Big Bend

[gardere_owns_OU]

i saw hornius_emeritus' photos from pictures around Texas.

immediately striked me as a place i have to go. so i'm gonna do it in a few weeks.

he's given some great advice on places to go and i'm up for more advice too.

 

[texashorn13]

Pretty nice place...be sure to visit Lajitas while you are there. The mayor is a goat, a beer drinking goat. And if you give it a beer, you become an "honorary" citizen to the town. Plus they have a gorgeous resort and golf course.

 

[CaboWabo]

Lat22, time for your pic Fandango pic of Cajunhorn.

 

[blkshoes]

nice shot. dont wait too long or you wont beat the heat. dont know how long you plan on staying, but a day each around the 3 major campgrounds is the minimum - at chisos you have the window trail, lost mine, south rim, etc. at rio grande village there's boquillas canyon, the nature trail at the campground itself is worth doing, and hot springs. at cottonwood theres santa elena canyon, castalon, and along the way, on ross maxwell scenic drive, theres tuff canyon and burro mesa pouroff. and sotol vista. its practically impossible to do all these in a day each, but try. or stay longer.

if i were you i'd leave the park through santa elena, even taking the unpaved old maverick trail is pretty cool, but take the main road if you need to. you will go through study butte, terlingua, lajitas, then take the scenic road to presidio. cant recall the hwy #, but you'll see it on the map. get back on 10 and haul *** home. those towns are a kick, and texas classics.

also worth visiting, if you have the time are other towns near the park. you never know when you'll get that way again. alpine, marfa, ft. davis, marathon, balmorrhea. its hard to plan a trip that way without taking in each of them. marfa has the lights and the paisano hotel (where the cast of giant stayed during filming, full of great pictures of james dean and liz taylor. alpine has sul ross (where hoss cartright went to school), and maybe the best baseball stadium in the country (i believe its called kokenot field). great place for dinner is the riata. railroad blues is where all the great music acts still play - lucinda, james mcmurty, alejandro, etc. ft davis has the observatory. balmorhea has the springs.

enjoy.

 

[Mack Tripper]

If #1 on your list is Santa Elena Canyon (which I believe is what that picture is), #1B should be the drive along the Rio Grande from Study Butte at the edge of Big Bend National Park all the way to Presidio, stopping at Terlingua and Lajitas along the way. It is truly a spectacular drive and blows away anything you see in the Hill Country. From Presidio, its a straight shot back to Marfa.

The Reata in Alpine is a very good place to eat.

 

[Lat22]

Here's to us, by God....

 

[big_fat_horn]

You need to go to this website for everything related to Big Bend:
bigbendchat

 

[gardere_owns_OU]

this is allsome stuff, y'all. thanks. lat, is that you? that must've been a great view.

 

[Math Mudrat]

If you really want to get away, go to one of the back-country primitive campsights...my favorite is La Clocha. It's about an hour's drive from a paved road so make sure your vehicle is up to it.

A good place to stay if you want to be indoors is the Gage Hotel in Marathon, it's a cool old place. They also have good breakfast there.

You must must must do the South Rim hike if you do any hiking at all. If you're lucky you can get a campsite at the top.

 

[pmg]

What exactly do you plan on doing and how long are you staying? Persoally, I wouldn't spend a lot of effort going to the nearby towns until you've seen the park a while.
And, IMHO, which usually varies drastically from the tourist mindset, I'd avoid Rio Grande Village unless you need to shower/laundry, or you enjoy camping close to a lot of people in RVs.
Also note that the temps down toward the river will be about ten degrees warmer than in the mountains and in late April that means highs of about 95, maybe in the 100s.
There are lots of great day hikes, Lost MIne, Grapevine Hills, the Chimneys will all give you a diverse view of the park and are only 1/2 day hikes. South Rim if you're up to it is the classic. If you can't do it, you can get similar views from teh Oak Springs cutoff of the Window Trail. Also Emory Peak (the trail is about to be rerouted) leads to very nice views of the Basin.
Always bring water. Have water in your vehicle; especially if you get on the back roads.

There are tons of great photo opportunities out there, but sometimes the weather or the haze interferes.

I think the "resort" in Lajitas is going to be history in not too many years. The golf course is becoming a salt flat, as he pumps alkaline water and sprays it in the middle of the afternoons on it (in 5% humidity.) I don't think a lot of folks will be sad when it's gone.

 

[Lat22]

That is actually Cajunhorn in the picture. I've been there twice and I have not had the guts to walk out on that rock. Cajun actually runs out there like Gardner does in Fandango. Big cajones. It's located about twelve miles west of Lajitas on Hwy 70 (I think. It is the road to Presidio).
Here are a couple more.

 

[MirrOlure]

We were there (both the NP and the Marathon/Alpine/Marfa/Ft. Davis area) over Spring Break.

What a great trip.

PM me if you want to hear my two-bits.

Here's the sunset from the first night out the back of our tent at Chisos Basin:

Here's my boys beginning the Santa Elena Canyon (the one in Hornya's Images of Texas).

Here they are on The Window day hike (highly recommended):

And here is our view back upon the Grapevine Hills trail(mentioned by someone above) --- a fantastic and very underrated hike:

Like I said, no need to add any more info to the thread, but if you want some insight from someone who was there a couple of weeks ago, let me know.