Big Bend National Park

Four-and-a-half hours southeast of El Paso, Big Bend National Park is an adventurous West Texas destination for kayakers, hikers, and mountain bikers. The 801,000-acre park at the U.S.-Mexican border was named after a bend in the Rio Grande River, which separates the two countries. The terrain includes, of course, the majestic river, but also mountains, canyons, deserts, and several thermal hot springs. The highest point is Emory Peak, located 7,832 feet above sea level in the Chisos Mountains.

Big Bend is known for extremes in weather, from arid summer days that can get hotter than 100 degrees to cool winter evenings, where temperatures sometimes drop below freezing. Spring, the most popular season for visitors, ushers in temperatures between 48 and 89 degrees. Summer typically ranges from 70 to 92 degrees, while fall ranges from 65 to 70. In the winter, temperatures can be as low as 37 degrees and as warm as 67. Those averages can be much colder if you’re up in the mountains, where temperatures can be 5-20 degrees cooler than they are along the Rio Grande. It’s rare that a storm will ruin your visit -- even during the rainy summer season, the park generally only gets 2 inches of rain per month.

Because it is one of the most remote national parks in the continental U.S., only a few small towns surround Big Bend, including Lajitas, Study Butte, and an actual ghost town called Terlingua. With a population of 430, the village of Marathon is actually the biggest nearby “city,” although it’s about a 40-minute drive from the park’s entrance.

Some of the region’s most popular events pay homage to the area’s proximity to Mexico. On November 2 each year, people flock to the historic cemetery in Terlingua Ghost Town to celebrate Dia De Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. Then, on December 1, the party moves to the town of Marathon, where locals and visitors celebrate the annual Fiesta De Noche Buena to usher in the holiday season with dancing, caroling, and an outdoor tree lighting.

Inside the park, the National Park Service also offers a wide variety of programs for visitors. Rangers often lead guided walks with themes like “Nature All Around Us” or “Life at the Windmill,” while those who prefer self-guided activities can enjoy bird-watching, hiking, bicycling, fishing, and horseback riding. And for a truly unique experience, don’t forget about stargazing -- Big Bend has the least light pollution of any other national park within the continental U.S.

What is today called Big Bend National Park rests on lands first stewarded by Chizo, Apache, Comanche, and other Native Americans, and has served as a place of refuge since prehistoric times. Learn about the park lands history and the people who originally inhabited it here.