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The Place

The Place

Big Bend and the Rio Grande

Big Bend National Park encompasses more than 800,000 acres of the Chihuahuan Desert, as well as the Chisos Mountains and 118 miles of the Rio Grande — more river frontage than any other national park in the lower 48.

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Adjacent Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas’ largest state park, extends that wild corridor westward across another 300,000 acres. Across the river, the protected areas of Maderas del Carmen, Ocampo and Cañon Santa Elena in Mexico complete one of the largest transboundary conservation landscapes in North America.

Running through it all, the Rio Grande carries a federal Wild and Scenic River designation — a congressional recognition of its outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values. The Lower Canyons, accessible only by river, is one of the most remote stretches of waterway in the continental United States.

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These landscapes draw birders, backpackers, boaters, hunters, anglers and hikers from around the world.

Photo credits: Big Bend by Laiken Jordahl/Center for Biological Diversity; Rio Grande/Big Bend by Laiken Jordahl/Center for Biological Diversity; Gambels quail by Dominic Troiani.