Study Butte RV Park

When traveling westbound on TX-118 out of the Big Bend National Park, Study Butte RV park will be your first site on the right hand side of the road. You will be greeted by the owner, Dave, who usually walks around his property talking with all of his people residing. He will let you know where all the tent, parking, RV, covered sites, FREE firewood, restroom&shower, what your wifi password is, and whats going on, on or off site, that night. My experience was told that there would be a bonfire and live music that night, and that my dog did not need to be on a leash if she was friendly, which she is, so Tess had a blast with the 3 other dogs that were on site. Dave's "no rules" theme was a really awesome feeling after just leaving Big Bend and told that I couldn't hike with my dog, no campfires, grumpy park rangers and neighbors, and at $14/ night there, I was just not happy. Here, there was a community feel, everyone was SOOOO friendly, had great travel stories and helpful tips for a newbie, and when the wind kicked up and nobody could have a fire, Dave invited all into his (onsite) home for hanging by the fireplace and live music(which was performed by a guy named Marcel, toured with Willy Nelson in the 80s, and another man from CA that had a sound eerily similar to Alexi Murdoch), it was AWESOME!! The next day I wanted to hike, Dave handed me a walking stick, informed me of the trails, where they would go, told me it was too early for rattler season but informed me of where the nearby 6' resides, and that the walking stick was mine, he doesn't let people go without one and it was a gift. The trails revealed the other side of the Chisos mountain window, later I had my own fire that night under what seemed to be endless sky. I had conversation with great people from all over the world, it seemed like a meeting place as most knew one another from earlier in life travels and everyone kept talking about Sunday donuts... I don't care for them, but it was clearly the talk of the town. On Sunday mornings, at 6am, a man sells (what I would soon find out) the best donuts and apple fritters in the great state of Texas and is only open on Sunday mornings, on Dave's site. I urge all that are headed in or out of Big Bend to swing by for a stay, I doubt you'll leave unhappy.

The owner, Dave (unless I have it wrong), is really what makes this RV park worth the stop. There is a brood of semi permanent residents, which along with Dave, give it a counter culture kinda vibe. It's the closest you can get to the national park on the west side, without staying in the park. There is a grocery store across the street, which I can't speak to. Wifi was slow but at least partially effective. Would def recommend if you need to plug in/need respite from the road before heading into Big Bend.

OK to begin with the previous reviews are before the change in ownership. The new owners, Leon and Benita, bought the RV park in Mar 2016. We stayed there in Nov so my review is based on that time.

Leon has already made some improvements, added a few more sites and is working to make more changes.

The park could not be more convenient to Big Bend NP unless you stayed in the NP itself. It is on the left, the last commercial establishment before the stretch or road (Rte118) heading to the entrance gate and across the street fro Cottonwood Grocery which is a WELL stocked store for not just groceries but a variety of other items including a good selection of mechanical items for RVs. The store-bright aqua green- that is at the entrance is not a part of the park but is rented and to us added nothing positive. They are open a few hours a day-maybe- and the one time they were open when we were around the smell of stale cigarette smoke wafting from inside the store kept us away. So, proceed into the park itself. It is not much to look at as it's pretty much a gravel parking lot (which gets quite muddy after a rain but which Leon fixes immediately). The sites are oriented north/south or east/west, and mostly level. If the park is full, it wasn't when we were there, it would not be private at all as the sites are the ones that have two rigs per slot. We were there with only 4 other people so we had plenty of space. All sites are FHU and while some now only have 20/30A they are all being upgraded to 20/30/50.

The bathroom (and please note there is just one BUT Leon will be adding at least one more) is huge-like in a house-and has a shower/tub combo. The room is really large and could probably hold another whole bathroom, or at least a separate shower room which would be needed with more people. It's pretty clean but there were two guys who were staying for awhile who'd left their shower supplies in it and when I spoke to Leon about it he said he'd told them to remove them. However, it was more a matter of stuff being left in there and not dirt. The shower pressure was lovely and there was plenty of water.

Although the park is right on Rte 118 it is blissfully quiet at night because the road only leads to the park and being so close to the dark skies site of Big Bend the stars are amazing. The only noise we heard was the occasional pack of coyotes calling each other. A note to pet owners: I saw scat every morning so they will come right into the park though none did during th day and we felt safe walking both our dog and cat.

Laundry: the only laundry we saw was at another RV park or down at Rio Grande Village in BiBeNP. We saved ours for another spot on the road so if you have laundry that needs to be done best to do it before or wait.

Cells: We had NO problem with 2 steady 3 intermittent bars of ATT the entire time and Leon upped the speed of the WiFi. I will say that where we were-closest to the bath house, it struggled but closer to the office it was strong. This was one of the big pluses of this CG compared to the ones in the park because there is no signal at them. There is WiFi at Rio Grande Village and Chisos Mountain Lodge but there are only a few areas in the park where you can get a phone signal.

One last and IMPORTANT thing: Study Butte RV Park does not take credit cards. Cash or checks only. But, the store across the street has an ATM.

We were glad to have found this RV park when we were visiting Big Bend. The RV park is right outside the entrance to the National Park. If you stay for a week the rate is $25 per night, otherwise it is $28 per night. It is a very clean considering we did not use the bathrooms but the new owner is really doing a good job fixing the place up! We were glad to know that some of the surrounding land was not apart of the RV park, like the creepy cemetery and taco stand.... The way the land is divided doesn't make a ton of sense. A huge bonus for us, especially sense we work remote during the week, was the wifi! It was the best wifi we have had from a campground while fullingtiming. Over all we had a great visit!

