Chisos Basin Group Campground (Big Bend, TX)

About this park

The national park is named for a curve in the Rio Grande called the "big bend." For 1,250 miles (2012 km), the river is an International Boundary between the United States and Mexico. The campground lies at the base of several sloping cliffs amidst montane shrubland; desert plants such as Arizona cyprus and mesquite trees fill the landscape. Maple, aspen, pinyon and ponderosa pines grow at higher elevations just above the campground. Though it is lower than the surrounding cliffs, the Chisos Basin is at a higher elevation than other campgrounds within the park. Summer temperatures here are cool, yet warmer than other areas in fall and winter due to the cold air sinking into lower regions. The Chisos Mountains are a popular nesting site for migratory birds . The mountains provide the only nesting ground in the United States for the Colima Warbler, which arrives in mid-April and departs for its wintering grounds in southwestern Mexico by mid-September.