Big Bend Ranch State Park is a 315,000 acre area of wilderness located in the Chihuahuan desert of west Texas, just to the west of Big Bend National Park, along the Rio Grande and US/Mexico border. Unlike the larger national park, the BBRSP is largely undeveloped, with even the main road just barely suitable for small cars. Off of the main track there are 238 miles of trails, along with over seventy miles of unimproved roads accessible by four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicles only.
At the end of one of the more difficult to travel roads lies the Las Burras campsites 1, 2, and 3. We recently spent a couple of days camping at the very end of the road, in Las Burras #3. This campsite is definitely not for everybody, yet if you’re looking to get somewhere off the beaten path, this is the place.
There Will Be Scratches!
From the main road near Agua Adentro Pens, you’ll head south on Oso Loop to Las Burras road. It took us about an hour or more of slow crawling to make it to the Las Burras # 3 campsite. This narrow road is more suitable for Jeeps than full sized trucks, but ours, slightly lifted, with 34″ tires did fine, except for being just wide enough to get lots of scratches on the clear coat from thorns.
We gave up on caring about our paint job a while back, so except for the awful, nails-on-chalkboard sound of a million creosote bush, mesquite and Spanish dagger thorns scraping the side, it wasn’t that bad of a drive. Like other trails here in BBRSP, the key is slow and “easy does it”. Carrying two spare tires here is highly recommended, along with bringing extra fuel, water, and emergency provisions.
Chihuahuan Desert Seclusion
From our campsite at Las Burras # 3, we hiked down past where the road dead-ends, where we surprised a big mule deer buck who wasn’t expecting any visitors.
On this trip we left the dogs at home with friends, which was probably just as well since a pack of javelinas wandered into our campsite, just as we were cooking dinner.
Around midnight there was a large ring around the moon, caused by ice crystals high in the atmosphere. Here, nestled between the Bofecillos mountains, there’s no cell phone signal, no human-made sounds and no light pollution…no problem!
Below: Old watering trough from early ranching days. (The park is still a working ranch, home to the state’s own herd of longhorn cattle.)
Although this area is known as the “despoblado” or uninhabited place, human history here dates back over 10,000 years. Below are some mortar holes used by Native Americans to grind mesquite beans and wild grains into flour. If you do find Native American artifacts here, please leave them as you found them.
- Fuller, Robert (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 90 Pages - 10/01/2019 (Publication Date) - Big Bend Ranch State Park (Publisher)
Below: A video of our drive to Las Burras #3
If you come this way please practice “leave no trace” and also try to keep campsite lighting to a minimum. Big Bend Ranch State Park is an International Dark Sky Sanctuary and a great place for night photography and star gazing.
See more info on the Texas Parks and Wildlife site here: Big Bend Ranch State Park.
