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Top Attractions in Big Bend National Park

Hot Springs

Hot Springs, also known as Boquillas Hot Springs, is a former resort in what is now Big Bend National Park in Texas. They were developed by J.O. Langford from 1909. Langford was a Mississippi native who had contracted malaria as a child. Searching for a cure, he heard of reputedly curative hot springs on the Rio Grande while visiting Alpine, Texas. Langford made a homestead claim, sight unseen. Although other homestead claims on the site had failed, Langford, his wife Bessie and his 18-month-old daughter set out for the site, discovering that it was already occupied by Cleofas Natividad with his wife and ten children. Initially considering the Natividads squatters, the Langfords developed a cooperative relationship with the Natividads. J.O. took a 21-day treatment of drinking and bathing in the spring waters, regaining his health. The site was the first major tourist attraction in the area, predating the establishment of the national park. Before the Langford's development, a small stone tub had been excavated in the local stone for bathing, with a dugout that was renovated by the Langfords as a residence. The Langfords later built an adobe house, a stone bathhouse, and brushwood bathing shelters. The Langfords left in 1912 when bandits made the area unsafe. When they returned in 1927 they rebuilt the bathhouse, but with a canvas roof. They also built a store and a motor court, consisting of seven attached cabins. The structures were built of local stone with wood trussed roofs covered with corrugated metal. Interior walls were plastered. Four of the motor court rooms featured painted murals. A terrace was covered with a long porch or ramada connecting the cabins. The historic district includes petrogylphs left by native American visitors. The springs were visited by Pedro de Rábago y Terán in 1747, who found Apaches farming the area. In later years the Comanche Trail passed nearby. The hot springs remain, at a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit, and may be used for soaking. The spring is frequently submerged by the Rio Grande. The site is accessible by unpaved road, about 2 miles west of Rio Grande Village, otherwise known as Boquillas. Hot Springs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 17, 1974.

Emory Peak

Emory Peak, located in Big Bend National Park, is the highest peak in the Chisos Mountains. and the highest in Brewster County. The peak is named for William H. Emory, the chief surveyor of the U.S. Boundary Survey team of 1852. From the Chisos Basin the peak appears to be a minor ridge, while the summit of Casa Grande, one mile closer, seems to be much taller. From the west, Emory Peak is clearly visible as a point slightly higher than most of the mountain range. The peak can be reached by a moderate hike on a well-marked path across steep rocky terrain with an elevation gain of approximately 2,500 feet . The Emory Peak Trail is about 9 miles long. Once at the base there is a semi-technical rock scramble to navigate before reaching the summit. No gear is needed for this climb although hikers should take great care. High-desert flora and fauna including alligator juniper , pinyon pine , mule deer , prickly pear cacti , Mexican jay , sotol , and Texas madrone may be seen along the trail. There are signs warning of mountain lions and bears. The view from the top takes in most of the northern section of the park and a good portion of the Chisos range to the south. One surprise at the top, during the right season, is the population of lady bugs on the summit. There are solar panels, radio transmission equipment, and antennae at the top.

Rancho Estelle

Rancho Estelle was the home of James Sublett, one of the first large-scale farmers in the Rio Grande valley of Texas, within what is now Big Bend National Park. Prior to founding the ranch, Sublett and his partner, Clyde Buttrill, farmed the bottomlands along the river in the area of what is now known as Castolon or La Harmonia, downstream from the later ranch. After the partnership with Buttrill broke up, Sublett bought four sections of land, initially calling it Grand Canyon Farms, and later Rancho Estelle. Most of the existing structures are in ruins. The chief structures include the Sublett Farm House, a one-story adobe house with a cane and viga roof and a porch at the front. The house consists only of two rooms separated by a hall. Other structures include a small house for farm workers, similar to the Sublett house, a single-room adobe shed and a stone house for farm workers, with two apartments and a day room. The most substantial structure is the Dorgan Residence, a 1,200-square-foot adobe and stone house of one story for Sublett's son-in-law. The interior features a large living room and three smaller rooms. The fireplace supports the roof, and is constructed of petrified wood. Rancho Estelle was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 1974.

