While we were camping for a week at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, we decided to escape the heat during the day by exploring. This led us to an old ghost town in Texas called Lobo, which is just south of Van Horn and only about an hour away from the park.
I should preface this by saying the entire town has a fence around it and is now privately owned, but you can still see many of the old buildings from the highway and there is even a place you can pull off and park for some pictures.
I do wish I had researched it better, so maybe I could have gotten in touch with the current owners for a tour; but, we were on vacation and I didn’t think to do that!
History of Lobo, Texas
According to their website: For more than 100 years Lobo was a thriving little desert town and watering stop for the railroad. In 1991 Lobo was abandoned by its last residents. 10 years later three desert-loving individuals and their friends began the process of rebuilding Lobo. Lobo, Texas is a private property and not intended for settlement or long-term visits of people other than the owners and their personal friends.
They actually have a pretty good amount of history on their website and I highly suggest you check it out.
Tips
Go during the day for obvious reasons.
Don’t trespass! This is private property and you should respect the owners just as you would hope other would respect your own property.
Other Nearby Places To Check Out
Van Horn – Seriously take a drive around Van Horn, you won’t regret it! Want to know how serious Texas is about high school football? Check out the local cemetery that faces the high school football field!
Marfa – The town of Marfa has long been associated with the Marfa Lights. We have yet to go as on the writing of this article, but it’s on my bucket list!
I haven’t ever been to Lobo, but I have been to that area often. My husband is a chili cook and we go to Terlingua every year for the chili championship!
The next time you are in the area, you should stop by! It’s kind of eerie even during the day lol.
I love abandoned stops like this. Drives my girlfriend nuts when I go into them.
Wow that’s cool that you got to check this out!
I’ve always wanted to check out a ghost town! I love abandoned places!
I use to know the owners of Lobo as I was at one time actively pursuing buying into the Town of Lobo. The owners at that time were not interested in doing that.
Oh well.
its gated in so we cant go in to look around would love to see the pool and maybe inside the rooms of the motel
Correct, it is privately owned. However, it is currently up for sale for $100.000
where would you make an offfer for Lobo Texas, i am interested in buying it?
I would assume by reaching out to them. They do have a lot of requirements and stipulations for the sale from what has been reported, so just FYI on that.