I've camped in Big Bend at least a dozen times and I love it every single time. I usually camp in the Chisos Basin campground -- in my opinion, that's the prettiest and typically the quietest campground. This last time we went we took our son (19 months old) for the first time, so we figured the Rio Grande Village would be better and I think we were right. There's more open space in the Rio Grande Village and we thought it would be less likely that anyone would see a mountain lion, although one was spotted in the late morning nearby (I'll admit to being somewhat concerned a mountain lion would snatch our little guy, so I pretty much hovered when he was walking around...although it would be exhilarating to see one!).

We had a great private tent campsite -- #18. It's right near the entrance to the Nature Loop Trail, so you will see people walking up to the trailhead, but other than that, it's completely surrounded by mesquite (watch out for thorns!) and set back from the road with the tent-site behind the covered shelter. There was plenty of space for our son to run around and we walked out onto the Nature Trail many times (making sure we held his hand tightly since it starts out with a walkway over the water). The bathrooms were very clean and close-by and the camp hosts were great -- very friendly, but made sure those with RVs didn't run their generators when they weren't supposed to. In the past we've been bombarded by troupes of javelinas in Rio Grande, but this time we only saw one and he didn't seem to interested in exploring the campsites.

One great thing about the Rio Grande village is its proximity to areas for kids to run around. We went to the old ranch house near the little gas station outside of the village and there were huge grassy areas under big trees for him to kick the soccer ball around. It was also an easy drive over to the Boquillas Canyon trailhead for a great but easy hike (I wore him in a backpack so we did not try the long hikes we typically do when visiting Big Bend). We also did the first mile of the Lost Mine Trail (close to the Basin) -- just gorgeous.

While this was a different Big Bend trip for us (no Emory Peak hike, no South Rim hike, etc.), it was wonderful taking our son out there for the first time. You can definitely take little kids!