Big Bend National Park Trail Crew

02/06/2020

Big Bend NP Trail Crew collaborating with Science & Resource Management on the maintained landscape around the Panther Junction Visitor Center.

Cool winter days are a great time for getting hard work done! One project has been working to remove dead plant material, creosote bushes, and dirt by the Panther Junction Visitor Center. This is to lessen erosion issues and make way for planting natural hummingbird feeders, like penstemon flowers, golden-ball lead trees, agaves, and wildflowers!

Next time you're in the park, check out these great improvements!

Image: trail crew members posing with tools. Image credit: NPS.

12/17/2019

Well done Big Bend trail crew! Helping hikers enjoy their adventures and find a campsite, since 1944.

04/21/2019

Great work team!

Your fee dollars at work! Come see the great job Big Bend's Trail Crew has done in to make the Pinnacles trail an even better hiking experience! This spring, the crew re-routed the trail near the CCC cottages, so the trail no longer follows the steep access road leading to the water tank. This new route is an easier grade to hike as well as easier to maintain -- a win-win in our books! Pictured here is the Trail Crew celebrating the new route with a ribbon-cutting in true trails style --using pruning tools!

06/12/2018

The Big Bend NP mule pack string aids in many backcountry operations in the park from search and rescue to supporting backcountry trail crew camps to this project. This is the pack string bringing lumber to the Homer Wilson Ranch House for recent historic preservation efforts.

04/04/2018

The Big Bend Trail Crews worked a hitch out on the Mesa de Anguila Trail to perform regular maintenance. In order to access the remote reach of this trail system the crews navigated the Rio Grande via canoes. Due to low water re-supply was required via a mule string; which transported water from Lajitas to Entrance Camp. Trail crew operations depend on excellent planning, coordinated logistics, and true dedication to the job at hand. In fact, all this work is done by hand, no power tools! The trail crews excel at taking complex operations and turning it into high quality results. Well done!

05/04/2017

The Big Bend Trail Crews finished off their season by completing trail construction at the new Fossil Discovery Exhibit. We completed the entrance, exit, and kiosk paths as well as a drystone staircase to a vista above the exhibit.

It is a fantastic exhibit in a modern space; please check it out if you are in the park.

01/29/2017

Big Bend Trail Crew just finished a week hitched out at Twisted Shoe and Robbers Roost campsites while working on Juniper Canyon Trail. This trail starts in the desert scrub Chisos foothills and climbs high into the Chisos Mountains to Boot Canyon Trail. This is a popular backpacking trail as part of the Outer Mountain Loop - a very rugged and remote backpacking trip. Detailed planning, permits and water caching is necessary. Trail Crew tackled lots of brush, especially thick sections of overgrown Bee Brush. Yeehaw!

01/11/2017

This is us. Big Bend NP Trail Crew. Taking in the history and the views on Ore Terminal Trail - a remote, rugged and outstanding trail, seldom hiked.

03/26/2016

03/26/2016

In celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the National Park Service we celebrated with the Big Bend Showcase at Rio Grande Village for visitors to learn about all the various work that it takes to make Big Bend National Park operate.

01/07/2016

Amazing things happen when you are out with the trail crew. Today we found a potential national co-champion Drooping Juniper tree

01/06/2016

Cut, batched and documented: New backcountry campsite signs are ready to be packed via mule string into the high Chisos Mountains for installation.