RIO GRANDE VILLAGE CG, Big Bend, TX

Rio Grande Village, Big Bend NP  

RUN BY:    Nat’l Park Service

LOCATION:   29.181584  -102.955291

Last Visited: 12/15/2018

UTILITIES:  None

COST:  $14

DISCOUNTS:  50% with Senior card

OUR RATING (1-5):  Category I.  Score 4

NOTES:  Unless you want to spend $35/night to camp in a parking lot, you want to make sure you go to the Rio Grande Village Campground, which is run by the park, and not the Rio Grande Village RV Campground, which is a commercial RV park.  You might want to check to see that there are first-come sites. I understand that there are times when you need reservations. The camp store is closed in the summer. There is fuel at the Rio Grande Village and Panther Junction but the Rio Grande Village fuel is not available when the store is closed. The next closest fuel is Study, TX a good 40 miles away. The area is very interesting. Be sure to take the trail to Boquillas canyon and say “hi” to Jesus who will sing a song for you. Give him a tip, he’s a nice man, but don’t tell anyone you saw him. You’ll know why when you meet him.

Environment:  Desert.  Campground among cottonwood and shrub plants indigenous to marshland by the Rio Grande River.

Amenities:  None

Dump:  Yes

Public Water:  Yes

Toilets: Yes

Showers:  No

Laundry:  At the camp store down the road.

Phone Service:  None

Nearest Propane: Study, TX about 40 miles away.

Location: From Marathon, TX turn south on US-385.  At Panther Junction (Park HQ), turn left and follow Park-12 to Rio Grande Village 20 miles away.  Go past the camp store a short distance to the campground.

Proximity to shopping:  The camp store has basics. A community of any size is about 100 miles away.

Camping Population:   Typical national park. Quite varied.

Sites: Nice size and most seem level.

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RATING KEY:    category - score 

Categories:  I - established campgrounds where one might spend a vacation or several days

                    II -  boondocking, dry camping where there are no designated sites and no amenities but one might choose to stay for more than a night.

                    III - over-night areas 

You must remember that we are scoring 1 thru 5 according to things which are important to us: the environment, cost, amenities, location, safety, camping population, site, phone service 

* There are people who are not full-timers and van-dwellers by choice. We try hard not to be demeaning or assume that they are bad people but sadly, as you find in the poorer parts of a city, there seems to be more crime. Many call these people van-dwellers. That isn’t really accurate even though they do often live in vans. We know quite a few van-dwellers who have good incomes, are full-timers by choice and prefer a van to other types of vehicles. To try to show some respect for people who have a difficult lot in life, I’m calling them ‘residential campers’.  It is only when you get a high proportion of residential campers in an area that you find an increase in petty theft, etc.