Alvino House

• The Alvino house is the oldest intact adobe structure in Big Bend National Park, and represents the everyday life of the many families who lived and farmed along the Rio Grande. The Alvino House affords a close look at a recently repaired and stabilized adobe structure.

Anatomy of a Canyon

• A short walk along the rim of Tuff Canyon takes you to three viewing platforms, as well as an exhibit panel that explains how the canyon was formed.

Ancient Oceans Exhibit

• An exhibit talking about the ancient marine life that created the limestone mountains found in the eastern part of Big Bend.

Animal Highways Exhibit

• Although the dry wash is still now, after sundown you may hear rustlings, growls, and cries. Arroyos are animal highways between mountain and desert habitats, providing pockets of moisture and dense underbrush for concealment or ambush. Here predator meets prey.

Badlands Exhibit

• This exhibit describes the erosive forces needed to create the colorful clay hills that dominate the landscape on the western end of Big Bend National Park. These sediments were deposited 65-70 million years, at a time when the environment in Big Bend was much different.

Blue Creek Trail

• A strenuous, 5.5 mile one-way hike from the Homer Wilson Ranch headquarters up into the Chisos Mountains. The hike takes you along the rocky Blue Creek wash, through an open grassland, and up into the pinyon pine woodland of the Chisos Mountains. The trail ends at the junction with the Laguna Meadow Trail.

Boquillas Canyon Trail

• The Boquillas Canyon Trail is a great way to enjoy one of the three major canyons located in Big Bend National Park. This trail is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) round trip and parallels the Rio Grande for a short distance where it first enters Boquillas Canyon.

Boquillas Overlook

• The Boquillas Overlook provides a view of the village of Boquillas, Mexico just across the Rio Grande. It is also a great place for photographs of the Sierra del Carmen and Boquillas Canyon.

Boquillas Port of Entry

• Visiting the Mexican village of Boquillas through the park's Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry is an option for visitors possessing a valid passport.

Boquillas, Mexico

• Boquillas, Mexico had its modern beginnings as a mining town in the last decade of the 19th century. You can visit the village through the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry.

Burro Spring Trail

• The Burro Spring Trail is a 2.4-mile hike through the desert to an overlook where you can see Burro Spring in the valley below. Tall cottonwoods and a palm tree (a remnant of early 20th-century ranching) mark the place where water flows to the surface.

Camel Experiment Exhibit

• Learn about the story of the camel corps experiment and the two expeditions that traversed Big Bend country in 1859 and 1860.

Castolon Historic District

• The collection of buildings at Castolon is a remnant of Big Bend’s pioneer and military history, where the cultures of Mexico and the United States met. Explore Castolon’s past through the historical buildings and exhibits.

Cerro Castellan

• Learn how millions of years of volcanic events created the striking Cerro Castellan.

Chihuahuan Desert Exhibit

• This exhibit introduces the Chihuahuan Desert, exploring what makes it unique from other deserts in North America.

Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail

• This short 0.5 mile (0.8 km) trail winds through vegetation typical of the Chihuahuan Desert. Spaced out around the trail are metal signs that discuss the plants and animals found in the park, and point out remnants of the early ranching era of Big Bend .

Chimneys Trail

• A moderate 4.8-mile roundtrip hike to a volcanic dike featuring prehistoric rock art and remnants of early 20th-century ranching.

Chisos Basin Amphitheater

• Join a ranger for an evening campground program at this outdoor amphitheater set among the juniper trees and red rock hillsides.

Chisos Basin Trailhead

• Trails to Boot Canyon, Emory Peak, and the South Rim offer good views of the park and take you into a world far removed from the desert below.

Chisos Mountains Exhibit

• The Chisos Mountains rise from the desert floor. Learn the names of the peaks and how these mountains were formed.

Chisos Mountains Lodge

• The Chisos Mountains Lodge, located in the Chisos Basin, includes 72 rooms, a gift shop, dining room, and camp store.

Cotton Gin Machinery Exhibit

• The collection of buildings at Castolon is a remnant of Big Bend’s pioneer and military history, where the cultures of Mexico and the United States met. Explore Castolon’s past through the historical buildings and exhibits.

