Big Bend National Park is over 800,000 acres of remote desert and mountains in south Texas.  The southern border of the park is defined by 244 miles of the Rio Grande River with Mexico on the other side.  Big Bend National Park is the largest protected area of Chihuahuan Desert in the United States, and includes more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals.  (nps, wiki)

We visited Big Bend NP in October 2009.  We spent five days hiking in the park, and stayed in a cabin just outside the park in the small town of Study Butte.  Following is a photo tour of our trip to Big Bend National Park.

Carro Castellan is a pretty mesa that rises 800 feet above the Chihuahuan Desert (whose name is pronounced like Chihuahua, the tiny dog breed).

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The Chisos Mountains dominate the middle of Big Bend National Park and were created by sedimentary rocks that eroded to expose the harder volcanic rock beneath.  (source)

Nestled in the Chisos Mountains is a giant basin where the Lodge and Visitors Center are located.  It’s also the start of many trails including the South Rim Trail, one of the most popular hikes in the park with views of thousands of square miles of desert and mountains.

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The views are expansive along the entire South Rim.

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Devil’s Den is a narrow chasm in the southern end of the Santiago Mountains.  It sits in the northeast corner of Big Bend National Park, just south of the Persimmon Gap Entrance to the park.

From the road, the Devil’s Den canyon appears as a Harry Potter scar in the foothills.  The canyon is about 3 miles away in this photo.

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The Rio Grande River forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico.  The Rio Grande is 1,885 miles (3,034 km) long, making it the fourth-longest river system in the United States.  (wiki)

The Rio Grande valley is lush and green.  The United States is in the foreground; Mexico is on the far side of the river.

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