One of the largest, and least visited, national parks in the continental United States is Big Bend. The reason for the lack of visitors has more to do with isolation than what the park contains – it’s another 100 or so miles down to the road from Alpine to get to much of anything in the park, and by the time you hit Alpine, you have likely already been in the car for hours. Once here, though, Big Bend rewards the effort with stunning desert vistas that rise up to tall mountains covered in juniper and pine forests, narrow canyons surrounded by sheer cliffs, abundant wildlife, and plenty of opportunities for hiking.