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Big Bend has three campgrounds in the park -- the Chisos Basin, with 63 sites; Cottonwood, 35 miles from Panther Junction, near the historic Castolon store in the western part of the park, with 35 sites shaded by a huge grove of cottonwood trees; and Rio Grande Village, 20 miles from Panther Junction, on the east side of the park, with 100 sites and an overflow campground, as well as a small trailer park with hookups ($12 a night), a store (one of the two places in the park that sell beer), a gas station, a self-service laundry, and the park's only public showers (25 cents for five minutes).
Permits for the fifty designated primitive backcountry campsites in the Chisos Mountains are presently obtained at Panther Junction until the remodeling of the ranger station in the basin is finished. Primitive campsites elsewhere are divided into zones, to which hikers are assigned when they obtain their backcountry permits at Panther Junction. During busy periods, the only openings may be the primitive campsites near Mariscal Canyon and Talley, down by the Rio Grande in the park's southern extreme, reached only by four-wheel-drive vehicles on the extremely rough River Road, or sites around Dagger Flat and Persimmons Gap in the north. Backcountry campers must be at least a half mile from any road, a quarter mile from any spring or historic site, and one hundred years from any trail, and must possess a backcountry permit. |
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 Individual sites at campgrounds in the park are $2.50 a night and are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Primitive and backcountry sites are free. Group camps Bend Motor Inn's RV Park (371-2218), which also rents bare bones eight-by ten-foot wooden sheds euphemistically called cabins; and the 77-space RV campground in Lajitas (424-3471), with full hookups, cable TV, and tent sites. There's always room for campers at the Stillwell Store (376-2244), the sole camping option north of the park, six miles east of U.S. 385 on FM 2627. Next to the Hallie Stillwell Museum Hall of Fame, a worthwhile stop even if you aren't camping, it has RV hookups and 25,000 acres for primitive camping. In general, private campsites are $2.50 per person, and RV hookups are $25 a night and $70 a week.
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