Chisos Basin Campground (Big Bend, TX)
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- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $16From, per site
- Sites
- 6056 on recreation.gov
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Chisos Basin Campground, perched high in the rugged Chisos Mountains, is the most sought-after campground in Big Bend National Park. At an altitude of 5,400 ft. (1646 m), the campground is surrounded on all sides by tall, rocky cliffs and is conveniently located near some of the park's most spectacular and popular trails. This campground offers excellent views and mild temperatures. Also found in the Chisos Basin area is the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, the General Store and the Chisos Mountains Lodge, which houses the only restaurant in Big Bend National Park. Keep reading
Important : The road to the campground is steep and winding with sharp hairpin turns. Trailers over 19 feet and RVs over 24 feet are not recommended, and will not be accommodated. No RV parking is available at the group campground, nor is generator use allowed. All sites where you may have a generator are now reservable. If you need to use a generator and you do not have a reservation in a site that will allow generator use, you will need to camp elsewhere. Note: Campsites are small, rocky, and not level, so there are very few sites truly suitable for RVs. Many sites will allow an RV/Trailer/Van/Camper, but you will not be able to get level. The campground is almost always full, and if the site you booked doesn’t work, in all likelihood you will NOT be able to switch sites, and will either have to make your site work, or find accommodations at another campground. It is necessary that you carry some form of leveling blocks/devices with you. Please carefully review the site details before making a reservation.
Recreation
This campground is a hub for hikers. Some of the park's most spectacular and popular Day Hike trails are nearby, including the Lost Mine Trail, the Window Trail, the South Rim Trail and the Pinnacles Trail, with its access to the park's highest point, Emory Peak (elevation 7,825 ft./2385 m). Campers can find the trailheads for most of these trails in the main Chisos Basin area a mile or so further down the basin road from the campground. Access to the river is approximately 30 miles (48 km) away, where visitors can canoe, kayak and fish.
Facilities
The Chisos Basin Campground has 60 individual campsites. The campground is reservable year-round, some sites six months in advance, some two weeks in advance (Sites 8 - 10, 12 - 15, 31, 37 (accessible), and 48 - 60. There is no first-come, first served camping. A few sites are set aside for administrative use. Because of the size of each campsite, they are more suitable to tent camping than RVs or trailers, though both are allowed at some campsites. Each site comes with a picnic table, charcoal grill and bear-proof food storage container, and some sites come with picnic shelters for shade. Sites are generally rocky and not level. Most campsites are within easy walking distance to drinking water and toilets, and a dump station is provided for RVs and trailers. The dump station is oddly situated and requires EXTRA long hoses, as it's on the right side of the road, opposite from most RV sewer outlets. Another more easily utilized dump station is located at Rio Grande Village.
Natural Features
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.
Nearby Attractions
Big Bend National Park encompasses 801,000 acres (324,153 ha) and the Chisos Basin area is centrally located. This allows visitors an excellent opportunity to explore all areas of the park in a relatively short drive. Big Bend offers excellent hiking trails, miles of rugged dirt roads, and endless possibilities for sightseeing.
What the agency tells you
Do not reserve campsites that you are not planning to stay in. A camper arriving the day AFTER the reservation begins is considered a No Show. A No Show may result in a cancellation of your ENTIRE reservation. Contact the park at 432-477-2251 if you are late or will not be arriving until the day after your reservation starts.
Vehicle Restrictions. The road to the campground is steep and winding with sharp hairpin turns. The vehicle restriction for the road and campground is 24 feet (7 m) for motor homes and 20 feet (6 m) for travel trailers.
Maximum campsite capacity. A maximum of two motor vehicles, one vehicle with a trailer, one motorhome with tow vehicle or four motorcycles allowed per campsite. A maximum of four tents OR one wheeled camping unit and one tent allowed per campsite. Only 1 conversion van or other type of recreational vehicle allowed per site. Two (2) conversion vans or RVs require 2 campsites.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Check In: You may occupy your campsite anytime after 1:00 PM. Your site will be marked. There is no official check-in procedure.
Are you still camping? If you leave your site during the day, please leave something at the site so we know you are not checking out early. A tent, camp chair, stove, book, etc., something of little value but that indicates you plan to return.
Campfires. NO wood or ground fires allowed at any time. Charcoal may be used in the raised grills provided at each site.
No Hookups. There are no electric, water or sewer hookups at the individual sites. There is a dump/fill station located in the campground.
Food Storage Lockers/Bears. Bears frequent the area. All food must be kept in the food storage locker or in a hard-sided vehicle; trash must be disposed of in the animal-proof dumpsters provided. Do not leave coolers or food boxes unattended at any time. Please collapse your tent during the day if you are not in the campsite. Bears have been known to investigate and damage tents.
Generators. Many sites are in a NO generator zone. Read the site details carefully when selecting a site.
Pets. Pets are allowed in each campsite, although they must be leashed and restrained at all times. Pets are not allowed on trails or in buildings.
Hammocks. Hammocks are only allowed when not affixed to natural features. Do not hang hammocks on trees. No hammocks or other devices may be attached or tied to trees or any other natural features or objects.
No Showers. There are no showers at this campground. The only showers in the park are coin-operated at the Rio Grande Village camp store (1 hour drive).
Campsites are not level. Due to the terrain, most campsites are not level.
Entrance Fee. Big Bend charges an entrance fee separate from the camping fee. You may pay the fee upon arrival or in advance. The park also honors Federal interagency passes (e.g., annual, senior, military, access, 4th grade, Golden Age pass etc.). For more information visit the park's Fees & Passes web page.
