Best Glamping near Redford, TX

We have recovered from our shake out trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park, Chorro Vista Camp Site. Yes we did a shake out in the most remote camp site, in the most remote State park in Texas. Texas Parks& Wildlife Dept calls this"the other side of No Where" and says bring TWO spare tires and they mean both. The 4x4 trail to get to the camp site was exhilarating, both the scenery and driving what they call maintained road. Want some real fun try the unmaintained 4X4 roads....we had a mountain goat tell us we were crazy for drive up there. If you care about your paint don't drive these roads, but if West Texas Pin Striping is a badge of honor this is for you. The Falcon Pro was awesome, if we would have had the old truck bed tent, it would have been in Mexico after the winds Friday night, as it was I was trying to figure out self rescue when the winds blew the truck over....but we made it. Then Saturday night the temps dropped to 15 degrees and us without a heater again did OK. We got some sleep Sunday night. The days were great some of the most rugged hiking ever...and the views, AMAZING. What a great experience, cant wait to get back out there.

Plenty of campgrounds to choose from, some that need high clearance vehicles, but plenty that don't and that still offer great views. I came here for an overnight bike-pack trip and the base camp I stayed at had a picnic table, fire pit, and a nice cliff with the river running just behind it. There are also restrooms close by.

Back-country dispersed camping was everything you'd expect. No amenities and camping under the stars.

Be prepared for extreme heat, cold (at night), and unpredictable weather. I had all of this.

If you forget any gear there is a small town just outside of the park where you should be able to find whatever you need and also get your tourist needs in.

Ranch Topanga Campgrounds

A good place to camp if you want a quiet, secluded spot, lovely views, close to both the National and State Parks. Reasonably priced. The managers take great care of the place and have a great camping spot with all the amenities needed. The bathhouse has hot showers, toilets, large sinks for washing dishes, and electrical outlets. I camped in Site#1 February 2020. I had my camp set up in the back of my truck topper, and I was attending an annual 4 day motorcycle rally in the Big Bend region of Texas.

Rancho Topanga is located on the North side of Highway 170, approximately 11 miles West of Study Butte and 7 miles East of Lajitas.

I will definitely come back.

We went out here for a four day primitive site stay in Javelin. If you love solitude this place is right up your alley. We chose Big Bend Ranch over the National park primarily for an adventure and the fact that they allow camp fires. It was a long drive out in the desert. The main road is well maintained. Once you hit the side roads to your campsite you need to pay attention to what vehicle they tell you, you need to get to the campsite. They aren’t fooling around😆we had two wheel drive high clearance and it is exactly that. One thing we didn’t realize was that the brush grows close into the road so if you go out to Javelin you will scratch your vehicle. But you are rewarded with the solitude and beauty of the area. In four days we saw no one. We heard wildlife (coyotes) but never saw anything. It had plenty of trails close by to explore if you want to stay put. They require your own waste disposal. The site includes tent sites (they are rocky), picnic table and a fire pit/grill. Just a beautiful awesome place that I hope to return to soon.

Big Bend Ranch State Ranch is quite different than Big Bend National Park. While much of the national park has sky islands (mountains), much of the state park is classic desert. The park stretches from the desert to the Rio Grande River. There is a scenic road that runs along the river with a number of campsites. The campsite are drive up campsites, but somewhat primitive in nature in that there are not restrooms with toilets, sinks and showers. There are picnic tables and fire rings, but that is about it. There is not much shade cover at these campsites so it is helpful if you have a tent or canopy shade. The attraction of this park is the expansive views of the desert that one is able to view. The heat and lack of cover can be tough on the body, so bring lots of water and hydrate. Outside the park are some interesting towns like Terlingua and the old silver mining town of Safter.

We camped at Yedra 1 for 2 nights during our trip to BBNP, Guadalupe Mountains NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP. This was our favorite spot of the whole trip and in my top 3 camp spots I've ever been to. Yes, the road to get here is rough but not bad. Sedans would be fine on the main road but side road to Yedra was tight with some large pits (our wrangler was fine). Each camp site has a nice fire pit and picnic table. As you can see Yedra 1 has spectacular views. I was worried about the proximity to Yedra 2 and papalitto but there are miles between each site and you truly feel alone. Yedra sits in between the main road and ranger station. The ranger station and showers are amazing! Staff is super friendly and helpful. Bathrooms were clean and water was hot.

This pin is actually across the road from where the Upper & Lower Madera campgrounds are. As the name suggests, one is on a plateau and one is on the ground/ river level. There is a clearly marked sign for Upper Madera, but the sign to turn for Lower Madera is simply a “river access” sign. The Lower Madera sign is visible only once you turn onto the road.

I stayed for a few nights at Lower Madera because it’s the closest thing I could find to Big Bend National Park, which is still about an hour drive away. Luckily the drive up and down River Road is absolutely stunning!

I stayed in site 10, which was a bit set back from the road and could have easily fit another tent or two. I also prepaid/ reserved my stay through the Texas SP website for $12 a night.

Lower Madera is fairly desolate, there were only three other campers that I spotted throughout my two nights there. The highway was not heavily trafficked to begin with, but the plateau of Upper Madera blocks any sound that might come through. The river gurgling in the short distance is nice. This is a GREAT place for stargazing as this and the surrounding area is a designated dark sky.

Speaking of the Rio Grande, most of the shoreline is covered in brush, with an opening for boat access. From what I could tell, this boat access ramp is really the only place you can truly get to the river’s edge at the campground.

Wildlife spotting: skunks and javelinas. You can hear the coyotes yipping and howling in the middle of the night or early in the morning, but I didn’t actually see any. The skunk and javelina both went on their way when I shined my flashlight on them.

There is absolutely ZERO cell service. You may be able to pick up some phone calling service or even 3G data around Lajitas, but LTE is nonexistent out there. There is WiFi at the visitor centers within the national park.

The picnic table is metal, easy for cleaning! The fire ring was in great shape too, but there was a burn ban in effect when I came through a few days ago. There is a lot of brush to separate the campsites, but not really much for shade trees.

I would stay here again, but no longer than two nights, with a tight activity plan in place.