larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Water. This is desert country. Have water bottles or canteens and fill them at every opportunity.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Make sure you have reservations where ever you plan to stay. Fort Davis is a good place to base and it's near McDonald Observatory (a great place to shoot the stars). I'm going on an annual trip to Cibolo Ranch near Marfa late in September. No matter where you go you will be amazed at the beauty. You'll have a great time.

zoso

Gotcha..will do

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

Totally agree with SteveLew. Have been to Big Bend NP 9 times with horses and 3 times by car over last 46 years. Absolutely stunning. If staying in the Chisos Basin Lodges make reservations at least 6 months ahead
BTW an earlier comment on distance to Alpine being 50-60 miles from center of park; more like 90 miles. The roads in that area are not fast roads, so may not be a convenient option if visiting the park itself for more than one day, which is not nearly enough. Going back there again in April, 2018 with reservations made about 2 months ago. They were almost booked up then.
Enjoy the park.

Drip Dry McFleye

Thanks for correcting my mileage estimate to the park. It was a long drive for sure!

Another poster mentioned watching your speed and it is very worthy of your attention. I saw 3 cars get pulled over by park police. I assume this was for speeding since 2 of those cars had passed me by as I plodded along right at the posted limit.

jaycoffman Loc: San Diego

Had one of my great adventures in Big Bend National Park. No need for a really long lens and it's not green like some National Parks but it's just awesome with lots of good photo ops. Depending on how adventurous you are there is a little blip in the road that says "Ghost Town" and it has a cantina (High Sierra) and the El Dorado Hotel--all wrapped into one. One of the most interesting places I've ever stayed--but in a good way for me. Sorry, I couldn't find it on the map either when I was there or when I got home--I refer to it as "the Hotel California." Point being there is a lot of mileage between places to stay so watch your gas gauge and figure out where you're going to stay early.

Again, I loved Big Bend--it's heaven for a motorcycle but would be just as good for car or camper. Other good ghost towns around the area too.

I write photo stories of my trips so if you want a warped description of the motorcycle trip and my time in Big Bend PM me and I'll send it. But I think you should have an excellent trip and a lot of good shots.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

The lodge is in the mountains. Thank goodness, because when it gets hot the mountains are the one place to get cooler. October should be a good time to visit.

If, by any chance, you can go through Marfa on the way to Big Bend, try to do so. Stop at the Hotel Paisano, which is where the stars from Giant stayed. I don't recommend staying there...the mattresses are terrible, but the restaurant is top notch. It's also an interesting photo site.

tjjm Loc: Saint Louis, Mo.

I liked shooting from Chisos Basin, in the mountains. There is a key hole and timing it right can get you a nice shot.el capitan as the sun comes across it is very nice. . Also, several shots from the south rim into Mexico.

mtbear

My father and I made a three day excursion of it in November of 2001. We established or base in Alpine then drove down to Big Bend each day. The first day we went east out of Alpine to the Mountain Highway, lots of great scenery there, and followed it until we caught a road that took us through Big Bend State park. It was well worth the visit. We followed one of the side roads and found what we thought may have been an old movie set, it was undocumented. There was an abandoned adobe cabin there and what appeared to be ritual sweat caves. Entering Big Bend National from Big Bend Ranch State park turned out to be a worthwhile adventure. I don't remember exactly when but we stopped at a scenic view by a bridge over the Pecos River and got a lot of good shots. We drove all around Big Bend National Park and visited lots of photogenic spots. One of the best was the Hotel area where the Window is. There is a ring of mountains, hotel at the center (the hotel is usually booked 12-18 months in advance), with a break in it (the Window). This was during my early experiments with panoramas and being at the center of the ring was perfect for a pano shot. There is a trail down through the window but we didn't take it. The desert flora was more dense than usual because of rains the previous years. In the end I took 1500 frames with 3 cameras. Here are 10 of my favorites.

Pecos River


Early morning haze shot on side of road


Ten years later I learned Lightroom


Taken at a resort area




Setup took so long I took a large number of sunrise shots near Alpine


Looking through the window


Lightroom panorama. Taken on the road to the hot springs


The previous years rains left lots of cactus fruit.


You can easily walk across the border at this spot near the hot springs

rvhowdy

My favorite place to stay is in Lajitas. Try the Badlands Hotel or the Calvary Post. Two unique lodging experiences.

zoso

I'd love to see your Big Bend travelogue. Please send it to denniscstein@yahoo.com Thanks zoso

rafikiphoto Loc: Spain

A quick search of TripAdvisor turned up this post:
"There's only one place to stay inside Big Bend NP if you are not camping, and that's the Chisos Mountains Lodge. They take reservations beginning a year out,..."

PhotoKurtz Loc: Carterville, IL

The road from Presidio to Terlingua is a motorcyclists dream. Best at sunrise of late afternoon. You can hit the Rio Grand with a 9 iron from most of it. There's even a SECOND ghost town at the west end.

When you get to the ghost town at Terlingua, stup at the art gallery. Tell Voni (one of the artists) that "That Kurtz Guy" said to say HI.

Ask in town about the Prickly Pear Jelly... a favorite. deliscious on pancakes with melted butter dripping all around.

"Menu - The Starlight Theatre Restaurant & Saloon has the best food ...
www.thestarlighttheatre.com/pages/menu.html
Chicken-Fried Wild Boar Strips with Terlingua Gold Beer Gravy. 12.95. Venison/Wild ... Peanut Butter and Prickly Pear Jelly Sandwich. 4.95. All of the Above ...

SteveR Loc: Michigan

We were fortunate. We drove down to Big Bend from Dallas and stayed overnight in Marfa. We we able to call the hotel from there and make reservations for the next two nights. I guess we were lucky. This was in early April. I thought it would be spring. It is in Dallas, but by the time we got down to Stephenville it was 103 degrees. Temperature on the desert floor was during the day. Thankfully, it was mid-80's in the mountains where the hotel was!!

Very nice photos. Big Bend is a very unique National Park, but it's full of photo ops. I tried to get a good photo of the "window" at sunset. It was impossible to get any definition of the mountains if the exposure was set for the setting sun. If I'd been better in Photoshop, I would have combined two exposures.

Miamisburg Jim Loc: Miamisburg, Ohio, USA

In the park, go to mile marker 14 at sunset time, this is where the photograph class is held and the sunset are awesome.