Big Bend National Park is an International Dark Sky Park. In the interest of protecting night skies, outdoor lighting will be limited between 10 PM and 6AM to handheld lighting designed for wayfinding and lighting needed for immediate camp chores or cooking.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 60
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Paved pads
- 58 of 60
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Not allowed
- Shade
- 37 of 39 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - year round · Portable Toilets - seasonal
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Dump station
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Birding
- Evening Programs
- Guided Interpretive Walks
- Hiking
- Picnicking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 4th darkest of 154 in TX
- Bortle 1
2 of 110 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:25 UTC
recreation.gov lists 56 of the 60 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 17
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $16 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:25 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
62 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 56 mapped sitesAll 62 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 60 of the 62 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 56 of the 62 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CHISOS BASIN (BIG BEND) | HOST-1 | host pad | 24 ft | |||||
| CHISOS BASIN (BIG BEND) | HOST-2 | host pad | 24 ft | |||||
| Loop 1 | 001 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 76 ft | 7.7 mi | 234 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 002 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 66 ft | 7.7 mi | 198 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 003 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 48 ft | 7.7 mi | 133 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 48 ft | 7.7 mi | 101 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 67 ft | 7.7 mi | 106 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 66 ft | 7.7 mi | 123 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 66 ft | 7.7 mi | 110 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | 79 ft | 7.7 mi | 188 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 009 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 74 ft | 7.7 mi | 161 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 76 ft | 7.7 mi | 201 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 011 | type not stated | 20 ft | 7.7 mi | 191 ft | |||
| Loop 1 | 012 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 58 ft | 7.7 mi | 169 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 013 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 41 ft | 7.7 mi | 142 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 41 ft | 7.7 mi | 119 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 015 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 57 ft | 7.7 mi | 94 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 016 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 39 ft | 7.7 mi | 125 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 017 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 39 ft | 7.7 mi | 162 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 018 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 75 ft | 7.7 mi | 200 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 019 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 82 ft | 7.6 mi | 286 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 1 | 020 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 7.6 mi | 212 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 81 ft | 7.6 mi | 147 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 022 | type not stated | 15 ft | 7.6 mi | 94 ft | |||
| Loop 2 | 023 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 44 ft | 7.7 mi | 112 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 024 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 44 ft | 7.7 mi | 89 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 025 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 67 ft | 7.7 mi | 101 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 026 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 47 ft | 7.7 mi | 174 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 027 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 47 ft | 7.7 mi | 167 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 028 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 47 ft | 7.7 mi | 170 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 029 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 47 ft | 7.7 mi | 213 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 030 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 74 ft | 7.7 mi | 200 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 031 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 58 ft | 7.7 mi | 178 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 032 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 55 ft | 7.7 mi | 121 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 033 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 55 ft | 7.7 mi | 115 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 034 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 7.7 mi | 62 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 035 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 51 ft | 7.7 mi | 78 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 036 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 47 ft | 7.7 mi | 89 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 037 - ADA Only | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | 68 ft | 7.6 mi | 65 ft | $16 |
| Loop 2 | 038 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 47 ft | 7.6 mi | 101 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 039 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 63 ft | 7.6 mi | 143 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 2 | 040 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | 51 ft | 7.6 mi | 189 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 041 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 51 ft | 7.6 mi | 226 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 042 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 65 ft | 7.6 mi | 232 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 043 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 65 ft | 7.6 mi | 183 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 044 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 55 ft | 7.6 mi | 155 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 045 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 63 ft | 7.6 mi | 152 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 046 | type not stated | 23 ft | 7.7 mi | 143 ft | |||
| Loop 3 | 047 | type not stated | 24 ft | 7.7 mi | 165 ft | |||
| Loop 3 | 048 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 86 ft | 7.6 mi | 94 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 049 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 108 ft | 7.6 mi | 81 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 050 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 7.6 mi | 87 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 051 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 59 ft | 7.6 mi | 110 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 052 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 79 ft | 7.6 mi | 169 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 053 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 61 ft | 7.6 mi | 137 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 054 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 78 ft | 7.6 mi | 214 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 055 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 40 ft | 7.6 mi | 203 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 056 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 40 ft | 7.6 mi | 225 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 057 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 70 ft | 7.6 mi | 220 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 058 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 19 ft | 7.6 mi | 252 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 059 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 19 ft | 7.6 mi | 270 ft | $16 | |
| Loop 3 | 060 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 48 ft | 7.6 mi | 308 ft | $16 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 62 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Chisos Basin Group Campground (Big Bend, TX)Big Bend National Park · 0.0 mi
Big Bend Backcountry CampingBig Bend National Park · 7.0 mi
Cottonwood (Big Bend, TX)Big Bend National Park · 16 mi
Rio Grande Village (Big Bend, TX)Big Bend National Park · 22 mi
Rio Grande Village Group Campground (Big Bend, TX)Big Bend National Park · 22 miFrom Interstate 10, take highway 385 south to Fort Stockton and then on to Marathon. From Marathon, go 40 miles (64 km) south on Highway 385 to the north entrance of Big Bend National Park. Drive straight 26 miles (42 km) to Park Headquarters at Panther Junction. Turn right and drive for three miles (1 km). Turn left at the Basin sign and go seven miles (2.1 km) before making a right into the campground road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Study Butte, TX
Typical weather
Typical October night 54°F, day 74°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 38°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Junes are colder than the June line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Chisos Basin Campground (Big Bend, TX) is in Texas’s 23rd congressional district. Whoever holds it votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. See how its representative votes on public lands →
Our roster still carries Tony Gonzales for this district and the current federal record doesn’t list them as sitting, so we’re not naming a representative here until the two agree.