Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend Resort, Texas

Big Bend Ranch State Park is located in far west Texas in the high desert setting of the northern Chihuahua Desert. It is Texas’ largest state park at over 300,000 acres. The original “ranch” started in 1905 and changed owners many times and added acres to it. Texas Parks and Wildlife purchased the ranch in 1988. The park opened on a limited basis in 1991 and fully to the public in 2007. There are a lot of areas where the public still cannot get to with vehicles. The elevation ranges from about 2,300 feet along the Rio Grande up to 5,135 feet at Oso Mountain. It cost $3/adult from May-October, $5 the rest of the year.

                   

A lot of the road follows the Rio Grande River. We can’t understand why people can’t just walk over sometimes, as this isn’t the Rio Grande and the GPS shows the blue line of the US/Mexico border and there is no water to worry about.

      
                         

This is the 15% grade that was noted in a sign above. There is a pullover spot on top of the hill that we took pictures from. the river is the Rio Grande, US/Mexican border.

                                         

Big Bend Resort, Terlingua, Texas is one of the few campgrounds in between Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park. It cost $32/night with full hookup, 50 amp, cable TV and wifi. We paid more for the 50 amp as we wanted to run the air conditions since it’s hot today. The cable TV didn't work. We thought maybe it was our problem as we haven't used cable for a while, but the camper next door asked us as his didn’t work either.