Big Bend/Rio Grande Village Good Sam Verified Campground
Big Bend National Park, TX 79834
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(within 10 miles)
Rio Grande Village was both rewarding and frustrating. The natural setting was sublime. Not only was Big Bend National Park glorious in its desert scenery, the campground itself was well-watered by the Rio Grande and lined with tall trees, mainly cottonwood. The campground was home to a flock of turkey vultures that seem to have decided there was more nutrition to be found there than in soaring over the desert. In addition, while walking through the trees, I saw a coyote, which I was able to photograph,... Read More
Rio Grande Village was both rewarding and frustrating. The natural setting was sublime. Not only was Big Bend National Park glorious in its desert scenery, the campground itself was well-watered by the Rio Grande and lined with tall trees, mainly cottonwood. The campground was home to a flock of turkey vultures that seem to have decided there was more nutrition to be found there than in soaring over the desert. In addition, while walking through the trees, I saw a coyote, which I was able to photograph, and a roadrunner and a javelina, which I was not. A nature lover's dream.
Then there were the problems: Just getting into my site was the first one. The full-service sites are arrayed in two opposite rows in a lot that's bounded by curbs, and hence cannot be widened. My site was across from another trailer, and there was simply not enough room to back my 38' trailer into the site and unhitch the truck, since my hitch requires me to connect and disconnect straight from the trailer, not at an angle. After consultation with some of my new neighbors, we figured out that I could take advantage of the generous width of the site, and park at an angle and with some jockeying back and forth, that's what I did.
The second problem was that I found myself in a total, utter, complete black hole of communications: no cell, no wifi, no internet, no mail, no news, not even a newspaper (remember those?). Not only could I not post anything either to Facebook or my website, I couldn't even work effectively on my website, because although I have a private web server on my computer, my site depends on libraries it connects to over the web. Oh, well, I suppose one needs to wean oneself from addictions on occasion.
And to make matters more challenging, fresh produce was 50 miles away! That problem at least I had foreseen, and loaded up my larder before I arrived.
Nonetheless, Big Bend National Park is so awesome that I would stay again at Rio Grande Village Campground without hesitation, though perhaps only a week at a time.
Read Less
There are actually two campgrounds here, even though Sam only shows one. Get better info at the National Parks website. One is full-hookup, one is no-hookup. If you want full-hookup, make your reservations at least 2 weeks ahead of time. Take my 5-star rating with a grain of salt: remember you are in the middle of a dessert.
Rio Grande Village was both rewarding and frustrating. The natural setting was sublime. Not only was Big Bend National Park glorious in its desert scenery, the campground itself was well-watered by the Rio Grande and lined with tall trees, mainly cottonwood. The campground was home to a flock of turkey vultures that seem to have decided there was more nutrition to be found there than in soaring over the desert. In addition, while walking through the trees, I saw a coyote, which I was able to photograph,... Read More
Rio Grande Village was both rewarding and frustrating. The natural setting was sublime. Not only was Big Bend National Park glorious in its desert scenery, the campground itself was well-watered by the Rio Grande and lined with tall trees, mainly cottonwood. The campground was home to a flock of turkey vultures that seem to have decided there was more nutrition to be found there than in soaring over the desert. In addition, while walking through the trees, I saw a coyote, which I was able to photograph, and a roadrunner and a javelina, which I was not. A nature lover's dream.
Then there were the problems: Just getting into my site was the first one. The full-service sites are arrayed in two opposite rows in a lot that's bounded by curbs, and hence cannot be widened. My site was across from another trailer, and there was simply not enough room to back my 38' trailer into the site and unhitch the truck, since my hitch requires me to connect and disconnect straight from the trailer, not at an angle. After consultation with some of my new neighbors, we figured out that I could take advantage of the generous width of the site, and park at an angle and with some jockeying back and forth, that's what I did.
The second problem was that I found myself in a total, utter, complete black hole of communications: no cell, no wifi, no internet, no mail, no news, not even a newspaper (remember those?). Not only could I not post anything either to Facebook or my website, I couldn't even work effectively on my website, because although I have a private web server on my computer, my site depends on libraries it connects to over the web. Oh, well, I suppose one needs to wean oneself from addictions on occasion.
And to make matters more challenging, fresh produce was 50 miles away! That problem at least I had foreseen, and loaded up my larder before I arrived.
Nonetheless, Big Bend National Park is so awesome that I would stay again at Rio Grande Village Campground without hesitation, though perhaps only a week at a time.
Read Less
There are actually two campgrounds here, even though Sam only shows one. Get better info at the National Parks website. One is full-hookup, one is no-hookup. If you want full-hookup, make your reservations at least 2 weeks ahead of time. Take my 5-star rating with a grain of salt: remember you are in the middle of a dessert.
Big Bend National Park, TX 79834
Coordinates: 29.181880, -102.959480
Elevation:
Directions
From Jct of US-90 & US-385 (in Marathon), S 40 mi on US-385 to park entrance, S 29 mi to park hdqtrs at Panther Jct, SE 20 mi (E). Entrance fee required