Top Things to do in Big Bend National Park
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Top 8 Canyons in Big Bend National Park, Big Bend National Park
Huge national park in Texas that spans 801,153-acres filled with limestone canyons, rivers, sand and forests.
1. Santa Elena Canyon
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 661 reviews
Borders the western edge of Big Bend National Park.
Reviewed By travelerfromsj - San Jose, United States
This is an easy hike with probably the most bang for the buck of any trail in Big Bend National Park. It’s 1.5 miles out and back with 80 feet of elevation, and it takes you into the canyon along the banks of the Rio Grande river, with 1500 vertical feet of limestone cliffs towering above the trail. The only problem is that to even start this trail you have to first cross Terlingua creek, which connects with the Rio Grande River right after the trail head. You have three options here: 1. Visit Big Bend when there has been little to no rain and the creek is dry. 2. Take off your shoes (or put on water sandals), hike up your pants, and wade across the creek. This is a great option if the creek is low, but when we visited in early November, Terlingua “creek” was about 50 feet wide and maybe 2 ½ feet high. At that point I would call it a river! I only saw one person wade across when we were there. 3. When you reach the creek, turn right and walk down a little ways until the creek turns into a thin stream. Then walk across and look for a steep, narrow little path that goes up the banks of the creek. Climb up this path (it’s about 20 feet up) and then scramble through the rocks and plants at the top until you reach the start of the trail. When I was there, that’s pretty much what every hiker did, including one man who managed it while holding a baby. I’ve posted pictures with this review that show what this unofficial path looks like. Hopefully they’ll build a bridge over the creek at some point, but for now I think the unofficial path is the best bet during the rainy season. This is a great trail with stunning views, and it’s well worth the rather difficult start.
2. Mariscal Canyon
3. Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande
4. Colorado Canyon
5. Boquillas Canyon
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 214 reviews
Borders the eastern edge of Big Bend National Park.
Reviewed By Toyota1994 - Chicago, United States
One of the two accessible canyons in the National Park, this is located in the east side of the park. The other being Santa Elena canyon which is in the west side of the park. The initial climb is a little arduous, but then the trail descends gradually to river level and becomes cooler with some sections of shade from trees and the canyon walls at the end of the trail. The trail ends in a sandy beach. Along the trail we came across a couple of places where handicraft works were set out for sale (I understand illegally since the merchandise crossed the river which is the international border). The merchandise included some glassware and decorated hiking sticks. Money was to be deposited in the plastic bottle nearby. We saw one person from Mexico coming across the river to check the status of the sale; again illegal. The higher points of the trail provides nice views of the Rio Grande river, and there were some also beautiful cactus flowers in bloom. We saw a group of Mexican school children doing the same kind of hiking and picnicking on the Mexican side of the river while we were hiking the canyon. If you do enter the water in the river, do not cross over to the Mexican side; it would be considered as illegal crossing.
6. Dog Canyon
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 11 reviews
Reviewed By dmurray713 - Tampa, United States
We had the unique opportunity to do this hike on New Year's Day right after the Park got 12-18 inches of snow the day before, so I'd love to come back to see this hike in normal conditions without the dusting of snow. It's a very easy 4-mile roundtrip hike that goes straight east off Main Park Road directly south of Persimmon Gap, into the Deadhorse Mountains following along a stream in desert flats. At 1.5 miles it drops into a wash (aka deep creek), wear shoes with ankle support since it's rocky but not difficult. We only made it right to the mouth and didn't get to venture inside, but HIGHLY recommend timing your hike to reach the middle of the hike around golden hour, because the sunset against the mountains is stunning. With stops for pictures, it took around 2 hours total.
7. Apache Canyon
8. Tuff Canyon Trail
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 27 reviews
Reviewed By charlesbY828CU - Argyle, United States
Our friends from out of state joined us for a three day visit of Big Bend NP. None of us had ever visited before and we were in awe of the beauty seen. We stopped for stroll at Tuff Canyon and walked to the overlook. Being camera enthusiasts we snapped away and were lucky to have hikers down in the canyon, providing a sense of scale. Great stop.
