Dear Prospective Team Member,

The following is an article written straight from my heart about what Big Bend is all about. I hope this area will provide you with the same sense of "home", whether year round or seasonal, that it has provided me since 1985. I look forward to having you come work with us and perhaps making Big Bend your home...

Discover the magical Big Bend Country

Tucked away in a remote southwestern Texas corner lies a colorful, majestic, sparsely populated, magical area called Big Bend.  Some say everything in Texas is big, but here the land truly lives up to the reputation it is given.  You'll find big people with big hearts, big wide open vistas of desert and mountains, big thinkers and dreamers, big ranches and two big parks, one State and the other National.  No one comes to Big Bend by accident and most would say it is a big effort just to get here.  Once here, many decide that it is just big enough for them to want to stay a lifetime.

Big Bend National Park encompasses over 800,000 acres.  You could stay forever and not see every nook and cranny.  It is a little known desert paradise that most are unaware of.  This is one of the least visited parks in our National Park system,  so even the solitude and quiet are big.  Big Bend Ranch State Park has nearly 300,000 acres with calderas, mountains, desert, and longhorn cattle.  This park was a working cattle ranch since the pioneers came to the area in the late 1800's and on it's vast surface you'll find Indian pictographs, old Indian camps, tinajas, and waterfalls.

On hiking trails in both parks, of which there are many, most of the year you'll not encounter even one other person.  If you venture off the main road on one of the backroads, you seldom see another vehicle.  And on the river, that magical ribbon of life lined with trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, you can experience the true feeling of wilderness.

The river gave this piece of Texas it's name by bending like an elbow, to cradle the desert and the Chisos mountains in the "crook" of the Big Bend.  Indians lived here for thousands of years before the Spanish took possession.  But none have ever really "possessed" this country, rather, the country claimed them as it's possession.  And so the land remains the same although the inhabitants have changed from Indian to Spanish to Anglo over the years.  Man has not put asunder what God has made in the Big Bend.

The small communities that dot the desert like scattered jewels in the sands of time will never have fast food restaurants, Wal-Marts, shopping malls, or chain hotels.  Instead the little mom and pop businesses flourish by serving the few travelers that find their way to this beautiful forgotten land.  

The lucky few who find this hidden treasure take pleasure in the many activities offered by local outfitters.  It's not enough to just drive through...no one can hear the whisper of the land from inside a vehicle.  To experience the magic that is here it's necessary to walk the land, or ride a hose, or take a river trip through some of the most spectacular canyon scenery to be found in America.  Water, over millennia, has coursed it's way through layers of limestone and volcanic rock to create the wonders presently called Colorado Canyon, Santa Elena, Mariscal, Boquillas, and the Lower Canyons.  The Rio Grande is the lifeblood for the land it touches, for the wildlife that lives on the land and for the resident who makes his home in the Big Bend.  Although the Rio Grande has diminished over the years from dams and upstream irrigation, Big Bend River Tours offers year round rafting or canoeing with gentle rapids, birds more numerous in variety than in any other park, legends of the ancient dwellers and the spectacular canyon walls that rise from rivers edge over 1500 feet or more to the sky.  Go for a day, camp out under a canopy of the brightest stars in Texas on an overnight trip, or get away from it all for a multi-day trip that is sure to mellow your mind and delight the child that lives within.  The memories of Big Bend are as everlasting as the land itself.

Time stands still...the land stands majestic, uncluttered.....the river lends it's magic and the soul is soothed.

Big Bend River Tours offers river trips, hiking and backpacking trips, back-road tours and interpretive tours of the State and National parks year round.  We also carry a supply of outdoor gear in our retail store. Equipment rentals and shuttles are available for those more adventuresome who wish to "go it on their own". Advance reservations are recommended especially during our peak seasons. Our friendly and helpful office staff can assist you from 9 AM to 5 PM daily. We are open earlier and close later during peak seasons. We invite you to join us on an adventure where we will help you "discover the magic" of the beautiful Big Bend Country!