Chisos Basin Campground (Big Bend, TX)

Chisos Basin Campground, perched high in the rugged Chisos Mountains, is the most sought-after campground in Big Bend National Park. At an altitude of 5,400 ft. (1646 m), the campground is surrounded on all sides by tall, rocky cliffs and is conveniently located near some of the park's most spectacular and popular trails. This campground offers excellent views and mild temperatures. Also found in the Chisos Basin area are the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, the General Store and the Chisos Mountains Lodge, which houses the only restaurant in Big Bend National Park. Important: the road to the campground is steep and winding with sharp hairpin turns. Trailers over 19 feet and RVs over 24 feet are not recommended, and will not be accommodated. Campsites are small, rocky and not level, so there are very few sites truly suitable for RVs — many sites will allow an RV, trailer, van or camper, but you will not be able to get level, so it is necessary that you carry some form of leveling blocks or devices with you. The campground is almost always full, and if the site you booked doesn't work, in all likelihood you will NOT be able to switch sites and will either have to make your site work or find accommodations at another campground. No RV parking is available at the group campground, nor is generator use allowed there; all sites where you may have a generator are reservable, so if you need to use one and do not have a reservation in such a site, you will need to camp elsewhere. The campground has 60 individual campsites and is reservable year-round, some sites six months in advance, some two weeks in advance (Sites 8 - 10, 12 - 15, 31, 37 (accessible), and 48 - 60). There is no first-come, first-served camping, and a few sites are set aside for administrative use. Because of the size of each campsite, they are more suitable to tent camping than RVs or trailers, though both are allowed at some campsites. Each site comes with a picnic table, charcoal grill and bear-proof food storage container, and some sites come with picnic shelters for shade. Most campsites are within easy walking distance of drinking water and toilets, and a dump station is provided for RVs and trailers — it is oddly situated and requires EXTRA long hoses, as it's on the right side of the road, opposite from most RV sewer outlets. Another more easily utilized dump station is located at Rio Grande Village. This campground is a hub for hikers. Some of the park's most spectacular and popular day hike trails are nearby, including the Lost Mine Trail, the Window Trail, the South Rim Trail and the Pinnacles Trail, with its access to the park's highest point, Emory Peak (elevation 7,825 ft./2385 m). Campers can find the trailheads for most of these trails in the main Chisos Basin area, a mile or so further down the basin road from the campground. Access to the river is approximately 30 miles (48 km) away, where visitors can canoe, kayak and fish. The national park is named for a curve in the Rio Grande called the "big bend"; for 1,250 miles (2012 km) the river is an International Boundary between the United States and Mexico. The campground lies at the base of several sloping cliffs amidst montane shrubland, with desert plants such as Arizona cypress and mesquite trees filling the landscape, while maple, aspen, pinyon and ponderosa pines grow at higher elevations just above the campground. Though it is lower than the surrounding cliffs, the Chisos Basin is at a higher elevation than other campgrounds within the park: summer temperatures here are cool, yet warmer than other areas in fall and winter due to the cold air sinking into lower regions. The Chisos Mountains are a popular nesting site for migratory birds, and provide the only nesting ground in the United States for the Colima warbler, which arrives in mid-April and departs for its wintering grounds in southwestern Mexico by mid-September. Big Bend National Park encompasses 801,000 acres (324,153 ha), and the centrally located Chisos Basin area gives visitors an excellent opportunity to explore all areas of the park in a relatively short drive.