National Park Guide: Texas' Big Bend

 

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As a young man, Charlie Chitwood found the remote, raw beauty of Big Bend National Park intoxicating.

Stunning night skies, high desert topography and a captivating history drew the then-college-age Chitwood back year after year. The opportunity to spend weeks hiking and rough camping alone — far from the noise and congestion of Dallas — made the experience all the better, Chitwood says.

"You can (go) days without seeing people; that had an appeal to me," says Chitwood, of Jefferson, Texas, who visits the park nearly every year after making his first visit around 1968. "It's one of my favorite parks in the world."

Nicknamed El Despoblado (the uninhabited land), Big Bend probably is one of the country's most biologically diverse parks, spokesman David Elkowitz says. It leads the nation in six wildlife categories — bats, birds, butterflies, cacti, reptiles and scorpions, Elkowitz says.

"We are a great place to see wildlife," Elkowitz says. "We have much more (wildlife) than people would think."

Situated near the Mexican border, the park rises from about 1,800 feet at the Rio Grande to nearly 8,000 feet at the Chisos Mountains. There are five visitor centers, three developed campgrounds and a lodge and restaurant, an online park brochure shows.

A crossroads of history and cultural diversity, which includes the Comanche Trail, and the mercury or "quicksilver" Mariscal Mine, makes Big Bend unique, Elkowitz says. The park's Native American imprint — Chisos, Mescalero Apache and Comanche are among the tribes represented — stretches back 10,000 to 12,000 years, Elkowitz says. In 2002, the National Park Service estimated Big Bend contained 26,000 archeological sites, according to the park's website.

For Chitwood, learning about the area's history and hearing about the adventures of Spanish explorers, Mexican settlers and early American pioneers are among the park's best features.

"There are some really exciting stories," Chitwood says.

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About the park

Size: 801,063 acres

Visitors: 361,862 in 2011

Established: 1944

History: Often called "Texas' gift to the nation," the park was the result of a Depression-era s0purchase of the land by the Lone Star State, which later donated the area to the U.S.

When visiting: The park is isolated, far from any towns and bordered on the south by the Rio Grande. There are five visitor centers, two of which, Panther Junction and Chisos Basin, are open year-round. The park's address is 1 Headquarters Dr., Big Bend National Park, Texas 79834. Visitor information: 432-477-2251.

Of note: Big Bend has one of the national park system's most diverse wildlife populations, including the most species of scorpions.