Big Bend National Park
Texas

"Big Bend is one of the largest and least visited of America’s national parks. Over 801,000 acres await your exploration and enjoyment. From an elevation of less than 2,000 feet along the Rio Grande to nearly 8,000 feet in the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, and the entire Chisos Mountain range." - NPS

The magnificent Santa Elena Canyon is the most striking canyon in the park .  It's visible from over 10 miles away.  The Rio Grande River abruptly changes course after following beneath the fairly straight Sierra Ponce cliffs for several miles and heads due west, cutting a deep, narrow gorge through the mountains.

Santa Elena Canyon

An approximately 0.7 mile trail follows the river up the north side of the canyon.  You can walk further when the water level is low.

The canyon is quite a long way from the main park's visitor center and is reached by the 30 mile Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive.  The trip takes about 1 hour.

VirtualBigBend.com  - 360 degree panoramas of Big Bend.

Map of Big Bend

Casa Grande

Trail to the Window

   Agate Fossil Beds NM|Agua Fria NM|Arches NP|Badlands NP|Bandelier NM|Big Bend NP|Big Cypress NP
Big Hole NB|Big Thicket NP|Biscayne NP|Black Canyon of Gunnison NP|Bryce Canyon NP|Cabrillo NM|Canyon de Chelly NM|Canyonlands NP|Canyon of the Ancients NM|Capitol Reef NP|Capulin Volcano NM|Carlsbad Caverns NP|Carrizo Plain NM|Casa Grande NM |Cascade-Siskiyou NM|Cedar Breaks NM|Chaco Canyon NHP|Chamizal NM|Channel Islands NP|Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP|Chimney Rock NHS|Chiricahua NM||City of Rocks NP|Colorado NM|Congaree NP|Coronado NM|Crater Lake NP|Craters of the Moon NM|Death Valley NP|Devil's Post Pile NM|Devil's Tower NM|Ebey's Landing NHR|Dinosaur NM|El Malpais NM|El Morro NM|Eugene O'Neill NHS|Everglades NP|Flaming Gorge NRA|Florissant Fossil Beds NM|Fort Bowie NM|Fort Laramie NHS|Fort Larnard NHS|Fort Pulaski|Fort Union NM|Fort Vancouver NHS|Fossil Butte NM|Glacier NP|Glen Canyon NRA|Golden Gate NRA|Golden Spike NHS|Grand Canyon NP|Grand Canyon/Parashant NM|Grand Teton NP|Giant Sequoia NM|Gila Cliff Dwellings NM|Glacier NP|Grand Staircase/Escalante NM|Great Basin N P|Grand Portage NM|Great Sand Dunes NP|Great Smokey Mountains NP|Guadalupe Mountains NP|Hagerman Fossil Bed NM|Hanford Reach NM|Hells Canyon NRA|Hohokam-Pima NM|Hot Springs NP|Hovenweep NM|Hubble Trading Post NHS|Ironwood NM|John Day Fossil Bed NM|John Muir NHS|Joshua Tree NP|Kings Canyon NP|Klondike Gold Rush NHP|Lake Mead NRA|Lake Roosevelt NRA|Lassen NP|Lava Beds NM|Lewis and Clark NHP|Lincoln Home NHS|Lyndon B Johnson NHP|Little Big Horn NM|Mojave NP|Mammoth Cave NP|Manzanar NM|Martin Luther King NHS|Mesa Verde NP|Minidoka Internment NM|Montezuma Castle NM|Mount Rainier NP|Mount Rushmore NM|Mount St. Helens NM|Muir Woods NM|Natural Bridges NM|Navajo NM|Newberry Volcanic NM|Nez Perce NHP|North Cascades NP|Ocmulgee NM|Olympic NP|Oregon Caves NM|Organ Pipe Cactus NM|Padre Island NS|Palo Alto Battlefield NHS|Pecos NHP|Petrified Forest NP|Pinnacles NM|Pipe Spring NM|Pipestone NM|Point Reyes NS|Port of Chicago NM|Redwood NP|Rocky Mountain NP|Rosie the Riveter NHP|Saguaro NP|Salinas Pueblo Missions NM|San Antonio Missions NHP|San Francisco Maritime NHP| San Juan Island NHP|San Juan NHP|Santa Monica Mountains NRA|Santa Rosa - San Jacinto Mountains NM|Scott's Bluff NM|Sequoia NP|Sonora Desert NM|Sunset Crater NM|Theodore Roosevelt NP|Timpanogos Cave NM|Tonto NM|Tuzigoot NM|Valles Caldera NP|Vermillion Cliffs NM|Voyageurs NP|Walnut Canyon NM|White Sands NM|Whitman Mission NM|Wind Cave NP|Wupatki NM|Yellowstone NP|Yosemite NP|Yucca House NM|Zion NP

More Photographs by Steve: Antelope Canyon|Monument Valley

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Copyright © 1995 - 2007 Steve Schmorleitz. All rights reserved.
Revised: March 23, 2008.
Contact Steve Schmorleitz for approval of photo usage.