Has anyone stayed here? I'm planning a trip to BB during spring break and everything is full! I found a tent camping spot here but it's probably 50 miles one way to the park and 50 miles back! On the up side there is a bathhouse and the access to the Christmas Mt. trail.

I haven't, but I'm acquainted with the marketing director of this place, which I think looks pretty cool:

https://texashighways.com/things-to-do/camping-lodging/in-terlingua-sleep-in-a-bubble/

I saw that. Looks cool but not the experience I'm going for.

Are you just wanting a tent site with a shower?

We stayed with Big Bend Resort in Terlingua.   It's not anything fancy (not anywhere close), but they have tent sites, RV, and hotel rooms.  And it wasn't too far a drive to Panther Junction. IDK what their availability looks like.

Spring break the park and all the surrounding hotels are going to be packed, just no way around it.

ETA: in Big Bend, 50 miles qualifies as "next door"

Even if you scored a campsite or room at Chisos Mountain Lodge, it is 100 miles roundtrip to Santa Elena Canyon.

Big Bend Ranch State Park, BBNP is for tourists. Lol just kidding, I live in Alpine so BBNP 120 miles away is just down the road.

The NP is funny in that regard.  If you stay on the paved roads during spring break and Thanksgiving, it is indeed somewhat crowded, though BBNP's crowded isn't anything like Yosemite and such.

However, once you hit the unpaved roads and lesser known but great trails, it's another world.  The only trouble, or benefit, with BBRSP is the 25 miles of dirt road to get to the park HQ.  I find it a benefit as it keeps the candyasses away...LOL!

The main park dirt road in BBRSP is quite drivable all the way through by just about anything, but it changes a lot on some of the side roads.  A couple of years ago I saw a couple in an AWD crossover nearly tear their vehicle up trying to get up that one, short, nasty uphill on the way to Madrid Falls/Mexicano Falls.

We've stayed there 4 times now.   WiFi sucks.   I won't put the water into my tanks.   It's noisy.  It's not cheap.  Showers cost.

But convenient as hell for BBNP and BBRSP.  We'll stay there again.

Everything is 75 miles or more.  The week we spent in Fort Davis we would drive 60-100 miles to try a restaurant and then drive back.  We like road trips so we had a great time.

One other option that needs mentioning is all these little cabin and B&B places that have popped up recently in the area around Study Butte to Lajitas.  There are all these teepees, one-room cabins, and all the way to multi-room accommodations that have popped up all over the place.

I kind of hate it frankly, as it looks like that area is becoming more and more commercialized.  When you start seeing signs like "Rednecks for Beto" and "Resist the Wall for Beto" and other leftist battle cries, you know things are going downhill.

We stayed in their shitty hotel across the road.  Bed was rock hard, toilet took like 15 minutes to refill.  But it beat worrying about roads in the Chisos after a rain/snow/freeze.

I’m a noob to 4x4 so I don’t mind the extra people around.