Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
© Tim Fitzharris/Minden Picture
Big Bend National Park
Join us for a hike at one of America’s least-visited national parks. Big Bend National Park may be among the largest national parks in the US with an area of 3,242 square kilometres, but it’s also one of the most remote. Found in West Texas along the Rio Grande at the Mexico border, the park entrance is roughly a two-hour drive from the nearest interstate. The good thing is, even in a “busy” year when half a million people visit, there’s plenty of space to enjoy the great outdoors unhindered by crowds.
Big Bend is known for having the darkest night skies among the contiguous states. This makes it a “must visit” for stargazing; thousands of stars are visible when the skies are clear, along with the Milky Way. If you head out for a hike, keep your eyes peeled for the 1,200 plant species in the park. There are also plenty of animals, though most of them tend to come out only at night. Except birds, that is. Birdwatching is incredibly popular at Big Bend – it’s on the paths of annual migrations, so more than 450 different bird species have been catalogued here.
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