Big Bend Recommendations

[76FJ40]

I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip to Big Bend National/State Park and I'm looking for recommendations - trails, campsites, GPX tracks, etc. I lived in TX for several years but have no experience in the Big Bend area. I've searched the Internet but haven't really found what I'm looking for so any help would be appreciated.
The group I'm with is made up of 40, 60, 70, 80, 100, and 200 owners from VA, MD, and PA and we've done several trips to UT, CO, and VT. We usually drive out and/or ship our Cruisers out and spend 7-9 days on the trails. We limit each trip to 6 Cruisers but would welcome some local participation.

TIA

 

[cwwfj60]

I’m not familiar with camping in a large group, but I’ve stayed in many spots in the NP and just recently visited the SP for the first time around Thanksgiving.

They are both great, the NP is very broad and spread out with many primitive sites available. I forget if they call them primitive or backcountry but you can’t reserve them in advance, you show up during ranger station hours and they assist you with planning, but your at the mercy of first come first serve. Great thing is if you have “high clearance” you’ll be able to access something, atleast in my experience I’ve never been turned down.

Since my trip they have changed a few sites which I think would suit a large group well, I’ve gotta look them up and get back to you.

The state park is a few hour trek North. You can reserve their sites online, which are basically all primitive. It has no amenities, depending on your trip you’ll need to plan accordingly for gas, water, etc.

The SP ranger station does have water and ice, weak internet, and showers.

The entire park is rough ranch roads, also very tight brush that will pinstripe everything. I stayed two nights and neither of the ones I stayed would hold a group more than maybe 3 (las burras 2 and javelin), las burras rd was a challenge for my Tundra fyi.

I’ll come back to this with some more info…

 

[cwwfj60]

This is NP, Ernst Basin

The road to get here is kinda challenging, a unimog camper rig flipped on this road (old ore rd) a few years ago and was a big ordeal to recover. Large campers don’t belong out here…

Also you can see it’s a large site for a decent group. Great rock hunting area.

 

[cwwfj60]

SP Las Burras #2

hardest trail I’ve done out there.

I don’t recommend this site as it’s small and a hike in campsite, I made do on the road leading up to it because we are in a RTT…the scenery was epic though

 

[76FJ40]

Cody, thanks for your help. I was worried about getting reservable campsites as well as the FCFS sites, your insight was helpful. I may be in touch with more questions if you don't mind.

 

[RevISK]

I’m not familiar with camping in a large group, but I’ve stayed in many spots in the NP and just recently visited the SP for the first time around Thanksgiving.

They are both great, the NP is very broad and spread out with many primitive sites available. I forget if they call them primitive or backcountry but you can’t reserve them in advance, you show up during ranger station hours and they assist you with planning, but your at the mercy of first come first serve. Great thing is if you have “high clearance” you’ll be able to access something, atleast in my experience I’ve never been turned down.

Since my trip they have changed a few sites which I think would suit a large group well, I’ve gotta look them up and get back to you.

The state park is a few hour trek North. You can reserve their sites online, which are basically all primitive. It has no amenities, depending on your trip you’ll need to plan accordingly for gas, water, etc.

The SP ranger station does have water and ice, weak internet, and showers.

The entire park is rough ranch roads, also very tight brush that will pinstripe everything. I stayed two nights and neither of the ones I stayed would hold a group more than maybe 3 (las burras 2 and javelin), las burras rd was a challenge for my Tundra fyi.

I’ll come back to this with some more info…

There is not a lot of off grid roads out there. But this road below is one of the most spectacular I’ve been on anywhere. It’s mostly packed dirt but is a bit rough at times. I ended up airing down to smooth out the ride a bit.

 

[76FJ40]

Thanks for the recommendation. This will halp as I put this trip together.