Big Bend National Park

Introduction to Big Bend National Park

Other Big Bend National Park pages at this site.

Birding in the Big Bend National Park
Rare & Accidental Bird Sightings Spring 2006 in Big Bend National Park
Spring 2007 - Coming Soon

If you love rugged outdoor adventure, nature and wildness, you will love Big Bend National Park and Big Bend will become your favorite travel destination in Texas. If there is any place any wilder than Big Bend in Texas, I haven't been there. Big Bend National Park is the nation's third largest national park and one of the least visited in the continental US. Big Bend National Park is at the southern end of Brewster County. I have explored the Big Bend area beginning in 1978. Spring and winter are the best times to visit. Spring is best and the only times I avoid are June-September when it is very hot even in the Chisos Mountains. Please note, however, that the National Park Service sponsors a very special event in the high Chisos during August. The high Chisos trails leading to Boot Canyon are currently closed due to a mother black bear with cubs. Serious birders might enjoy the page links above. You will find a summary of my first visit below.

Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park

Courtesy of the National Park Service - Chisos Mountains from the north

Big Bend National Park and all the Big Bend Region is notable for its geology, natural and cultural history, and rugged scenic beauty. In the park itself there are a number of different sub environments including the Rio Grande floodplain, sotol grasslands, arid dessert, and mountain forests. The Chisos mountains are the heart of the park and are visible from all sections of the park. The Chisos Mountains extend about twenty miles from southwest to northeast. The highest Chisos peaks are over 7,300 feet above sea level with the highest, Emory Peak, rising to 7,835 ft. In the 18th century the Chisos were home base for the Mescalero Apaches who raided Coahuila and Neuva Vizcaya before being pushed, late in that century, north to the Guadalupe Mountains. Guadalupe Mountains National Park There are several theories about the origin of the name Chisos. My personal favorite is that chisos is a corruption of the Spanish word hechizos that can be interpreted as bewitchments or enchantments. Late in the 19th century and during the early 20th century Anglo and Hispanic cattlemen formed ranches in the grassland surrounding the mountains before the park was formed in 1944. Some of the area's cultural history has been partially preserved within the park boundaries.

First Big Bend National Park Adventure

I first visited Big Bend was during Christmas break of 1978 accompanied by University of Texas friends on their Christmas break. A psychologist friend and I drove down from Fort Worth to Austin in my 69 VW bus and picked up some of our company in Austin. With two vehicles we then traveled through the dead of night through the Hill Country dodging deer. We stopped somewhere, maybe Fredericksburg, for some awesome country breakfast and then dawn found us west of San Antonio headed towards Fort Stockton. Traveling westwards off the Edward's Plateau and going south and west in Texas it is easy to imagine a band of marauding Comanche Indians behind every mesa. These were my exact thoughts on that first visit. Fort Stockton, originally called Comanche Springs, was in fact a stop over for plains Indians raiding deep into Mexico for slaves, horses, and other goods. They crossed mainly near Lajitas which is west of Study Butte and Terlingua. All of the area west of the park and leading up to Big Bend State Park is worth visiting but for me, that would wait for future trips.

From Stockton we dropped south to Marathon. The plains around and north of Marathon are absolutely spectacular grasslands. This is where the movie "Giant" was filmed. Off to the south we saw the Santiago and Rosillas Mountains. I was excited as hell. We came south from Marathon on US 385 to the northern park entrance at Persimmon Gap. Persimmon Gap is the Big Bend National Park northern entrance. From Persimmon Gap we drove 26 miles to the park headquarters at Panther Junction and then another 20 miles to our campsite along the river at Rio Grande Village. Please observe the strictly enforced speed limits after entering the park. On a recent trip I was stopped by one of the Park Service's law enforcement rangers for speeding. They mean business. The Chisos Mountains are distinctly prominent and loom larger and larger as you approach from the north.

In 1978 I had just begun life-listing in terms of birding. Accompanying me were individuals instrumental in forming the Texas Birding Association. Winter wasn't the best time of year for seeing birds, but before the trip was over I added the Acorn Woodpecker, Scaled Quail, Western Bluebird, the Yellowthroat, Mexican Jay, Mexican Raven, and many others including the Colima Warbler to my life list. I also saw a rarity for the Park, the Least Grebe on one of the ponds at Rio Grande Village. On a recent visit I met individuals who had traveled from as far as Japan to see the Colima Warbler. This little drab bird is found nowhere on earth except for a couple of high canyons in the Chisos Mountains. I now note that my checklist cost a dime in 1978. The last I purchased was a dollar.

Cactus in Bloom

In the Park and leading up to the Chisos and surrounding the Chisos is the Chihuahuan Dessert, averaging less than 8 in. of rain per year. August is the monsoon season in the arid American Southwest, sometime accounting for more than 80% of annual rainfall. At the higher elevations surrounding the Chisos you will encounter more elevated grasslands. The foothills around the Chisos Mountains were ranched until the park was established in 1944. Above the grasslands are oak and pinion forests that are home to Mountain Lions, Black Bear, and Chisos Whitetail Deer. In 1978 there were no bears. They have since migrated up from Mexico and are now permanent residents. In fact, black nowl migrate and are trapped on the Pecos River near my current residence in eastern Pecos County. The bears are then returned southwards to the park and to the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area on the east side of the park.

My friends and I camped two nights at Rio Grande Village and one night at the Basin Campground. This is an elevation difference between these two park service campsites of about a mile. By the way, it got very cold at both camping spots at night but was pleasant during the day. We also made a car trip to the western side of the park to see Castellon and Santa Elena Canyon. Big Bend National Park contains around 800,000 acres and is bordered on the south by 118 miles of the Rio Grande. Needless to say, although I have been going there for years, there are many places yet to be explored. I suggest that if you plan a visit, allow at least a week to explore Big Bend National Park it by vehicle including Study Butte, Terlingua, and Lajaitas, small towns outside the west entrance.

I am still working on this story of this first trip, but I am putting it on the server for now to whet your appetite. For a virtual tour of some parts of the Big Bend, hit this fantastic link: You may download Java plug ins needed to totally appreciate this site. Big Bend Virtual Tour

My two most recent additions to the Big Bend pages include Birding in the Big Bend National Park and Rare and Accidental Bird Species in Big Bend National Park, 2006. Links are accessible above. My next project will be an overview of the geological history of the park.

Preserve our Wilderness Join the Sierra Club.