Three Tepee Rest Area
A roadside picnic area on FM 170 (River Road / El Camino del Rio), approximately 30 miles west of Lajitas and 13 miles west of Redford, TX. The stop is named for three concrete tepee-shaped shade structures, each sheltering a picnic bench, that are visible from the highway. A short walk from the parking area reaches a Rio Grande river overlook with views across to the Mexican bank of the canyon. The area lies within Big Bend Ranch State Park. Riders on the FM 170 route between Study Butte and Presidio (~70 miles) use it as the primary shade and rest break on the most remote section of the ride.
Three concrete tepees visible from the highway before you reach them — that sightline is what makes this stop easy to find and easy to commit to. Each cement structure shelters a single picnic bench, giving you shade in a corridor where shade is genuinely scarce. The source blog notes there are no bathrooms on site, only open desert, so plan accordingly before you pull in.
The tepee shelters were part of a 1960s Texas Department of Transportation effort to design roadside rest stops that reflected regional heritage. They have been standing ever since, and Big Bend Ranch State Park now surrounds the area. From the parking pull-off, a short walk of roughly twenty paces from one of the tepees brings you to a Rio Grande overlook where you're looking directly across to the Mexican bank — the river here is the international boundary. About a half-mile further down FM 170 toward Presidio there is an additional overlook on the left, though that one offers no shade at all.
The only reliable shaded rest stop on the 70-mile FM 170 River Road run — the concrete tepees stand out on the horizon before you reach them and offer the only picnic infrastructure between Lajitas and Presidio. The adjacent Rio Grande viewpoint is worth the 5-minute walk.
Shot by the riders who've run it.
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