Shannon B.
Yelp
Visitors to Ten Bits Ranch who love the outdoors and care deeply about the environment (with the will to sacrifice some modern comforts to do right by Mother Earth) will find an amazing home base for their visit to the Big Bend area. Our family of 3 visited for 4 nights in early June of 2018, staying in the original General Store cabin, and would definitely stay here again if we could get one of the newer units.
The Good:
This remote lodging site is about 13 miles north of Study Butte, on the way into Terlingua as you come down from Alpine, with several cabins set out in the Chihuahuan Desert configured as a set from an old Western movie. During our visit, there were just 4 small wooden cabins with limited amenities available, but since then, the Ranch has expanded to add some additional more modern units (Delmonico's Steakhouse, Texas Hattery, Ten Bits Gazette and Courthouse) with adobe facades, better amenities, and best desert views. The entire property uses solar for power, wells, and collected rainwater, so guests will note some restrictions on HVAC and water usage. For example, we were asked to turn-off all electrical devices including A/C when we were not in the unit.
From your front porch and shared locations around the 500-acre ranch, you'll have unbelievable views of the desert, mountains, and the infinite skies. Sunrise, sunset, night skies, and rolling storms are NOT to be missed here, so make it a point to include some sky and weather observation while you're here. Bring your telescope, and try to time your stay outside of full moons if you can help it.
If you have the time and inclination, Ten Bits can even hook you up with horseback riding and ATV trips that begin right on the property. In our case, we had a full agenda of daily hiking in the parks (both Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park), so we didn't use these services at the ranch, but we did get a chance to pet the horses who were penned right behind our cabin. It's wonderful to have these options on-site to save driving all the way into Terlingua or the parks to do this elsewhere. If you bring your horses, mountain bikes, or other trail-safe vehicles, you'll have the opportunity to ride the trails on the Ranch and avoid the crowds on the trails in the parks.
For relaxing after your active days, you'll have satellite cable TV and limited data Wifi (no streaming) to entertain you in your unit.
The Good-to-know:
Due to the Ranch's remote location down 2+ miles of dirt road, you will want to drive a high-clearance vehicle with 4WD or AWD, as sudden rains can make these road unpassable in a typical city car. If you are planning to drive into the parks, you should already be driving this type of vehicle.
Anyone who has ever visited Big Bend knows that summers are BRUTAL in this part of the world, with daily temperatures in the desert regularly exceeding 110 degrees (F) for much of June through August. Visitors lodging anywhere with limited electricity such as Ten Bits Ranch need to be prepared for limited cooling in their units when the temperatures reach these heights. We found that our room got cool enough to sleep at night, but resting during the heat of the day (such as when we got out of the sun between morning and evening hikes) was difficult, as the unit could not cool down to less than 80 degrees. For this reason, I'd plan my next stay outside of the hottest summer months.
Although this listing is categorized as "Bed & Breakfast," beware that the shared kitchen and dining space is pretty much "self serve" and the included food is limited to coffee, cereal, frozen waffles, etc., all of which you prepare for yourself. We traveled with tons of snacks and planned to eat major meals in Study Butte and Terlingua, so this was no problem for us.
Other guests may do things like party loudly into the night or bring big dogs and not keep them leashed, etc. Property owners are not on site most of the time (or weren't during our visit), so there's really no way to enforce any sort of rules. YMMV and you have to hope that your temporary neighbors will behave like good neighbors who are sharing the property with other guests, unless you have a large enough party to rent out all units. We had to call one night to ask for help with loud neighbors who let their Rottweiler run free in common areas and that was stressful given our 5am wakeup to get on the road for a day of hiking in the parks before the heat became unbearable.
