Top Ten National Parks: Tie for No. 8
Discovering the Beauty of America's National (and other) Parks
Last time …
I gave you the lowdown on our number 10 favorite National Park — Arches National Park, located in Moab, Utah!
At the end of that post, I said we would reveal the number 9 National Park next. Well, actually we have a tie for 8th place! That’s right, we’re now going to cover the first of two ties in our Top 10 Ranking.
For a reminder of our National Park ranking system, see our last article here:
Top Ten National Parks: No. 10 - by Chase Green (substack.com)
Let’s get started!
Let’s get to our ratings for our next National Park, tied for 8th place. (For Park Name and pictures, keeping scrolling!)
Scenery:
Desert, prickly-pear cacti, mountains, shrubs, rivers, canyons. All this and more awaits you in this unique National Park which we visited in the fall of 2018.
These pictures don’t do it justice (they never do!), but this particular park was a really nice getaway after my family attended a Bible lectureship in Lubbock, Texas. (That’s a clue!)
This campground was particularly nice, as we were basically in a valley encircled by the beautiful Chisos Mountain Range, which is one of the highlights of the park, and the only mountain range fully contained within the borders of a U.S. National Park! For scenery, this park gets a solid 4.0 stars!
Variety:
There are quite a few hiking trails in this park, as well as beautiful scenic drives for you to check out. You can even cross the border into Mexico if you wish and have lunch! Just remember to have your U.S. Passport! 3.5 stars.
Wildlife:
I distinctly remember seeing coyotes, lizards, tarantulas, and rabbits. Also, there are mountain lions in certain areas, although your likelihood of seeing one is slim. An online search reveals that this park also has more than its fair share of snakes, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Black bears are another possible animal sighting if you’re lucky! 4.0 stars.
(That’s a coyote!)
Camping/Lodging:
There are not much in the way of towns around Big Bend. More on that in a second. But I definitely recommend the campground we stayed in!
The Chisos Basin Campground to be exact! As we said, prepare to be stunned as you set up your tent or RV, completely surrounded by the panoramic views of the Chisos Mountains! This was a highlight of our trip! 4.5 out of 5 stars!
There are also some teepee’s nearby that were really cool to stay in!
Other Amenities/Recreation Opportunities:
Again, unless you want to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, there really don’t seem to be a lot of outfitters in the area, if I recall correctly. This park is remote, like scary remote if you ask me! To be honest, I kept worrying about our car breaking down in the middle of the desert on the way there! (Thankfully it did not). 3.5 stars.
Busyness:
It seems to me that this particular park is one of the most under-appreciated parks that we have visited so far. Certainly, under-rated! With that, it really wasn’t busy at all when we went. You should totally go and do your part to change that by visiting … … … wait for it … … … Big Bend National Park in Panther Junction, TX today! (What a name by the way!) 5.0 stars!
Accessibility:
Unfortunately, this hurts Big Bend quite a bit. As I said earlier, no matter what direction you approach Big Bend National Park from, you will have to cross a lot of desert to get there. It is probably the most remote National Park we have visited so far. Make sure you keep your gas tank full, and pray you don’t break down!
Here’s how far Big Bend is from several major cities:
El Paso, TX - 5 hours Northwest (closest)
San Antonio, TX - 6 hours East
Albuquerque, NM - 8.5 hours Northwest
Dallas, TX - 8.5 hours Northeast
Houston, TX - 9 hours East
For accessibility, Big Bend gets 3.0 stars!
The Rio Grande running through beautiful Santa Elena Canyon.
Personal Experience:
We had a great time at Big Bend National Park! We feel like the fall was the perfect time to visit this particular park. (Online recommendations agree!) We did deal with some rain, okay STORMS actually, (in the DESERT, I know!), but that really helped keep the temperature down. Personal experience score = 7.5 (so 2.5 bonus points!)
Overall Rating:
We would absolutely love to visit this park again someday. If it were not so remote, I have no doubt that Big Bend National Park would be very close to making our top 5 National Parks. But as it stands, Big Bend comes in at tied for number 8 with a final average score of 4.38 stars! Nice job Big Bend National Park!
Big Bend National Park — Tied for No. 8 on our top 10 ranking!
Image by moritz_schulz, provided for free at Pixabay
We hope that you will come back later as we reveal our other National Park tied for no. 8 on our list of favorite National Parks!
Until next time,
Keep exploring, friends!
— Chase