Snapshot Planning Your VisitWhen we visited the park We visited Big Bend at the end of March, which was a great time to visit. The weather was comfortable, but not too hot. The only thing we had to check on was the rain. We had a large storm that passed through one of the days we were there, and it did wash out some of the canyons and dirtied some of the waters. Besides that, it was perfect for hiking and exploring the park. We brought some layers for morning time, and t-shirts for the afternoon.  weather-us.com Things to Consider 1. The first thing to know is, this is a large park, with three different regions. Make sure to have at least 3 days to really explore this park. There is driving between all destinations, and you are going to want to get out and explore the different areas. Plan for more time needed than you might think. 2. The Chisos Basin area is amazing! We spent the least amount of time here, and I regret that. I wish we could have stayed here, the only lodging in the park. If you want to stay in the park, and not camp, plan to book here early! 3. We crossed the Rio Grande River at Boquillas Port Entry. Bring cash! We paid to use a boat at the crossing, but you can walk if you feel comfortable. You can also pay to use a Donkey to ride into town, or walk the 3/4 miles. We shopped and explored this small town, before heading back across the border. 4. Check the weather before hiking any of the canyons. They can be washed out quickly and closed at any time. 5. The Lost Mine Trail is one of the most popular, but also more strenuous than others. Plan for extra time and extra water if you plan to hike this.  How to Get There To reach Big Bend, you need to head west on Hwy 90, then head south on either TX 118 from Alpine to Study Butte or US 385 to Marathon (then 70 miles south to park headquarters). These will take you to different entrances of the park that will eventually meet in Junction Panter. The nearest airports or El Paso, TX or Midland, TX. If you are coming from Austin or San Antonio, you will have about a days drive to reach the park. Distances between towns and services are considerable. Be sure you have plenty of gas, oil, food, and water for your trip. There are no electric vehicle charging stations in Big Bend National Park. The closest EV charging station is 130 miles away in Fort Stockton, TX. Additional Maps Provided by the Park Where to Stay Chisos Mountains Lodge This small lodge in the Chisos Mountains is worth staying in the park for. There is very limited lodging near this park, so try to book early to save time on driving. There are 72 rooms available here, near park stores and in Park dining options. They have some basic sized rooms, up to the Roosevelt Stone Cottages, priced between $194-$279 a night. It is also located near popular hiking trails, and surrounded by beautiful mountain views. We wished we could have stayed here! Camping Chisos Basin Campground This 60-site campground is very popular in the Chisos Mountains, near the visitor center. It is open January-April and costs $16 a night to reserve a site (recommended). There are limitations on RV camping here because the road up to Chisos Basin requires switchbacks. Check before you go if you plan to use an RV. This is a great place to headquarters out of if you plan to stay multiple days in the park. Rio Grande Village Campground This 100-site campground is located near the Rio Grande on the southern border of the park. It is the largest campsite, and best for RVs. The campground is open year-round and costs $16 a night to stay. There are nearby amenities in the village here. Cottonwood Campground This 30-site remote campground offers a quiet stay among the cottonwoods. It is located in the southern part of the park near the Santa Elena Canyon. It is open January-April and November-December, and costs $16 a night to stay here, with has no running water or electric hook ups. Come prepared if you plan to stay here, because there are limited options nearby. Outside the Park There are not many options for lodging near the park, The closest community is Terlingua, TX about 7 miles from the west entrance of Big Bend. The next closet city is Marathon, TX about 40 miles from the Northeast entrance to Big Bend. We spent one night in Fort Stockton, TX, which is about 100 miles from the Big Bend Northeast entrance, but has many more amenities and places to stay.   What We Did Day 1 The first day we got in, we settled into our Airbnb outside of Terlingua. We rented an RV in a nearby park, that was about a mile from the west entrance of the park. We were supposed to stay here two nights, but a bad storm came through our first night and wiped out the power for the entire valley. We decided to see what we could of the park, but then head to Fort Stockton after a long day of exploring after locals said it can take days to restore power. This ended up changing our plans for Big Bend, but we made the most of it. Before the valley lost power, we got our picture by the entrance sign, but then decided to go explore the Ghost Town and get some delicious local BBQ. Our original plan had been to go hike Santa Elena Canyon before sundown, however our stomachs were craving food. We were going to try to go to Starlight Theatre Restaurant & Saloon (a local recommended stop) but they were closed that evening. We turned onto Ghost Town Road and immediately saw a sign for BBQ. We stopped at DB's Rustic Iron BBQ. It was the perfect place for our family! They had a family platter for us to try a little bit of everything, open garage doors for fresh air and beautiful scenic views of the mountains in the distance, and live music for the girls to dance to. They also had a full bar with happy hour margaritas that were to die for! My son also had to give a jalapeno pepper a try here to try to show us that he could handle it. It didn't go well. We also loved the yard games they had in the back to play while we waited for food. The staff was also welcoming and friendly to everyone. We would highly recommend a stop here! After dinner, we need to walk off all the food we consumed. We headed up the road to the Terlingua Ghost Town. We stopped in the store and got a Walking Tour map to see the different places and the history of them. There were 10 different stops on the map, all within a couple of minutes from one another. We saw the old mining shafts, church, school, and living quarters of the town. We learned about how the mining industry brought people here, but the eclectic artists of the 70s kept the town alive after the industry left. It was so unlike anything we have experienced with our kids, and was fun to imagine what life was like a hundred years ago. We ended by exploring the Ghost Town Cemetery at the end of the tour, looking for familiar names we read about. Day 2 We decided to make a long day and fit in as much as we could in Big Bend, as our lodging plans had to change because of the lack of power in the valley. The closest lodging we could find was in Fort Stockton, which meant that we had to be more selective with what we saw in Big Bend. The weather was still clearing up as we drove into the park, so we saw some unique clouds on our way to the Hot Springs a long the Rio Grande. The turn-off for the hot springs is a very bumpy, narrow, gravel road. You are going to want a high profile and/or a 4 wheel option on your car to get to the parking lot here. There are changing stations available here, but if it is busy, there will be a wait. To get to the Langford Hot Springs, you have about a 1/4 mile hike a long the Rio Grande. You will pass old buildings that used to house visitors. With all the rain, the path was muddy and the water a little dirtier than usual. We made it to the hot spring, which sits right along the Rio Grande. We soaked for a bit in the warm water as we watched wild horses walk along the river. The slope into the hot spring is not level and quite slippery. Good water shoes for this are highly recommended as the bottom of the springs is mucky and rocky. It was a great way to start our morning and warm up.  