Vernon Bailey Mountain

— It is undeniable that Big Bend NP has a lot of iconic views and hikes. The park is 1,252 square miles or 801,163 acres. That makes it the fifteenth largest park in the National Park System and the eighth in the lower 48 states. If you ever visit the park, please do not make the mistake of spending only a day. You will barely touch the surface of everything the park has to offer.

Big Bend NP offers desert, mountains, and river environments. In the photo above, you have a view of the Chihuahuan Desert on the horizon and the Chisos Mountains in the foreground. For river scenery, you can visit the Santa Elena Canyon and even go canoeing up that river, for example, or you may cross into Mexico at Boquillas.

Besides The Window (as seen in the photo above), other iconic views and hikes include the previously mentioned Santa Elena Canyon, the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, a long hike to the South Rim, or a shorter hike on the Lost Mine Trail, where I made the photo above. There is no doubt that beauty abounds in the park.

One peak is not often mentioned when one thinks or hears about Big Bend NP. I am talking about Vernon Bailey Mountain, seen on the right-hand side of that first photo above. It is 6,672 ft (2,034 m) in elevation. Because of its prominent location in the Basin, Vernon Bailey Mountain can be seen from various trails in that area. In the second photo here, I made that photo from the Chisos Basin Loop, an easy hike around the Basin. The loop is only 2.4 miles (3.86 km) in length and with 465 feet (141.73 m) in elevation gain. That loop actually gives a hiker a very good view of all the major peaks in the Chisos.

In the view above, Vernon Bailey Mountain is seen from the start of the South Rim trail via Laguna Meadows. This trail is long and is usually done with overnight camping. However, we have hiked it in a day in some of our previous visits. We leave early in the morning (around 9 AM) and are able to be back before dark. The trail is about 14 miles (22.5 km) in length, and it is easier to navigate going via Laguna Meadows.

If you prefer to camp while at Big Bend NP, I would suggest getting your reservation for site 52 as I did a few years back. You have the unique view of The Window right from inside your tent, and you will also see Vernon Bailey Mountain, as in the photo below. Site 52 is very popular and in very high demand among campers.