Texas Outdoors: State Parks You Won’t Want To Miss
Texas represents the Wild, Wild West for many of us, and what better place to experience this feeling than Big Bend Ranch State Park in southwestern Texas.
The largest of Texas state parks, Big Bend Ranch encompasses more than 300,000 acres in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, extending to the famous Rio Grande River which shares a border with Mexico. The area has been home to Native Americans for more than 11,000 years. Present-day visitors can fish in the Rio Grande just as the early Americans did, or they can go hiking, camping and mountain biking.
Big Bend Ranch even offers visitors a chance to really experience the Old West by going on a cattle drive as wranglers guide dudes in rounding up the park-s herd of longhorn cattle. What could be more western than this!
Take your pick of desert or mountain scenery and activities. See geologic formations that are more than 650 million years old. See waterfalls cascading down canyons. Watch for wildlife including black bear, deer, birds and snakes.
Big Bend Ranch is located between Presidio and Lajitas. Texas has many state parks worth visiting. If you have only time for one, make it Big Bend Ranch State Park.