Chisos Basin Campground

I camped out of my Rav 4 Prime for 4 nights in January, 2022. A quiet campground in the Chisos Basin with a fantastic view of surrounding mountains. Site was clean as was the bear box. Restrooms were clean (no showers) and heated, which for the time of year I was there was nice. Small sink area in the bath house for washing cook gear. Beware of windy nights, at least in the winter - was glad I was sleeping in my car!

Great cell coverage! The proximity to the Chisos Lodge made for excellent Verizon service. Some of the best in the park.

Site 30 in Chisos Basin is the deluxe premier penthouse suite of the entire campground. This spot opened up due to cancellation and I managed to grab 3 nights in December 2020. Not knowing what to expect, I was just feeling lucky to land a spot in Chisos Basin, as these spots are really hard to get during that season. Most of the spots in this campground are right on top of each other and have very little to no privacy at all. That being said, all of the spots have great views, as you are right down in the middle of the scenic basin. Site 30 is completely different from most of the other sites. It is set off the road, down a set of steps and inside a tree canopied clearing. Because of how it is offset from the road and surrounded by trees, it is very private and isolated from the other camps. Also, our winnebago served as a privacy wall at the entrance, which made the camp feel even more separated. There were some other good private sites that I saw in the group camping section, but that entire section was closed due to 2020.
If you're into hiking, Chisos Basin is an ideal place for your base camp. There are some amazing trail heads right from the campground and staying here gives you an early start to beat the crowds. There was absolutely no cell service, but you can get internet if you stop off outside the lodge up the hill. There's no electricity but plenty of sun and our solar panels easily got us through 3 days here.
Also, if you are into remote boon-docking, you absolutely must try and find a spot in the back country area of Big Bend. It is amazing and we enjoyed that even more than Chisos Basin. All in all, Big Bend has been one of our most memorable and favorite trips we have ever done.

We absolutely loved this place. It’s magical. The restrooms are pretty dark, even during the day. And the cell service isn’t great. But it doesn’t matter because you’re surrounded by beauty. The camp hosts were friendly. Recreation.gov makes it easy to select a site based on your needs, whether it’s a longer parking pad or a space for a tent. We will definitely be coming back here!

We stayed here one night and wouldn’t stay here again or recommend it to anyone. The sites are literally on top of one another, with no privacy. Some sites have a roof over the picnic bench, most don’t. Parking spots aren’t level, if your site even has a parking spot (problematic for van lifers). Half of the sites also don’t have a suitable spot for a tent. Hosts weren’t helpful.

Not worth the $16.

I am reviewing even thought i did not spend the night, i did drive into the campground with my 2500 pickup truck and found it difficult to make some of the tight turns within the campground. Location is perfect for hiking and exploring the surrounding area. The road to the campground and visitors center has some very tight U-shape turns at the edge of the mountain. I would not dare take any RV longer then 22ft up & down that road. A tent or Casita style trailer is ideal. It's $30 (7 day pass) to enter the park even if your visiting just for the day. Some of the dirt road to other primitive campgrounds in the area are washboard and tuff to drive up and down them. I decided to stay just outside the park at Paisano RV Park with full hookups and drove to the areas i wanted to visit.

Nothing to add to other reviews aside from The fact that the park must’ve recently upgraded their connectivity infrastructure, because both AT&T and Verizon have full LTE signal at the Chisos Basin visitor Center, which is incredible considering you have almost no service anywhere else in the park, those places that do are only 1 or 2 bars of 3G. Seeing about 10mbps down and 8mbps up on AT&T with iPhone X.

We loved Chisos Basin campground!

The campground is in a perfect location to access the best hikes for your average hikers, and even some challenging hikes for more experienced hikers.

The road getting into the campground is very steep, but doable for most all vehicles, but if you’re towing a trailer, make sure your vehicle can handle steep hills.

The campground itself is simple and perfect to feel like you are truly in nature. You’re surrounded by big mountains all around with unique rock formations, and the star visibility at night is unreal!

The sites are primitive, no electric or water at your site, with a few clean drinking/filling water spouts shared among campers, clean toilets with hot water sinks, and spots 1-18 allow generators, all other spots do not. Generally speaking, it looked like camping trailers were in spots 1-18, and mostly tents or small trailers/vans used the other spots.

1/11/21-1/16/21 We stayed in spot #35 with a popup camper by the restroom and water spout, and loved it so much we booked more nights in spot #34.

The Chisos Basin visitor center is a few minute drive from the campground and is a great starting point for many hikes and views. There is also a convenience store for ice and snacks by the visitor center.

We enjoyed the “window trail”, “window view trail”, “laguna meadows trail”, and the “lost mine trail”. (*you can check out our AllTrails hiking account to see the exact foot steps we took with photos, on our home page of our website at the bottom of this review).

The camp host “Mark” was so friendly and helpful with informing campers about bears and mountain lions to make you feel safe, and shared pictures with us of a mama bear and her two cubs that visited the campground while we were on a hike.

If you enjoy Camping and Hiking Adventures, and want to see even more details about Big Bend and other National Parks, check out our travel blog website to 43 National Parks in 1yr :)

www.NationalParkAdventureGuide.com