The next thing we did was head to the Boquillas Border Crossing. This activity could have been its own day of exploring. If you decide to do this, you will need your passports to cross into Mexico and return. You will also want to bring cash for Mexico. They have limited service and electricity. There is food and shopping there, so extra cash is a good idea. It is a short walk down to the river after you have made it through customs. At the river you can cross on your own, it is shallow for adults, or you can pay $5/person to cross in a river boat. We did this with the kids, and they provided life jackets for them. Someone then pulled us across the river, and it also included our return back to the US side. Once you cross the river, it can feel a bit chaotic with all the people, dogs, and donkeys there. We paid $10/donkey to take us the 3/4 miles into the town of Boquillas del Carmen. This is the only town in Mexico near this Port of Entry, the closest one is four hours away. So it is a very small, remote town that relies on community to be successful. Once we got into the town, we had to check in with Mexican Immigration officials and pay $7/adult. They gave us a wristband to wear during our time in Mexico. The man who helped us with the donkeys actually toured us throughout the town and explained their daily life, different buildings, history, and the craftsmanship of the townspeople. It made the experience very comfortable and interesting. We stopped at a beautiful spot called Jose Falcon over looking the border. We had to order some authentic mexican food and Mexican Diet Coke. After some of the best tacos of my life, we then headed out to explore some of the local vendors and find souvenirs for our kids. We walked around for about 30 minutes before we headed back to the donkeys and made our way back over the Rio Grande to the US. We probably spent about three hours in this part of Big Bend.  Boquillas Canyon The next two stops took us to some hiking. We were going to hike the Santa Elena Canyon (1.6 miles), but it had been washed out and was closed the morning we had planned for it. So we did the nearby Boquillas Canyon Hike (1.5 miles) and it was equally beautiful. The beginning of this hike does require walking up carved rock stairs, and then back down uneven ground to the canyon. Once in the canyon, you wake through some trees and bushes to find yourself a long a river. The hike back into the canyon is quiet and peaceful. We ran into some fisherman a long the river, and we watched them pull in some fish in the murky water. This is an out and back trail, so we headed back and ran into more wild horses on the path. The second stop up the road was at the Dugout Wells. It isn't much to see, but you are able to get out of the car and walk around this area of the park. You can walk through some of the vegetation but really it is a place to see how they got water in the desert. We did get to see some pretty cacti though here.  Our next stop was the Visitor Center at Panther Junction. This is a central location in the park and has a much larger visitor center/store. The kids completed their Junior Ranger program here and got sworn in as Junior Rangers. We also found a cool plant scavenger hunt outside a long the sidewalk. This is a great place to stop and get your bearings if needed. I would recommend checking in with rangers and the elements before you go too far into Big Bend. Things can change quickly in the environment here. Our final stop of the day was the Chisos Basin area of the park. We were not prepared for how amazing this part of the park is! If we had done more research into it, we would have made sure to get lodging reservations here and stay an extra night. It is also the only lodging options inside of the park. The drive into this area is completely different from the other climates, has different vegetation, and the temperature is cooler. There are amazing hikes that start from this area as well, so an extra day for here would have been great. The drive does have some sharp turns as you climb in elevation, so be ready for mountain driving here. We quickly stopped at the visitor center before they closed (4pm) and then walked out to the Window View Trail. If we had an extra day here, I would have liked to have hiked Emory Peak (5.3 mi) or Chisos Basin Loop Trail (1.9 mi). However, the short, flat, and paved hike to the viewpoints was good enough for this trip. We left feeling that we definitely needed more time in Big Bend. Day 3 We ended up leaving a night early, so we didn't get to follow through on our plans. We had planned on hiking the Lost Mine Trail early in the morning, before it got to crowded. This is one of the most popular hikes in the park because of the stunning views, challenge, and length of the trail. It is about a 5 mile hike, but has 1,000 ft. of elevation change on the hike. It will take a half day to complete this with kids. Make sure to bring extra water and snacks! We also stopped at the Fossil Discovery Exhibit on our way out of the park. This was a quick stop, about 20 minutes. There are some large fossils on display here to check out that have been found within the park. Any dino-loving kid will find this stop exciting! We also walked up to see the landscape of where paleontologists found many remains from 130 million years ago in the "boneyard." Where this fit in our Road Trip We visited this park after going to Guadalupe Mountain National Park, and on our way to San Antonio. Our time at the park would be been better with at least one more day. I was not prepared for how large of a park this was, and how weather would determine what we did here. There is really not much between towns and the park here, so make sure you have everything you need before you leave a more populated area. I am glad we also spent time in Terlingua to experience some of the unique cultural aspects of desert life in Texas. NPS App and All Trails Maps I highly recommend using the National Park Service (NPS) App, as well as the All Trails App for hiking. There is limited service in the park, so planning ahead is helpful. These two apps allow you to download sights, maps, and trails so that you can access information anywhere. The NPS app also links to the full National Parks Website, with a plethora of information.
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