Homer Wilson Ranch

The Homer Wilson Ranch, also known as the Blue Creek Ranch, was one of the largest ranches in the early twentieth century in what would become Big Bend National Park in the U.S. state of Texas. The ranch was established by Homer Wilson in 1929 at Oak Springs to the west of the Chisos Mountains. Ultimately comprising 44 sections of land, amounting to more than 28,000 acres , the Oak Canyon-Blue Creek Ranch was acquired by the State of Texas in 1942 for incorporation into the new park. A large portion of the ranch comprised portions of the old G4 Ranch (named after Survey Block G4), established by John and Clarence Gano in the 1880s. Wilson's ranch focused on sheep and goats, the first such large operation in the Big Bend area. Wilson continued to live at the ranch until his death in 1943; his family moved from the ranch the next year. Wilson, born in Del Rio, Texas in 1892, had studied petroleum engineering at the Missouri School of Mines and was a World War I veteran. The ranch, with the headquarters at Oak Springs and its operational center at Blue Creek, was one of the largest in Texas, and the most significant ranch in Big Bend. The Blue Creek residence measures about 24 feet by 60 feet with a 16-foot by 60-foot screened porch on the south side of the house. The single-story residence comprised two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen, with a large central fireplace. The house features a double roof, the inner layer a traditional reed roof of the type locally used, with a sheet metal roof above. Another building housed ranch help. The structures were abandoned when the Wilsons moved out. The Blue Creek area of the Wilson ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 1975.

Luna Jacal

The Luna Jacal or Luna's Jacal was the residence of Gilberto Luna, a Mexican pioneer farmer in the area of Texas that would become Big Bend National Park. The jacal, an indigenous Tejano dwelling suited to the desert environment, was built about 1890 with a low sandstone and limestone wall about 4 feet , with forked poles set upright into the walls, supporting roof poles. The house backs up to a large boulder. A heavier line of poles extends the length of the jacal. The roof was made of ocotillo branches weighted down with earth and stones, presently replaced with an inappropriate soil-cement roof. Luna raised a large family at the jacal, peacefully coexisting with otherwise hostile Comanche who used the Alamo Creek area as a war trail. Luna died there in 1947 at age 108 or 109. Luna's jacal was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 8, 1974. It was restored in 1971 and again stabilized in 1983.

Big Bend

The Big Bend is a colloquial name of a geographic region in the western part of the state of Texas in the United States along the border with Mexico, roughly defined as the counties north of the prominent northward bend in the Rio Grande as it passes through the gap between the Chisos Mountains in Texas and the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexico. It is sometimes loosely defined as the part of Texas south of U.S. Highway 90 and west of the Pecos River. The region includes three counties in Texas: Brewster, Jeff Davis and Presidio. The region is sparsely populated, arid, and rugged, containing the Chisos and the Davis Mountain ranges. The region has more than one million acres of public lands, including Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park along the north side of the Rio Grande. It is also the home of the McDonald Observatory. The largest towns in the region are Alpine, Presidio, Marfa, Sanderson, Terlingua, and Marathon.

Boquillas

Boquillas was a small settlement in Texas, located on the northern banks of the Rio Grande. It was located within Brewster County, five miles northeast of San Vicente, Texas. The place existed to service the mining operations at Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico, just across the Rio Grande. Boquillas, Texas is now in Big Bend National Park. It is now usually known as Rio Grande Village, and consists of a ranger station and other buildings to serve visitors to the park. In 1916 over 200 Villistas raided Boquillas and nearby Glenn Springs, Texas. At Boqullas the Americans were able to capture one of the raider commanders but lost two men who were taken captive by the Mexicans. The Rio Grande border crossing to Boquillas del Carmen was closed in 2002. On January 7, 2011, the U.S. National Park Service announced plans to reopen the crossing. After multiple delays, the unmanned border station was finally opened on April 11, 2013.

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