Information about Backcountry camping at BBNP

Information about Big Bend National Park Backcountry camping and Backcountry Permits.

BBNP has many miles of backcountry dirt roads.  Along many of these dirt roads there are backcountry campsites.    A few campsites are accessible by any size RV.  These are generally within a mile or so of the paved highway.  Others require some high clearance without a long overhang behind the rear axle.  On most RV's it is the overhang and not the ground clearance. On some you may need 4 wheel drive to crawl over rocks and climb up short steep, rocky sections of the road, so no RV’s there.

There are 5 sites, Grapevine Hills Rd #2 & #3, Paint Gap Rd #1, 2 & 3 which don’t allow RV’s to camp there.  The reason is that these sites are highly visible from the paved highway.  Since they require people doing “zone camping" to be out of sight of paved highways, it is only fair to require RV’s to be out of sight of the paved highway.  This seems reasonably fair to me, even though it remove 5 campsites which could be accessible by RV’s

There are 6 backcountry campsites which are accessible by almost any size RV.

-- Hanold Draw

-- Grapevine Hills #1

--  Croton Springs #1 & #2.  These share a single parking area.

--  K Bar #2.   

--  K Bar #1 is good for RV’s up to about 30’.  The parking area is too small for large RV’s to pull into.

Photo of Croton Springs #1 & #2

The campsites are just scraped off sections of the desert ground with old telephone poles laying on the ground for borders.  Most have bear & javalina resistant food boxes, but no tables, grills or fire pits.  No campfires are permitted.  For a complete list of regulations go here.

With a few exceptions these campsites are several hundred yards or several miles from another campsite.  Because of the distance between campsites there is a great deal of privacy in spite of being in wide open country.   To view photos and info about the campsites go to  Big Bend National Park Primitive Roadside Campsites

 

A backcountry permit is required to stay in these campsites. There is a $10 fee ($5 with a federal senior pass) for the backcountry permit.  The backcountry camping is free.  The permit is good for up to 14 consecutive days.  If you come out of the backcountry and spend a night at a place other than in the backcountry, then you need another $10 permit to backcountry camp. 

You must go to a visitor center to get a permit. To help you plan your backcountry camping and view the availability of campsites you can log on to the Big Bend NP Backcountry Permits website.  (If you are into overnight backpacking, this website also includes the hike-in sites in the Chisos Mountains.)  While in the website you can fill out a worksheet with the backcountry sites and dates you want to stay at them.  You still must go to the VC to actually have your permit issued.  You can fill out your worksheet one day before you start your BC stay, but if you do, you MUST pick up your permit that day.  The computer system purges all worksheets at 6:30am each day, so any previous day’s worksheets not resulting in a permit are gone each morning.   

This is a real improvement over the old system where the park used a big paper book with all the campsites listed in the book.  You needed to go the Panther Junction VC to see the campsite book or if you were at one of the other VC they would call PJ and log in your selection.  About a year ago, a BBNP volunteer computerized the back country permit system.