Community Forums

djhinds · 12-30-2015, 08:29 AM

We are headed to Big Bend Nat Park the last week of March this year. What will the campground situation be then. Any suggestions for a 45' MH with a toad.

Safe Travels
Dave

ikold · 12-30-2015, 08:37 AM

Be sure to check out the Gage hotel. Very cool. Some amazing western art in there.

zmotorsports · 12-30-2015, 09:38 AM

My wife and I are headed to a rally there in April and staying at the Maverick RV Park. I have not personally stayed there before as this will be our first trip to southern Texas, but I have heard many good things about it.

Mike.

akadeadeye · 12-30-2015, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

My wife and I are headed to a rally there in April and staying at the Maverick RV Park. I have not personally stayed there before as this will be our first trip to southern Texas, but I have heard many good things about it.

Mike.

This September we were there and stayed near Terlingua. We did check out the Maverick RV Park and will stay there next time. It is the nicest and most centrally located of them all. Good amenities and level sites. Almost no trees but that is typical. Be sure to drive all of the main roads in the park. See Santa Elena Canyon, the Lodge in the Chisos Mountains, and drive to the eastern point at Boquillas. We drove about 210 miles within the park itself.

Also, take the drive from Lajitas toward Presidio along the Rio Grande. Spectacular scenery.

Don

zmotorsports · 12-30-2015, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akadeadeye

This September we were there and stayed near Terlingua. We did check out the Maverick RV Park and will stay there next time. It is the nicest and most centrally located of them all. Good amenities and level sites. Almost no trees but that is typical. Be sure to drive all of the main roads in the park. See Santa Elena Canyon, the Lodge in the Chisos Mountains, and drive to the eastern point at Boquillas. We drove about 210 miles within the park itself.

Also, take the drive from Lajitas toward Presidio along the Rio Grande. Spectacular scenery.

Don

Great, thank you for that information. We will definitely put those on the list of things to do.

Mike.

Loraura · 12-30-2015, 11:06 AM

I would definitely not recommend trying to get the MH up to the Chisos Mtns. The camp spots up there are more suited to tent, popup, and class C camping. There are tight switchbacks and I don't remember there being a decent amount of room to turn around.

If you love to dry-camp and want solitude then the primitive spots could work, but be sure you determine feasibility of getting to them, some require 4X4 and are pretty rutted and rocky jeep roads.

The Cottonwood and Rio Grande Valley parks inside the national park would probably work, but you may have to keep your toad in overflow parking. Check the maps of the park and determine if either of these could work based on what you want to see. The park is HUGE and staying in either of these could mean a 45 min drive (all within the park) to the trail you want to hike. We loved the Hot Springs as much as the Santa Elena Canyon trail, which are on complete opposite ends of the park.

I highly recommend that you do take the toad up to the chisos mtns, do some hiking, eat at the restaurant. It's the prettiest place in the park, in my opinion. Window trail is my favorite.

Outside of the national park I would highly recommend Maverick Ranch RV park. We stayed there for a week and it worked out very well. They have full hookups, a very nice bathroom/shower house, wifi, cable, etc. The folks at the front desk were very helpful. We stayed there and drove to the parks during the day. They are between the National Park and the State Park and close to Lajitas and Terlingua for restaurants, gift shops, gas, and groceries. Be sure to eat at the gas station at 170&118. Delicious home cooked meals. I'm not even kidding. We paid big bucks for a Thanksgiving buffet at the Lajitas Golf Resort and we both felt like we should have just gone to the gas station for a home cooked dinner!

If you are a mountain biker, there are FABULOUS mtb trails in Lajitas, and other good trails in the state park across from the state park headquarters. The Lajitas trails are almost 100% single track and very very flowy.

Let me know if you have questions. I did a ton of research for our trip to Big Bend. I absolutely loved it.

twogypsies · 12-30-2015, 12:15 PM

With our 40' motorhome and Jeep we always stay in Rio Grande Village campground. Some sites are very large - look online. It's dry camping. Right next door is Rio Grande Village RV - hookups - on pavement - parked in a row. They're both in a very scenic area of the park.

djhinds · 12-31-2015, 09:18 AM

To add to my original post I forgot to ask if there is any cell phone signal anywhere close???

