Spent the Presidents' Day Weekend on a 5 day trip in Big Bend Ranch State Park. I've been to the National Park on numerous occasions, but this was my first to the State Park. It will NOT be my last. IMO, the State Park is significantly better than the adjacent National Park.
For starters, ALL campsites (primitive and otherwise) are available for ONLINE reservations. The National Park limits online reservations to just the 2WD accessible campsites. That means you could make the LONG drive (8.5 hours in my case from Austin) only to find that your preferred primitive spot is already taken as they are available on a first come/first serve basis. In past years, we'd leave at 11pm on Thursday night in order to arrive by 8am the following morning at the Ranger Station and be the first in line to get our preferred site. To say that was a PITA would be an understatement. For the State Park, however, I reserved my spot 30 days prior and we were able to leave at a more "convenient" time and not feel rushed to arrive before everyone else.
The 2nd reason I feel the State Park is better is that it's WAAAAAAAY more remote. You start by driving 35 miles of desolate, but scenic, gravel to get to the Sauceda Ranger Station. From there, your campsite might be another 10-12 miles of desolate gravel away. For us, we stayed at the Fresno Vista site. That is the absolute BEST site in the entire park aside from Guale1. Both of those sites absolutely require high clearance 4WD and more than 1 spare. There is cactus, ocotillo and sharp rocks EVERYWHERE.
3rd reason I feel the State Park is better is that there is a far greater variety of off-road 4WD trails (even more miles of them than the National Park), way more mountain biking and hiking trails as well.
4th reason I feel the State Park is better is that every single campsite has an excellent fire ring (National Park does NOT allow fires) and an associated pavilion with park bench/table. The National Park has bear boxes which the State Park doesn't, but that's not a big deal.
Weather the entire time was incredible. Highs in the low 70's (zero humidity) and lows in the mid-40's with slight variable winds and no cloud cover overnight. To say the stars were amazing every night would be an understatement. Even with a campfire blazing, we could see the Milky Way spanning from horizon to horizon. There were so many stars, that constellations became hard to decipher. I've seen only a few places in my life that were similar (Central Australia, Canyonlands Utah and the central high plains around Hartsel, CO).
Anyway, here come the pics.
For starters, ALL campsites (primitive and otherwise) are available for ONLINE reservations. The National Park limits online reservations to just the 2WD accessible campsites. That means you could make the LONG drive (8.5 hours in my case from Austin) only to find that your preferred primitive spot is already taken as they are available on a first come/first serve basis. In past years, we'd leave at 11pm on Thursday night in order to arrive by 8am the following morning at the Ranger Station and be the first in line to get our preferred site. To say that was a PITA would be an understatement. For the State Park, however, I reserved my spot 30 days prior and we were able to leave at a more "convenient" time and not feel rushed to arrive before everyone else.
The 2nd reason I feel the State Park is better is that it's WAAAAAAAY more remote. You start by driving 35 miles of desolate, but scenic, gravel to get to the Sauceda Ranger Station. From there, your campsite might be another 10-12 miles of desolate gravel away. For us, we stayed at the Fresno Vista site. That is the absolute BEST site in the entire park aside from Guale1. Both of those sites absolutely require high clearance 4WD and more than 1 spare. There is cactus, ocotillo and sharp rocks EVERYWHERE.
3rd reason I feel the State Park is better is that there is a far greater variety of off-road 4WD trails (even more miles of them than the National Park), way more mountain biking and hiking trails as well.
4th reason I feel the State Park is better is that every single campsite has an excellent fire ring (National Park does NOT allow fires) and an associated pavilion with park bench/table. The National Park has bear boxes which the State Park doesn't, but that's not a big deal.
Weather the entire time was incredible. Highs in the low 70's (zero humidity) and lows in the mid-40's with slight variable winds and no cloud cover overnight. To say the stars were amazing every night would be an understatement. Even with a campfire blazing, we could see the Milky Way spanning from horizon to horizon. There were so many stars, that constellations became hard to decipher. I've seen only a few places in my life that were similar (Central Australia, Canyonlands Utah and the central high plains around Hartsel, CO).
Anyway, here come the pics.
