My First Trip to the Big Bend National Park

Over the years I've passed up visit after visit to the Big Bend in spite of my great appreciation for our National Parks. Part of it was geography. It's too far to go there and back in a day trip. And longer trips - from Austin to California, for example, or Utah to Austin were already too long for an excursion that far off I-10. And then there's aesthetics. When I retired and started these road trips I knew I'd like Colorado - mountains, after all, don'cha know? But that magic moment I stumbled on Canyonlands really got me, and following it up over the next several days with Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon, and Zion? Deserts are AWESOME, Bubba! It shouldn't have been a surprise - in most of these places the newfound desert awesomewness was added to always awesome mountains. There really needs to be an adjective that equates to awesome squared. However, someone else will have to come up with it. 

I finished up the Sunday at White Sands with an RON (remain overnight) in El Paso. I was tired enough to sleep when I got there, but I don't sleep too long these days so I could still count on an early start. I suspect this stretch of I-10 is between Sierra Blanca and Van Horne before I turned onto US90. Near Valentine I passed the Prada Marfa "store" where three guys were shooting selfies - go figure. Do a Google Images search for Prada Marfa - it seems a huge number of passers-by stops to take pictures. And, wouldn't you know it, the "store" turns out to be a Marfa artist's very successful attempt to surprise passers-by.

I hooked a right at Alpine and headed south on TX118 for Terlingua and Big Bend's back door. The more I saw of this area the greater my expectations for Big Bend. Take the picture above (looking NW towards Alpine), for example. This beautifully lanscaped pulloff a couple miles south of the city just made my spirit soar when I saw it. The Chamber of Commerce must be doing a bang-up job.

This shot was taken just up the road from the Border Patrol station. I almost didn't stop, but it seemed like I saw that lone rock outcrop (identifiable, I think) in a dozen different directions all morning. So shoot me; I thought it had earned some recognition.

Check out the skyline above, and note that the jumble of mountains to the right of that darker ridge that extends from the left edge of the frame is the same one below. I'm used to the regular Appalachian features of the Great Smokeys and this mish-mash just fascinated me. And, because it's so far off, it fascinated me for a good long while.

Yeah, it does. It fascinates me enough to get closer and present a better view of it. I always loved the layer after layer after layer of mountains you get to see from the Blue Ridge Parkway. But you never see anything like this, each peak or ridge going its own way. Each one a true rebel.

I don't know that this is the same group as above; I think it is but kept getting confused when I tried to correlate features. But the real reason it's in the set is because it includes the first Texas flag I can remember seeing on this trip and that, my friend, struck me as very unusual.

I can't tell you right off the bat how far this is from the Big Bend, but we're getting there. I reckon there'll be two more posts on this trip, then perhaps a day or two break before posting some Hill Country Bluebonnets. In for a penny, in for a pound - hang in there, amigo.

White Sands National Monument

I'm continually on the lookout for destinations for my Road Trips, and I'd been looking at White Sands for a couple of years. It's primary lure was that it was "on the way home" (more or less) when I make my periodic visits to southern Utah. When I bought a new car in February I started looking around for a place to test the new ride for Road Trip Compatibility. I'd been eyeing the Big Bend National Park even longer and decided to make it a three leg trip: Austin > White Sands, there > Big Bend, and thence home. Without giving anything away about the destinations, the Road Trip itself proved delightful and my new Santa Fe passed it's most important test to date.

I did my usual planning and programmed the GPS, but I guess I skipped a page or two because I was somewhat surprised to find myself in New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains approaching Alamogordo from the east. This shot is looking west towards Alamogordo, Holloman AFB,  and White Sands on the plain beyond that gap. Initially surprised by the fact of the mountains, I decided they were quite respectable mountains, though an occasional tree would have been a nice touch.

I refueled in Alamogordo and breezed on by to the National Monument, just one more Texas tourist, most of whom seemed to be sporting Texas Longhorn tee shirts, hats, and/or car jewelry. It was Sunday afternoon so why not; for those from west Texas, this was the closest approximation of a beach to be found. The sand would have felt right at home in Panama City or Pensacola though the scattered yucca plants might have turned some heads. And then, of course, there was no Gulf of Mexico where the "beach" stopped. But with a little imagination you could look out and see the great blue wave in the distance which was the Sacramento Mountains.

The plan was to see whatever there was to see, then shoot the sunset and, twenty minutes later, turn around and shoot the full moon rising in the east. The potential efficiency to be exploited in the celestial timing of the two events was too much for the planner in me to ignore. I arrived in plenty of time to scout locations and work out details and, indeed, after taking some fairly pleasing shots of the "beach" and its anomalies, I ended up napping while waiting for the sunset. I especially like the backlit shot above.

I was disappointed that, at least from the places I visited, there were very, very few places where the sands were undisturbed by my fellow travelers. I'd had visions of pristine dunes in the foreground of my White Sands Sunset, but every second or third visitor to the Monument seems to bring a saucer of some sort. . . mostly neon-colored Super Frisbees. . . to surf the sandy slopes. Looking out over busily criss-crossing footprint trails, I imagined scores of shabby, barefoot, thirsty survivors, each staggering towards his own mirage - but polite. . . "Beg your pardon." "After you, sir." "Hot, isn't it?"

I'd found a vantage point from which to shoot that, while the view was well-trodden, it was mostly free of actual wandering tourists. I still hoped be able to pass my sunset shots off as me in the wilderness, communing with nature. It's been a long day.

As dusk approached and Sol continued to sink in the western sky, I finally realized the light had changed so much that I needn't have been concerned about footprints in the sand. Absolutely everything but the few remaining clouds would, of course, be in silhouette against the dying daylight. "The best laid plans. . ." Never taking myself too seriously, I had to laugh when those footprint makers whom I now refer to as "the sand people" rose from the dunes to bid adios to the sun. The four on the left actually began dancing as the light faded. This ain't Key West, but it'll do for New Mexico and you can celebrate anything if you put your mind to it.

No moon rise picture, you say? Yeah, well. The few clouds that had been in the area all day - and should have helped out with the sunset pictures - slipped off to the east while I was napping and, of course, obscured the moon rise. As I drove through Las Cruces and on down to El Paso for the night, the moon managed to clear the scant cloud cover and light my way. So, little turned out exactly as I'd expected, but that's alright. I'll finally see the Big Bend tomorrow after all these years in Texas.