There are four
waterfalls on the 287,000 acre Big Bend Ranch. Two of them may be viewed only
via escorted tour: Mexicano Falls and Madrid Falls (second highest cascade in Texas).
The other two may be viewed on your own - if you can get to them: Ojito Adentro Waterfall
(in the Sauceda interior) and Rancherias Spring Falls (at the end of Rancherias Canyon Trail, a 4.8 mile hike).
Waterfalls-Guide.com
is intended to include waterfalls easily accessed by passenger car (and
perhaps an occasional easy to moderate walk). We deliberatly exclude sites
which require - or even recommend - 4-wheel drive vehicles. Even if you have
one, the prospects of expensive damage on many of these 'roads' is not worth
the few minute sight of a waterfall. (Some might disagree with that but it is
their money.) So we have made Big Bend Ranch an exception because we have
received so many inquires about it and it is, quite frankly, about the only
true, wild, piece of land of its type left in the United States. So, a little
about Big Bend Ranch.
The State of Texas has only owned Big Bend Ranch since 1988.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) opened it, in its undeveloped form, in 1995. A drought of funding has put a sever crimp in the
TPWD's plans for development.
Big Bend Ranch State Park is still very much a working ranch. A locked gate bars access and you have to get the combination at the visitors center in Fort Leaton. Inside the ranch you'll encounter rough, dirt roads, Longhorns, and a very rugged, untamed land.
The best description of this wild, rugged and incredibly beautiful 287,000 acre preserve was written by a Joe Nick Patoski and published in the Texas Monthly a few years ago. A copy of his article was still on-line at this writing and can be viewed at:
Patoski
Article
How to get there:
If you are coming from El Paso on I-10:
Take exit 140-A at Van
Horn and follow US-90 eastbound to Marfa (about 73 miles). Turn right on US-67
and drive south to Presidio (about 59 miles). Turn left and follow FM-170 to
Fort Leaton State Park. Stop in at the park headquarters and get instructions,
map and whatever information they currently have (remember the low budget)
plus the combination to the main gate of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
If you are coming from East Texas on I-20:
Take exit 248 (about 9
miles west of Fort Stockton) and follow US-67 to its junction with US-90
(about 48 miles). Turn right and continue on the combined US-67/US-90, through
Alpine, to Marfa (about 34 miles). Here US-67 leaves US-90. Turn left on US-67
and drive south to Presidio (about 59 miles). Turn left and follow FM-170 to
Fort Leaton State Park. Stop in at the park headquarters and get instructions,
map and whatever information they currently have (remember the low budget)
plus the combination to the main gate of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
If you are coming from East Texas on I-20:
Take exit 80 at
Monahans/Thortonville and follow TX-18 south to Fort Stockton. Just before you
enter Fort Stockton you will see the I-10 freeway. Take the westbound on ramp
and head west to exit 248 (about 10 miles). Exit and follow US-67 to its
junction with US-90 (about 48 miles). Turn right and continue on the combined
US-67/US-90, through Alpine, to Marfa (about 34 miles). Here US-67 leaves
US-90. Turn left on US-67 and drive south to Presidio (about 59 miles). Turn
left and follow FM-170 to Fort Leaton State Park. Stop in at the park
headquarters and get instructions, map and whatever information they currently
have (remember the low budget) plus the combination to the main gate of Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Photos:
Rancherias Spring Falls
(TPWD Photo)
For more information:
Big Bend Ranch State Park
P.O.Box 2319
Presidio TX 79845
915-229-3416
- or -
Texas Parks & Wildlife
4200 Smith School Rd
Austin TX 78744
park.information@tpwd.state.tx.us
