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National Geographic released its annual '25 Breathtaking Places and Experiences' list for 2023 and just one Texas spot made the cut.
Here's what the magazine said about this year's edition of the annual list:
Here’s our annual list of superlative destinations for the year ahead—places filled with wonder, rewarding to travelers of all ages, and supportive of local communities and ecosystems. Reported by our global editors and framed by five categories (Community, Nature, Culture, Family, and Adventure), these 25 destinations for 2023 are under the radar, ahead of the curve, and ready for you to start exploring.
Under the Nature category, you'll find the lone Texas destination: Big Bend National Park. Here's what National Geographic said about the national park:
It’s located in the Lone Star State of legend, yet only 400,000 people visited Big Bend National Park pre-pandemic—nearly 10 times fewer visitors than Yellowstone received, reports Robert Draper, a National Geographic contributing writer. This remote and arid part of west Texas nurtures more cactus species than any other national park, as well as birds such as roadrunners and bright yellow Scott’s orioles, and mammals such as javelina. But encounters with wildlife seem different in the desert.
“They remind you that life is at the same time precious and where you least expect to find it,” Draper writes. “Above all, life in the Chihuahuan Desert that comprises Big Bend’s 1,252-square-mile expanse is stubborn and easily misunderstood but also impossible to forget.
There’s more to Big Bend than nature. The Rio Grande forms a 118-mile border between Big Bend and Mexico, and various cultures span the riverine divide. Small towns outside the park form an archipelago of differing tastes and outlooks, from the Mexican border community of Ojinaga to Alpine’s dusty cowboys to edgy painters living in Marfa. These diverse inhabitants share one thing: the vast, far-flung vistas they call home.