Big Bend National Park and Marathon Motel, Marathon, TX

Big Bend National Park is more than 800,000 acres of mountains and desert. It is the only park to contain an entire mountain range, the Chisos, within its borders. Elevation varies from a low point of 1850 feet to Emory Peak at 7825. This web site, Summitpost.org, has a lot of information on the mountain area. There are three campgrounds in the park. Two are too small for our rig and the third one was was 20 miles from the visitor center, near the Rio Grande River. I think it would be a pretty area, but we didn’t feel safe camping right next to the Rio Grande River (Mexican/US border). One of the smaller ones is also along the river in a different area. There are 118 miles of the Rio Grande River that border the park. There is a $20 fee per vehicle to enter the park. We used our America the Beautiful pass, which is going to be expiring at the end of this month.  We enjoyed Big Bend Ranch State Park more due to it following the Rio Grande River and driving in the mountains/hills and not so much desert.  We felt it was more scenic.

                                                 

Marathon Motel & RV Park in Marathon, Texas is a Passport America participating park. We paid $12.50/night for full hookup with 50 amp, cable TV and wifi.