View of the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas

© Ian Shive/Tandem Stills + Motio

In Texas, even the riverbend is big

We're celebrating the 77th birthday of Big Bend National Park, the place the National Park Service calls 'one of the last remaining wild corners of the United States.' To get here, you have to be committed. This rugged terrain, which covers almost a million acres, is one of the most remote spots in the country—it's hours from the nearest towns or the closest airport, making it one of the least-visited national parks in the country. Those who do make the effort to get to Big Bend are rewarded with an undeveloped natural beauty, and silence, two things that seem to be in short supply these days.

At Big Bend you'll find craggy hiking trails, red mountain vistas, limestone canyons, and hot springs alongside the famous Rio Grande. There's also the wildlife you'd expect to find in the Wild, Wild West, including rattlesnakes, packs of javelinas, and 20 species of bats. But it's the huge night sky unencumbered by light pollution that draws stargazers to Big Bend from all over the world. After all, everything, as they say, is bigger in Texas.