The Big Bend of Texas is home to the largest protected area of the Chihuahuan Desert in the United States and home to 2 International Dark Sky Parks - Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. We are 200 miles from the nearest major metropolitan area so the stars at night "really" are bigger and brighter in the Big Bend of Texas!

If hiking is your idea of fun, we have over 150 miles of hiking trails in Big Bend ranging from all day mountain excursions to short desert hikes to walks along the Rio Grande and into Santa Elena Canyon.

Chili is the official state dish of Texas and the tiny town of Terlingua, just outside of the National Park, is where chili cookoffs began back in 1967. They continue today with the official Terlingua International Chili Cookoff, held every first Saturday in November.