Good location, easy short drive to Big Bend. Very nice owners, super helpful. Clean bathrooms, most sites are pull thrus. Good water pressure.

No T-Mobile, roaming only or Verizon had 1x. AT&T 8mbps up 1mbps

This park was less than 1 mile outside of Big Bend National Park - perfect location! The staff and campers were extremely helpful and friendly (especially when our fifth wheel hitch gave us issues). They offer full hookups or dry camping for all sizes of RVs, travel trailers, or tents, a dump station, great water pressure, and a clean bathhouse! Overall, we loved the convenience and comfort that Study Butte RV Park offered... 😁👍

Great location, just a mile outside Big Bend National Park. People running the place were great-- we asked for a picnic table when we saw they were moving several, and they said,
"No problem! He likes to drive the tractor!" and brought one right over for us, even though it was after dark.

We tent camped, so didn't have hookups or anything, but there is a bathroom (one, literally). Kids and Husband said it looked great (I never saw it because I used a bucket with a toilet seat we had brought). Everybody was very friendly, they gave us a great recommendation for lunch (Hi Sierra Bar and Grill in Terlingua), and had wifi, which was awesome!
They do have RV spots with hookups.

Overall, a great place to stay when Big Bend is full (literally all campsites, including primitive, were already taken by the time we got to Big Bend). There is also an AWESOME store across the street for supplies, food, etc.

The park itself is a little odd. I guess the owners were away for a number of days, but when we arrived there is no obvious place to check in...no one ever answered the door at the most obvious building towards the back of the park. A guest let me know which RV the host was in, so I checked in with her. We dry camped here. The dry camp area had a ton of junk laying around, and broken glass. There is a goat tied up back there. He's really cool but I felt pretty bad for him being tied up all the time. In our 10 days there, we did see him get walked once.
There was also a boil alert in effect for the town's water. The host failed to mention this, so we filled our 100 gallon tank with this water before setting up in the dry camp...so even after the alert was over, we unfortunately had this water in our tank. Kinda irresponsible for them not to let campers know. A fellow camper was who told us, and I called the water utility to confirm it. I let several other new arrivals know, because they hadn't been told either. Kind of a fluke thing to happen while we were there, but still. The water in Big Bend National Park was unaffected so we ended up filling our 5 gallon jug at Panther Junction a couple times.

So the pros (and why we would consider staying here again): close to the park entrance, cheapest place to stay, and the market across the street has a ton of organic produce and products. And being in the dry camp area, we had so much more room than anyone in the hookup sites (they were really packed in over there, like, crazy). From our spot we also had an awesome unobstructed view of the incredible stars.

Just posted our vlog to YouTube of our time here

Pulled into the park it was really crowded. Had to squeeze into a tight backin which was probably one of the best spots and one of few spots with a picnic table. Some of the spots were so close together you could have walked out the door and reached over to your neighbors RV. No bathrooms, no laundry room either. On the plus side it was very close to Big Bend and about 5-10 minutes from Terlingua. Also the owner was nice. But I would say the $32 was a little overpriced for this park.

Would have stayed in BJ’s park if it had an open spot, book early!

This place is the most convenient spot if you are staying outside of the park and only 1 mile from the Panther Junction entrance! If you get to make a vacation out of this and unplug, then good for you. If you are a digital nomad like us then I hope you remember life prior to high speed internet and can acclimate to speeds hovering around 1MBPS DL. DSL is the only thing available down here save 1 place. Read below for that tidbit:

Pros:
- Location!! Gas station <1 mile away, amazingly stocked grocery store (they have everything I'm serious) right across the street, Terlingua Ghost Town 5 miles away.

- The owner's, Leon and Bonita, are super nice. Actually everyone we met there was very friendly.

- New bathroom facilities for those who need it.

- Like all of the area, there is plenty to see just strolling around the grounds including an old cemetery originating from the mining days and vistas for days.

Cons:
- It can get a little crowded during busy season. We were packed pretty tightly with our neighbors, who luckily turned out to be awesome and now we keep in close touch with them!

- The place is a bit chaotic but the owners are doing their best and it's part of the charm anyways.

- No laundry - go to the gas station and there is a building behind it that has machines you can pay to use.

Tips:
- WIFI. Wish we didn't need it but with retirement a few decades away, we still need to pay for that gas bill. SO, if you need wifi, here's your plan:
-- You can tether to your phone on 3G and get around 3MBPS download speeds.
-- For speeds around 4MBPS-7MBPS download you can go into town and work from the coffee shop there. They close at 2 but you can sit out there for as long as you want.
-- For the hidden gem that has Google Fiber, go to the public library next to the Terlingua School. We worked from here everyday as we needed higher speeds to avoid being fired.

- Wind and sand storms pop up whenever they darn well please. So if you leave for the day, or even an hour, bring your awnings in or you may find them wrapped around your RV when you get back. Also - break your tent down. We saw someone's go flying by when they weren't around.

- It's dark here. Like you will get lost going 10 feet dark. Bring lots of flashlights/headlights/lanterns. If you have a pet, get some type of light on their collar will help you avoid having to whip up a search party when they bolt into said darkness after unknown creature and don't come back. Like one little dog I know...