When the Rio Grande leaves New Mexico, it pushes southeast deep into the Chihuahuan Desert, marking the boundary between Texas and Mexico. Then, 300 miles past El Paso, right where the borders of the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila run an imaginary line into the river, the Rio Grande makes a sweeping change in direction, looping to the northeast before curving back hundreds of miles later to make its final long approach to the Gulf of Mexico.
Where the Rio Grande executes this big bend is the location of the same-named national park, Big Bend, one of the most extraordinary scenic surprises in the United States.
For one thing, Big Bend is huge. Texas, which is the size of California and Nevada combined, has always been profligate with its spaces. So, at 1,250 square miles, Big Bend is larger than Rhode Island and ranks with Yosemite and Grand Canyon as one of the largest parks in the continental U.S.
Yet for all its size, Big Bend is relatively unknown. Most Texans hardly know it’s there. Because of its remoteness, the park – it’s hundreds of miles from any major Texas metro area – draws only about 325,000 visitors per year. That’s a miniscule number compared to annual visits to Great Smoky Mountains (9.2 million) or Grand Canyon (4.4 million).
The draw here is an unspoiled high-desert landscape, punctuated by ancient volcanic mountain ranges – some soaring to 8,000 feet – and three beautiful river gorges, including the 1,500-foot cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon, the most dramatic defile along the Rio Grande’s 1,800-mile journey from its source to the ocean.
The park’s main mountain range, the Chisos, although surrounded by desert that is hundreds of miles from the Rockies or Appalachians, preserves remnant forests that are typical of far wetter and more northern climes. Hikers who scale the park’s upper reaches are rewarded with cool woodlands of pine, fir and shady deciduous trees, thanks to the ability of the Chisos’ highest peaks to wring the water out of passing storms.
The human element is important here, too. The park abounds with abandoned ranches and mines. The Mexican side of the river is more populated, though very thinly so. The small Mexican settlements at Santa Elena and Boquillas are themselves so remote from mainstream Mexico that it’s faster for them to send letters to their Mexican kin via the U.S. postal system than it is through the Mexican post office.
Big Bend’s isolation would seemingly make it a good place to cross the U.S.-Mexico border undetected. But the “coyote” trade has never caught on here. Not only is the area hard to get to for both nationalities, it is far away from the concentration of factories and farms that attract undocumented workers. A visit to Big Bend is an opportunity to experience a sense of remoteness, unhurriedness and relative wildness that few national parks outside of Alaska can offer.
A final small note: Big Bend also adds a pleasing element of symmetry to the national park system. Fate has worked it out that each extreme of the lower 48 United States has a national park: Acadia in the Northeast; Everglades in the Southeast; Channel Islands in the Pacific Southwest; and Olympic in the Pacific Northwest. The wilderness island of Isle Royale National Park marks the northernmost park that’s halfway between East and West as well as borders a foreign country (Canada). Big Bend is its southern counterpart.
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