800,000-acre Big Bend National Park provides more than 150 miles
of hiking trails for every level of proficiency and endurance.
299,000-acre Big Bend State Park has another 60 miles of trails.
Take a day hike, or an overnight adventure
lasting days or even months.
The Rio Grande riparian zone features creeks and arroyos
in open desert areas, rich with animal and plant species—
and significant cultural artifacts, as well.
Chihuahuan desert trails offer endless fascination for hikers.
Flowing through the Chihuahuan Desert for millions of years,
the Rio Grande has cut deep canyons with
nearly vertical walls through three geologic uplifts.
Whether exploring on foot or by water,
here you can literally travel through time.
The oldest exposed rocks in the Big Bend were
formed by ocean sediments some 500 million years ago.
250 million years ago, a transcontinental mountain range
was formed, and then buried by powerful geologic processes.
Big Bend is one of only two places in America where
this range breaks above the surface of the land.
Whether your interests are ranch life, military forts or paleontology,
Big Bend’s many preserved historic sites provide
dramatic testimony about life through the ages.
An hour’s drive can take you from the banks of the Rio Grande
to a mountain basin nearly a mile high. These elevation changes
produce an exceptional variety of plant and animal life,
as well as dramatic variations in climate.
