May 28, 2009 – The Rio Grande River, Texas

The Rio Grande River, Big Bend National Park, Texas — Ian Shive / Aurora / Getty Images

• This park is one of the largest, most remote, and least visited of all the national parks.

  It’s an ecological treasure

• The Rio Grande failed to reach the Gulf of Mexico in 2001 for the first time in recorded history.

  What we do in the cities affects the wilderness, too

• Not everything in Texas is about cowboys and untamed desert landscapes.

  Sometimes people talk about art and stuff

• There are only five paved roads leading through the 1,200 square miles of this park.

  It shares 244 miles with Mexico