Summary:
Crystal Valley Cabin: Modern-rustic cabin on Terlingua Ranch. Outdoor tub. Seven miles from pool.
The Space:
Crystal Valley is newly renovated in 2017 for vacation rentals. Relax inside or outside and enjoy the mountain views.
Crystal Valley Cabin on Terlingua Ranch is the ideal home base for your visit to the Big Bend Region. Modern-rustic design will set the perfect tone for your Big Bend adventure. The convenient location and easy access will allow you to focus on your vacation instead of stressing about vehicle access or long drives down questionable roads. The surprising seclusion will provide ample privacy and solitude. But, let’s not kid ourselves, the best thing about Crystal Valley Cabin is the chance to take a bath in an antique clawfoot tub under the Texas night sky. Do you even need to read the rest of this property description?
Still reading? Okay, some more details would help. Besides, there’s much more that we want brag about. After soaking in the tub while watching meteors fall, satellites fly overhead, and the Milky Way shine, you’ll probably want to relax around the campfire with a refreshing beverage, maybe even a sausage on a stick, or better yet, some s’mores. Whatever you eat and drink around the fire ring, will go well with campfire stories, some songs, or whatever else you want to do. Nobody is watching. It’s just you and your partner, or family and friends, under a starry Texas sky. You’re probably ready to stop reading now and just book your stay already. Fine with us, but we really should tell you a bit more.
The ramada (no, not the cookie-cutter-hotel-chain, but a freestanding shade structure) beside the outdoor tub is the perfect spot to enjoy the cooling breezes on sunny afternoons, or to share a meal while admiring the mountain views. There’s also an outdoor shower and sink there. The porches at Crystal Valley Cabin are also great places to relax in the shade while catching a breeze and marveling at the views.
Eventually, you may want to come inside. We recommend it anyway. You don’t have to and we won’t blame you if spend all your time outside. However, the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and living room are pretty darn great, and useful, if you’re into that sort of thing. The master bedroom has a really comfortable queen bed with high quality linens and a bedframe that was hand built from a persimmon tree. The bedroom windows have a stunning view of East Corazón Peak. The second bedroom, with a view of Jack Eden Mesa, has a queen bed and a twin bed. The bathroom has a spacious tile shower (for those that prefer bathing inside). The large kitchen has ample counter and cabinet space, glass top electric range and oven, microwave, coffee maker, large fridge, bar counter, and a large picture window with a fantastic view of Jack Eden Mesa and crystal valley. The living room ties it all together with large leather easy chairs, a leather sofa, large ceiling fans, and a breathtaking view of East Corazón Peak. There is even a branch from the property owner’s Madrone Tree hanging on the wall, just because it’s cool. If you need a place where you can focus on a little work (yeah right!), do some writing, or just get online without too many distractions, there is built in desk in the corner of the living room. Wi-Fi internet access is available throughout the home and on the porches.
Of course, after bathing under the stars, telling stories by the campfire, sleeping in the comfy beds, and relaxing in the living room, then logging onto social media to share your fun with all your friends, you might want to check out some of the amazing things to see and do in the area. Terlingua Ranch Lodge is just ten minutes away with the Bad Rabbit Café for great food, cold drinks, and frequent live music. The lodge office is also the place to register if you want to explore the Christmas Mountain conservation area. Terlingua and the western entrance to Big Bend National Park is a short 35-minute drive away. Adventure outfitters located in Terlingua offer river trips, horseback riding, jeep tours, ATV adventures, Jeep rentals, guided hikes, and mountain bike rentals. The famous Terlingua Ghost Town is just 40 minutes away. Both the Ghost Town and the Terlingua/Study Butte area offer shopping, dining, drinking, live music, art galleries, and more. Heading another 15 minutes west from Terlingua will take you to Lajitas for more upscale dining options, a few great shops, and the chance to meet Clay Henry, the beer drinking goat that happens to be the mayor. Big Bend Ranch State Park (the national park’s wild and rugged cousin) is right there as well. Stop in at the Barton Warnock center just before you get to Lajitas for an overview of the park, museum, and a terrific book shop. Alpine, Fort Davis, Marfa, and the McDonald Observatory are also within easy day trip range.
Come on down. Soak in our tub under the stars. Enjoy the Big Bend. Do as much or as little as you like. You’ll have a memorable time and will likely start planning your return trip before you even leave. That’s great. We’ll love to have come back over and over. In fact, that’s how the owners of Crystal Valley Cabin became the owners. They came out here so often and enjoyed staying at other Big Bend Vacation Rental properties so much that they eventually decide to buy and remodel their own. They were very deliberate and considerate in incorporating all the thing they enjoyed the most at other rentals, plus adding extra touches to create the ultimate Big Bend vacation home base. Now, they’re eager to share it all with you.
The Neighborhood:
TERLINGUA RANCH: Located between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park and including much of the town of Terlingua, Terlingua Ranch is a private subdivision of over 190,000 acres, divided into 9,500 tracts owned by about 5,000 individuals and crisscrossed by 1,100 miles of dirt and rock roads. Tracts range from five acres to several hundred acres. It is some of the most rugged and scenic land in Texas.
Back in the 1960’s, the Ghost Town and much of what later became “Terlingua Ranch” was owned by racing legend and car designer extraordinaire, Carol Shelby and some of his friends. The decided to promote the area by holding a chili cook-off in the then abandoned Ghost Town. That little stunt of a cook-off grew into CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International) which now hosts nearly 500 chili cook-offs around the nation and internationally, all leading up the championship cook-off every year in Terlingua. Shelby and friends later subdivided the Ranch and started selling it off to hunters and rugged naturalists. Over the decades, the area was reborn and an eclectic community of nature lovers, artists, musicians, adventurers, and folks just wanting to escape from “civilization” has grown and started to resettle this rough country.
People have come and gone. New buildings have risen while others have fallen, Dreams have been realized and others crushed. Through it all, the land remains. The harsh desert and vast openness encourages positive development and slowly swallows up and recovers from past abuses. The old cinnabar mine sites and ranching outposts persist as relics and ghost towns, some redeveloped, some carefully preserved, and others dissolving back into the desert. Abandoned dreams eventually become points of interests for those of us that stumble upon them decades later. Terlingua Ranch is a bizarre mix of old and new, good and bad, growth and decline, all completely unregulated. Modern homes with high values and stunning designs stand beside dilapidated do-it-yourself mistakes and abandoned ruins of the 1800’s and early 1900’s.
The landscape is even more varied than the people and the structures. Rugged mountains, deep canyons, wild arroyos, dry and wet creeks, peaceful valleys, breathtaking badlands, moonscape like mud flats, the remains of ancient volcanoes, and fossilized ancient seabeds. All of it nurturing a vast array of plant life and wildlife. Around every corner and over every hill lies new and unexpected surprises.
The Ranch is now home to a few hundred hardy souls. It is also dotted with a diverse array of vacation rental lodging options and campsites. Like the diverse land, they range in quality, style, value, and price. A few are amazing dream destinations. Some are good places to sleep. Others are the stuff of nightmares. (We don’t manage any in the nightmare category.)
Big Bend Vacation Rentals started out in 2007 and initially managed three of the first four vacation rentals in the Terlingua and Terlingua Ranch area. We now manage dozens out of a couple of hundred options. We represent dozens of property owners and have hosted tens of thousands of guests. You can trust us as managers, and you can rely on the properties that we manage. We have become very selective about the properties and the property owners that we add to our portfolio.
