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Big Bend's Chisos Mountain Lodge Reconstruction
Scheduled for Spring 2025

By Alexander Martin

June 2024 Issue

Big Bend's Chisos Mountain Lodge

Neatly nestled into the hollows of Big Bend National Park's mountain range is the Chisos Mountain Lodge, a village of buildings providing a home away from home for intrepid Texas travelers. The lodge's window-filled dining room has provided countless visitors with satisfying post-hike meals.

Built in the 1960s, the lodge's main building, which contains the restaurant and a gift shop, is due for a major upgrade. It's getting one — in spring 2025.

Over the years, the lodge has suffered significant damage to the foundation, walls and building systems — a result of the unstable soil it sits on. In addition, growing visitation has outpaced the lodge's kitchen and dining service capabilities.

Originally planned to kick off during the summer of 2023, the rebuilding project has been delayed nearly two years as planners work to develop funding streams, secure contractors and understand evolving visitation patterns. Big Bend's park planning executives say they will break ground on the project in late April to early May of 2025. The project is estimated to last two years.

The construction will lead to limited visitor access in the basin. The lodge portion of the basin, which contains the visitors center and hiker parking as well, will be closed, and visitor activity will shift to the campground area. Road access to the basin will be restricted. This will be the largest project the park has undergone since the Chisos Mountains Lodge was built, when the park recorded fewer than one hundred thousand visitors per year. Now, it's more than half a million.

Deputy Superintendent Rick Gupman says addressing the park's increased popularity is a key objective of the rebuilding project.

“The new lodge is absolutely taking into account current visitation with an expectation of linear growth,” Gupman says. “Capacity will be dramatically increased. It'll be a three-story building, combining the existing restaurant, visitor center and camper store.”

What does all this mean for the hike-hungry visitor? The trail system will be fully open, says Chad Tinney, the park's superintendent. He expects parking will be the biggest problem. “Pretty much everything above the camp- ground road is going to be completely restricted," says Tinney. “That takes out about 100 parking spaces. Right now we're dealing with how to get people to those trailheads safely.”

The park plans to make 45 day-use basin permits available to visitors each day on a first-come, first-served basis, and is considering employing a shuttle service.

Staff at the gate will enforce the limited access. Overnight campers, licensed park contractors and authorized day users will be allowed to enter and exit the Chisos Basin from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The lodge's accommodations are not included in the project, but there's talk of redoing some aspects of the hotel rooms. “While the upper basin has limited access, Aramark, the hotel contract holder, is going to take that two-year opportunity to renovate their facilities,” Gupman says. “They have a fantastic plan on room upgrades, water efficiencies; the basin project as a whole has an estimation of a 40 percent decrease in water consumption.”

Above all else, Tinney wants people to know that just because lodge closure is imminent, the park itself is not closed. “The park is still open, and you still get the chance to make great memories as you did before,” he says. “You're just going to access some parts of it in different ways.”

Big Bend National Park is releasing new building designs, schedules and public outreach efforts on a rolling basis. To keep up with the newest developments on the Chisos Mountain Lodge, visit www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/chisos-basin-access.htm.

Big Bend's Chisos Mountain Lodge Rendering
Alexander Martin; NPS/Architectural Resources Group Rendering

Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine 
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