Visitor center · Big Bend National Park
Start here before the long drives through the park.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Big Bend Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Big Bend National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Big Bend audio tourRecorded for this place
Panther Junction“You're approaching Panther Junction, the park's central visitor hub.”
Plays as you drive up to Panther Junction Visitor Center in the Parkwolf Big Bend Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Panther Junction Visitor Center is the park’s central visitor hub, set where several main roads meet. Make it an early stop: Big Bend’s long drives are easier to plan once you’ve seen the raised-relief map and can ask staff where to go.
From here, head east toward Rio Grande Village, north toward Persimmon Gap, or west to the Chisos Basin and Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Rangers are a good first ask for route and trail advice. Backcountry and river-use permits are issued here, and you can pay park entrance fees here.
The exhibits cover the park’s geology and natural and cultural history. Don’t miss the large raised-relief map of the whole park; it makes the distances and routes easier to understand. The theater also has a park-orientation film.
The complex has potable water and a bottle-filling station, accessible flush restrooms, parking, a bookstore, and a small U.S. Post Office. There’s also a covered porch and an outdoor native-plant garden for a breather. Panther Junction is 68 miles south of Marathon and 29 miles east of Study Butte, so plan this as part of your day rather than a quick run back to town.
Wildlife
377 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
329 sightingsCollared PeccaryMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
500 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
985 sightingsRoadrunnerMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
228 sightingsRavenMost seen around 5 PMSighting map
264 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around noonSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Big Bend. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyLone Mountain Trail2.7 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.5 mi awayA sunlit loop around Lone Mountain’s volcanic base.
ModeratePine Canyon Trail4 mi · 3 hr · 4.4 mi awayDesert grassland gives way to a shaded canyon and cliff pour-off.
Gas station · 0.2 mi awayPanther Junction Service StationA 1958 Mission 66 station still serving a remote park.
Scenic pullout · 3.2 mi awayAnimal Highways ExhibitA quick stop to read the dry wash as a wildlife corridor.
Sight · 3.7 mi awayNina Hannold's GravesiteA cactus-lined path leads to a pioneer family's grave.
Sight · 4.9 mi awayBalanced RockA boulder spans two stone pillars in a field of desert rocks.Parkwolf’s Big Bend ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