Dagger Flat #1

• This is the first of nineteen stops along the self-guided Dagger Flat Driving Tour. This location explores the Chihuahuan Desert, which is the second largest desert in North America.

Dagger Flat #10

• The tenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, relating information about the soaptree yucca, which can live to be 250-300 years old.

Dagger Flat #11

• The eleventh stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, discussing the 9 species of prickly pear cactus found in Big Bend.

Dagger Flat #12

• The twelfth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, which talks about the formation of the Deadhorse Mountains.

Dagger Flat #13

• The thirteenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, talking about the littleleaf leadtree with its distinctive pods.

Dagger Flat #14

• The fourteenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the plant known as candelilla, which has been used to make products including chewing gum, car wax, and shoe polish.

Dagger Flat #15

• The fifteenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, discussing the geologic contact between two sedimentary formations - Del Rio clay and Buda limestone.

Dagger Flat #16

• The sixteenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the giant dagger yucca, which resides primarily in the Deadhorse Mountains.

Dagger Flat #17

• The seventeenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the Thompson yucca, also known as the beaked yucca.

Dagger Flat #18

• The eighteenth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the honey mesquite, a member of the lequme family.

Dagger Flat #19

• The last stop (also the end of the road) on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour. This is the best location from which to view the largest number of giant dagger yucca. They typically bloom sometime in April-June.

Dagger Flat #2

• The second stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, describing the lechuguilla, which is the "indicator plant" for the Chihuahuan Desert.

Dagger Flat #3

• The third stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the creosotebush, one of the most successful of desert plants.

Dagger Flat #4

• The fourth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, highlighting the ocotillo, one of the most recognizable plants in Big Bend.

Dagger Flat #5

• The fifth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, exploring the beautiful strawberry pitaya cactus.

Dagger Flat #6

• The sixth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, describing the Texas persimmon tree, found all along the wash in this location.

Dagger Flat #7

• The seventh stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, describing the torrey yucca, the most common yucca in Big Bend.

Dagger Flat #8

• The eighth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour explores the sotol plant, now more prominent as the road has climbed 400 in elevation.

Dagger Flat #9

• The ninth stop on the Dagger Flat Driving Tour, discussing the volcanic event that produced this hill.

Dagger Flat Road

• A 14-mile round-trip drive down a dirt road - high clearance necessary - to view a unique forest of giant dagger yuccas. Along the way one can view plants, and possibly animals, common to the Chihuahuan desert.

Daniels Ranch

• In the early part of the 20th century, hardy homesteaders constructed dwellings and an elaborate network of irrigation ditches for farming near this location beside the Rio Grande.

Desert Mountain Overlook

• Visitors to Big Bend are often overwhelmed by the scope of the landscape. At this overlook one can spot well-known features of the Chisos mountains such as Emory Peak, the south rim, and Elephant Tusk.

Dodson Trailhead

• A rugged, strenuous 10 mile trail through the desert. The Dodson Trail crosses the southern Chisos Mountains foothills, resulting in large elevation gains and losses throughout the hike.

Dog Canyon Trail

• The Dog Canyon trail is a relatively flat 4-mile round-trip hike across open desert to a canyon that splits the Deadhorse Mountains. At the far end of the canyon one can see that the horizontal rock strata have been folded vertically by the geological forces that formed the mountain ridge the canyon traverses.

Dorgan House Exhibit

• In the 1930s architect Alvert Dorgan and his wife Avis Ann bought land near Sublett’s farm. Later he built an impressive adobe home on top of the mesa using his expertise as an architect to design this atypical hose with a petrified wood fireplace.

Dorgan Sublett Trail

• The Dorgan Sublett Trail is an easy one-mile roundtrip walk that leads to the remains of four structures that were part of the “Grand Canyon” farms operation in the early 1900s.

Dugout Wells

• Dugout Wells was once known by homesteaders as the "Cultural Center of the Big Bend". A visit today reveals an oasis of trees, a working windmill, picnic tables, and a short 0.5 mile (0.8 km) walk along the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Trail.

Emory Peak Trail

• A strenuous 10.5 mile roundtrip hike from the Chisos Basin to the highest point in the park.

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