Big Bend Ranch State Park
Big Bend Ranch State Park is a Texas state park located just west of Big Bend National Park. The state park is also in the Chihuahuan Desert, so it shares a similar topography with the national park. However, the state park, with 311,000 acres, is less than half the size of the national park and it is less mountainous, with its highest elevation at 4,000 feet. The state park’s southern border is also the Rio Grande, for a length of 23 miles. The state park has a bunkhouse for 30 people available to the public, and the large former ranch house (the “Big House”), accommodating eight people, is also available for rent.
Pre-dawn hour at the ranch headquarters.
Another dawn, Big House palm trees, Venus, a half moon.
Ocatillo plants await the sunrise.
The early sun begins to warm the desert.
Many of the roads in the national park are paved; in the state park, none are.
The visitor is surprised by unusual colors in the rock formations.
The park, formerly a cattle ranch, has numerous grassy areas.
Large parts of the ranch, however, look fit mainly for rattlesnakes.
From some spots you can see forever. No telling how far away that hazy horizon may be.
This group of rocky outcroppings reminds one of the Flatirons near Boulder, Colorado.
So much ocatillo!
An abandoned adobe residence on the ranch.
Most of the plant life in the park is unfriendly to humans.
Pink cactus.
Yellow cactus.
Green, really mean cactus.
A lush spot along a rare creek. This is January, and the leaves are golden.
Friendlier flora than most on this ranch.
A fallen tree along the creek bed.
This spring is the source of the creek.
If you don’t like rocks, you’re in the wrong place.
Evidence of past geological upheaval.
The earth creates her own beauty.
Another.
And another.
And another.
This airstrip runway near the ranch headquarters is the only thing paved for thirty miles in any direction.
The Big House at the ranch headquarters.
The former home of the ranch’s owner, the Big House has very comfortable accommodations.
Caveat for Big House visitors.
Looking at the ranch headquarters compound from the Big House.
A typical ranch view.
A beautiful close of day.
The Big House yard.
The Big House yard.
The Big House yard.
Animals and humans beware!
Bottle of unidentified liquid in an old abandoned house on the ranch.