Thanks to all who answered.... I have printed off your recommendations and will try do them all

twogypsies · 12-31-2015, 10:42 AM

We got Verizon cell at the park visitor center at Panther Junction.

s8t · 12-31-2015, 06:00 PM

Ditto to what Loraura said. Maverick Ranch was perfect for us. Also it had the best wi-if we've ever encountered.

Thunderfoot · 01-01-2016, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zmotorsports

My wife and I are headed to a rally there in April and staying at the Maverick RV Park. I have not personally stayed there before as this will be our first trip to southern Texas, but I have heard many good things about it.

Mike.

To the OP, you absolutely cannot go wrong staying at Maverick RV Ranch. Then as you drive through BBNP you can scout out the campgrounds and make a decision where to make your "final" base camp. Maverick has a nice golf course, shooting range, and typical resort activities to be enjoyed although as others have posted, I wouldn't necessarily recommend the food.

x3 on Loraura's recommendations. If your toad is a jeep or similar there are many dirt roads that can be too rough & rutty for a car. Some of these roads/trails lead to old mining sites and other points of interest. We also enjoy the Big Bend Ranch SP which has numerous points to access the river plus hwy 170 is a beautiful ride that follows the Rio Grande with numerous historical sites and a couple of old movie sets. The most recent "documentary" Badlands, (I believe on the National Geographic channel) focuses on the murder of a popular bar owner in Terlingua in 2014 and the accused was a local river guide. If you watch the series you will recognize much of the scenery including where the river rafts are launched and taken out of the river. Rafting the river is an activity I didn't see anyone suggest and depending on the water level can be quite fun.

Concerning cell coverage, we carry both AT&T and Verizon and neither has 100% coverage from Alpine to Lajitas, BBNP, BBSP or up to Presidio. Coverage is more than adequate but you may not have a signal in certain areas. Both carriers had good signals around Maverick but not in BBNP for example. Bottom line is everyone will have a great time visiting that part of Texas even though Clay Henry the "Mayor" of Lajitas can't drink beer anymore... but that's a story for another time! Pic attached below.

Off Topic, Mike I'm curious which rally you're attending? We try to make Lajitas every year in March or early April and would love to put some faces with names. If you prefer shoot me a PM.

-David

zmotorsports · 01-01-2016, 07:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderfoot

Off Topic, Mike I'm curious which rally you're attending? We try to make Lajitas every year in March or early April and would love to put some faces with names. If you prefer shoot me a PM.

-David

David, PM sent.

Check it out. I would like to meet you if you can make it.

Mike.

Scottybdivin · 01-01-2016, 08:33 AM

One hidden treasure in BBSP that many people miss is called "Closed Canyon" It is a few miles west of Lajitas. It is a slot canyon that passes through a mountain, to the river. It's an easy 1/4 mi hike (walk) from the parking lot. You can hike down it a ways without any gear, but the dry waterfalls get increasingly higher and require ropes. My grandparents used to take me there in the 60's for picnic lunches and to escape the heat while we were camped on the river. We rafted down the river and jug fished for catfish. We did a trip somewhere along the river every year until I was a young adult. I returned there a couple years ago after 30 years. Stayed in maverick Ranch and loved it. Got to know Tim the manager. He is an old boat racer.

sailwing2003 · 01-01-2016, 09:08 AM

Note that in Big Bend National Park the only hook ups are at Rio Grande Village RV, which is a parking lot. As mentioned all the rest of the camping is dry camping only. With a coach over 40' and your's at 45' they have only a couple spaces. Their website says, 20 can be reserved, and 5 are first come drive in only. When we were there in Oct. two 40'+ coaches were forced to park along side the curb. There is not room for them to back into the curb like everyone else was parked. Cargo and flatbed trailers were just a short distance way on the store parking lot, dropped off before driving into the RV hook up parking lot.

The drive up to the basin is limited to 24' vehicles, and after driving up, you will see why. We drove the jeep thru that campground, and it is small, tight, and not level. There were two host RV's, park, and that was on the only 2 larger sort of flat spots. We had a very nice view and meal mid day in the park resort cafe.

Water is costly, and I head last week, that while friends were at the Village the pump was out, so no water was available at the store or campgrounds.