoint also provides excellent information on local mountain signs, as well as on the geological formations and how they formed. It’s super interesting to learn about. The ridge in the bottom-right photo is a clear example of this. We’d seen these ridges in a couple of spots and this was explained here. And of course, there are some incredible views from the area.
Tuff Canyon
This is an area that not only has a great overlook, but there’s a nice hiking trail to go down into the canyon, too. The view of the canyon from above is beautiful and one you should definitely check out. But hiking the trail gives a great perspective from below and gives you even more beauty to see.
Castolon Visitor Center
This is an excellent opportunity to stop, take in the views, use the restroom, have your NP passport stamped, find souvenirs, and learn more about the area.
There are buildings in the visitor center area that are almost 100 years old. It’s exciting and very cool to check out. Unfortunately, the main building that housed the visitor center was destroyed by fire in 2019, so it is fenced off and closed.
There are great views of the river valley and the Cliffs of Sierra Ponce Mountains from here as well.
Desert Mountain Overlook
This was one of my favorite areas, but interestingly enough, it wasn’t the actual overlook that I loved so much, but the view from the other side of the road.
As we parked, I noticed a hill directly across from the overlook, and it looked like some people had hiked up there to see the view, so I decided I’d do that too. WOW! I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the river and the whole valley between the river and the cliffs. And not only that, some wild horses were grazing down there! It was such a beautiful sight.
The view on the other side of the road was beautiful as well. You have a great view of the mountains from this spot!
Dorgan House Exhibit
This is a small area where you can pull off and see the ruins of a house that once stood here. It was built by a family who settled in the area in 1913. There’s also a hiking trail, so you can explore further and see more ruins, but we opted to check out the closest one and move on.
Rio Grande boat launch and picnic area
This is an enjoyable stop because we were able to go all the way down to the water and walk along the Rio Grande. The water was low in this area at the time, and someone had placed a log across the narrowest part of the river, so we were able to walk across and stand in Mexico. 🇲🇽
This is the spot where you really get to take in the view of the Cliffs of the Sierra Ponce Mountains and realize how truly massive they are. Pictures won’t do this justice — although you can see me standing in the one on the left and see how tiny I am compared to the cliff!
Santa Elena Canyon
There is a great overlook right in front of the canyon that offers an excellent view of it. There’s also a trail you can hike to get down closer to the canyon as well. The overlook has informative signs that explain the canyon and even show how people boat through it. It’s definitely a spot you don’t want to miss.
At this point in the journey, we turned around and went back up the scenic drive. There is a road (Old Maverick Road) that reconnects to the west entrance, creating a loop, but it’s not recommended for vehicles unless they are 4-wheel drive. We drive a 4-wheel-drive truck, but since there wasn’t anything up that road we necessarily wanted to see, we opted to go back the other way and explore more of the park on the east side of the scenic drive.
Once you’ve made your way back up to the West Entrance Road, you can turn right and head toward the Chisos Basin area. Word of warning — this area is limited in space so that it can fill up, and the road will be closed off to traffic. This happened to us upon arrival. We went further east in the park to explore more and decided to return to that area the next morning, since we were staying another day.
Assuming you can go in here next time, I’ll share the must-see items we recommend.
Chiso Basin Road
This road itself is pretty amazing and has some incredible views. I have never seen so many yuccas in my life! They had already bloomed, so it was a sea of stalks coming up out of the plant. Haha! The mountain views and the rock formations along the road were impressive as well.
There is an exhibit/pull-off along the way before you get into the mountains, where you can do a little bird watching and see a great view of the mountains. We saw a beautiful type of bluebird as we stopped to enjoy the area. They were too fast for me to catch a good pic of them, sadly, but they were sure pretty!
Chisos Basin Visitor Center/The Window
Once you get to the mountains, you begin a climb up to the basin through some switchbacks and beautiful views. There are some hiking trails along the way, but from the looks of the parking lots, you'd better get there early if you want to park.
Once you reach the basin, you will find a visitor center, lodge, campground, and many hiking trails. The best part of this area was the view of The Window. This is an area where the mountains have a “window” opening to see out over the valley below. It’s so beautiful! There is a trail that goes down for a closer look, but there’s also a well-paved trail up near the visitor center, so anyone can stroll around and take in the view without a significant hike. Not to mention, there are animals to be aware of in this area, too.
Panther Junction Visitor Center
This is the visitor center you reach by entering from the north on Persimmon Gap Road. The center has a beautiful garden area full of desert plants, as well as comprehensive information inside about the mountains, the river, and the entire park. It was probably my favorite visitor center in the park.
Rio Grande Overlook
The name was a little misleading because we couldn’t see the river from here, but it does offer a beautiful view of the area and the Sierra del Carmen Mountains.
Rio Grande Village Visitor Center
This was just a small center on the southeast corner of the park, but it was a scenic area and, of course, included educational information and bathrooms.
As I’ve mentioned, there are many hikes available throughout the park, and areas where you can go off-road to explore further. To experience the park's main viewpoints and enjoy its beautiful scenery, you can cover all of the items on this list in 1–2 days.
I hope this gives you a glimpse of how amazing Big Bend National Park is, and if you haven’t been before, I hope you add it to your list. Just make sure you go during the time of year when it’s pretty cool outside. ;)
Have you been to the park? What was your favorite spot?