Big Bend map
Region · 4 counties · 14,672 sq mi · 18,433 people (2020) · Central Time
Big Bend is the name of the bulge the Rio Grande makes as it turns north-east, and of the empty quarter of Texas around it. Four counties cover 14,672 square miles with fewer than 19,000 residents — about 1.3 people per square mile. What counts as "Big Bend" is loose: the national park is the strict answer, the Brewster–Presidio–Jeff Davis triangle is the usual one, and the Trans-Pecos definition in the West Texas sense pulls in Van Horn and the Pecos River as well.
The Rio Grande along the bottom of the frame is the international border. Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis form the triangle of towns in the upper half.
Where it starts and ends
The southern and western boundary is not debatable: it is the Rio Grande, and the far side is Chihuahua and Coahuila. Presidio County alone fronts 135 miles of it. The northern edge is usually taken as I-10 and the Davis Mountains, the eastern edge as the Pecos River near Sanderson, and the western edge as the Presidio–Hudspeth county line.
All four counties keep Central Time even though Presidio County reaches almost to 105° west — further west than Denver. That is why summer sunsets here come after nine o'clock, and why the drive from El Paso, which is on Mountain Time, costs you an hour before you have gone 200 miles. Marfa sits about 190 miles south-east of El Paso and about 150 miles south-west of Odessa; those are the two nearest cities of any size, and there is nothing much in between.
The four counties
| County | Seat | Population (2020) | Area (sq mi) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brewster | Alpine | 9,546 | 6,193 | Largest county in Texas; larger than Connecticut |
| Presidio | Marfa | 6,131 | 3,856 | Fourth-largest county; 135 miles of river border |
| Jeff Davis | Fort Davis | 1,996 | 2,265 | The Davis Mountains and McDonald Observatory |
| Terrell | Sanderson | 760 | 2,358 | No incorporated city anywhere in the county |
Three sets of mountains
The Chisos Mountains sit entirely inside Big Bend National Park — a compact range of volcanic rock rising out of the desert to Emory Peak at 7,825 feet, with the Chisos Basin scooped out of the middle of it and the park's only lodge and campground inside that bowl. Nothing else in the park comes close: the Rio Grande at Rio Grande Village runs below 1,900 feet, so the park spans nearly 6,000 feet of relief.
North-west of Alpine the Davis Mountains are the highest range lying wholly within Texas, topping out at Mount Livermore, 8,378 feet, in Jeff Davis County. They catch more rain than the desert around them and carry grassland and oak instead of creosote. McDonald Observatory sits on Mount Locke above SH-118, and the dark sky it depends on is now protected by the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve, designated in 2022 across both sides of the border.
South and west, the Bofecillos Mountains and the Solitario — a circular collapsed dome about eight miles across — sit inside Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest state park in Texas at more than 300,000 acres. The rock throughout the region is a mix of Cretaceous limestone laid down in a shallow sea and Tertiary volcanic ash and lava; the Permian strata that give the Permian Basin its name are buried far below.
Towns, and the ones that stopped being towns
- Alpine
6,035 people at about 4,475 feet, the only incorporated city in Brewster County. Sul Ross State University, the county courthouse and the Amtrak platform are all here.
- Marfa
1,788 people on US-90, 26 miles west of Alpine. A railroad water stop that became an art town after Donald Judd bought the old army post in the 1970s.
- Fort Davis
The Jeff Davis County seat, unincorporated, at around 5,000 feet — usually called the highest town in Texas. Fort Davis National Historic Site preserves the frontier army post.
- Sanderson
The Terrell County seat on US-90 and the Southern Pacific line, at the mouth of Sanderson Canyon. A flash flood down that canyon in 1965 killed more than 20 people.
- Terlingua
Quicksilver was mined from cinnabar here into the 1940s; the mine closed and the adobe town emptied. The ruins above the ghost-town cemetery are now the jumping-off point for park and river trips.
- Shafter
Silver-mining camp on US-67 between Marfa and Presidio, worked from the 1880s until the 1940s. A handful of residents and a stone church remain.
Two ways across the Rio Grande
For a 300-mile stretch of border there are exactly two legal crossings. The Presidio–Ojinaga International Bridge at the end of US-67 is a full port of entry, open around the clock, and carries the produce and cattle traffic for the whole region; Ojinaga is the largest town on either side for a long way.
The other is the Boquillas Crossing inside Big Bend National Park, where a rowboat takes you across to the village of Boquillas del Carmen. It closed after 2001 and reopened in 2013 as a port of entry with limited days and hours and a kiosk that connects to an officer elsewhere. Between the two, the river runs through Santa Elena, Mariscal and Boquillas canyons, where limestone walls stand more than 1,000 feet above the water and there is no road at all.
Roads
- US-90 – the main east–west route: Van Horn, Marfa, Alpine, Marathon, Sanderson, Del Rio. About 75 miles from Van Horn to Marfa with no town in between.
- US-67 – Marfa south about 60 miles to Presidio and the international bridge, past Shafter.
- US-385 – south from Marathon 40 miles to the Persimmon Gap entrance of Big Bend National Park, then on to Panther Junction.
- SH-118 – Alpine north 24 miles to Fort Davis and the observatory, or south about 80 miles to Study Butte and the park's west entrance.
- SH-17 and SH-166 – with SH-118 these make the 74-mile Davis Mountains scenic loop out of Fort Davis.
- FM-170 – the River Road from Presidio through Lajitas to Study Butte, hugging the Rio Grande with grades steep enough to need runaway lanes.
- I-10 – the region's northern limit, crossing Jeff Davis County near Kent.
Records and distinctive facts
| Largest county in Texas | Brewster, 6,193 sq mi |
| Largest national park in Texas | Big Bend, 801,163 acres, a national park since 1944 |
| Largest state park in Texas | Big Bend Ranch, more than 300,000 acres |
| Highest range wholly inside Texas | Davis Mountains — Mount Livermore, 8,378 ft |
| Highest point in Big Bend National Park | Emory Peak, 7,825 ft |
| Smallest population in the region | Terrell County, 760 (2020) |