Big Bend National Park

I was initially skeptical if the Big Bend National Park is a good travel choice, let alone a good choice for a world heritage site. It is never mentioned as one of the greatest US national parks, in fact, it is hardly mentioned at all. Also, the often displayed image of an U-shaped canyon is actually from horseshoe bend (1000 miles to the west), and is not present in the Big Bend NP. Luckily, Big Bend turned out to be a very enjoyable national park and worthy candidate. One of its strong points is the presence of three different landscape types within the park: The dry and flat Chihuahuan desert, which is covered with shrubs and all kind of strange plants; then the mountain heights of the Chisos mountains with a more temperate environment, where craggy rock peaks are covered with forests. Finally the river canyon landscape along the south border, where the Rio Grande creates formations similar to the famous colorado river canyonlands. The park is quite big, and it can take up to two hours to drive from the trails at the west to the ones in the east, but the roads and general infrastructure are excellent (as usual in US parks).
Now to the weak points. Firstly, the park is quite remote and out of the way of pretty much anything. It can only be reached by car, and with a long drive. The nearest cities are El Paso to the west (5h drive) or San Antonio …

As far as US national parks goes, Big Bend is in our top third favorites. It’s big and has a lot of different things. Tall peaks, water activities, dinosaur fossils and hot springs. 

Unfortunately the border into was closed was closed but the crossing and ability to explore another country would be a very cool thing. 

Having a 4x4 would really open up this place.