Memories of Big Bend

Big Bend National Park is a very special place located in Southwest Texas, several hours southeast of El Paso. It is a vast region, significantly different than any other part of the state. It looks and feels just like high desert found throughout portions of New Mexico and Arizona, except that BBNP occupies a portion of the Chihuahuan desert, which runs north to the edge of park and south, extending well beyond the border.

As everyone knows, Texas is a massive state. What people don’t know that east to west it changes from loblolly pine forest to the brush country of Central Texas (which, for hundreds of years was open Texas Prairie), to the Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio, to the juniper country which opens to the high desert of West Texas. To the deep south, there are the Coastal Plains and to the far north, the Panhandle area which has places like Palo Duro Canyon (several thousand feet higher than Houston and the Gulf region). This is my second favorite area of the state that extends as high plains into Tucumcari, New Mexico and beyond, reaching elevations greater than 4,000 feet. I enjoy spending time in places like Lubbock and Amarillo. Very much home to many large cattle ranching operations, wide and open. I simply refer to it as “Big Country”.

But with all of that to see, I still favor Big Bend which holds Emory Peak at well over 7,000 feet in elevation. In February of 2014, I did a solo mountain biking, hiking, and trail running trip lasting a week, camped at one of the park’s backcountry sites where I ran into just four other people, not counting the few park employees I crossed paths with. It was, at the time, one of the most remote places in the lower forty-eight. It is still remote but it has been discovered.

The following link captures some of the highlights I’ve experienced during my stay in 2014, and another trip I made to the park with a friend, in 2016.

photos.app.goo.gl/xD8CyWHnHjFJocUS8

Author: ESS

General: Retired engineering professional who enjoys outdoor sports and activities, fitness, technology, nature, my three wonderful dogs and beautiful wife. Most mornings, you will find me writing, while evenings are reserved for playing guitar. On Writing: I have had a lifelong interest in writing, but, because of competing interests (other than the vast amounts of technical writing I did for my career in engineering project management), I simply never found the time to take on yet one more time and energy intensive activity. For me. it would have to wait until I retired from my demanding career and, even then for another ten years while I was working a few other important demands to some satisfactory end. I have spent countless hours travelling around and through the wild spaces of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah, exploring such places while running, backpacking, mountain and road cycling, archery hunting, fly-fishing, alpine and backcountry skiing. Each trip, whether it was for an afternoon run with my dogs or a full month camped in the high county in pursuit of elk during archery season, was an adventure out of the world of my fellow man and into the natural world which couldn't be anymore different. It is from these experiences, along with things I took interest in during everyday life, that created the memories I write about today. My writing is rather eclectic because I'm a hugely curious person with an insatiable hunger for knowledge on too many fronts to imagine. You never know what you'll find in your next visit to my site, so I like to think that there's a little something here for everyone. Thank you for visiting. If you find enjoyment in reading any of my stories, please leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by! Eric S. Stone View all posts by ESS