Where Many Had Gone Before
We were working our way along the bottom of an escarpment, north of the Buttrill and skirting an enormous flat that goes on for miles. It was another day and another prowl, making a loop through a portion of the national park where few others...
Big Bend National Park
Ode to a Cowboy
“Well, I know some day, farther down the road, I'll come to the edge of the Great Unknown; There'll stand a black horse, riderless, And I wonder if I'm ready for this”… --Chris LeDoux, ‘The Ride’ Since learning of my brother Barry’s passing, folks...
Remnants of an Old Life
A good many folks come to Mule Ears Spring, treading up the park trail from the overlook that ultimately connects with Smoky Creek Trail further east. Sometimes there are so many moving back and forth I feel inclined to avoid the spot entirely, or at…
It’s a Family Tradition
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: Life is an odd thing, full of twists and turns and ironies that we mortals only have the briefest of experiences in. It tends to slip past us way too fast, even when we thought we were paying attention....
Seeking and Finding Along the Big Yellow
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: Many have heard of Hannold Draw or at least of Nina Hannold. Her grave is one of the more frequented sites in the national park, sitting atop an eroded finger above the dry wash bearing her family name. The...
Another Awe-Inspiring Moment
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: In essays past I have written about the many intrigues of Burro Mesa, so much so there is an entire chapter dedicated to it in my third book ‘Out There.’ But for all the pitiful knowledge I have managed...
A Special Kind of Lonesome
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: Elephant Tusk Trail is one of the least utilized designated paths in the Big Bend National Park system, and this lack of use shows in the dilapidated condition it is found in these days. Even some of the cairns…
Three Lonely Bells Toll
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: Through the decades of my wanderings, I have become somewhat known for being able to find two things; water and graves. In that I suppose there is a binding connection as the two represent the opposite bookends in this…
A Lonesome Land of Unexpected Surprises and Occasional Tricks
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: San Jacinto Spring is an oddity, even in a lonesome land where an unexpected surprise waits beyond most every surrounding rise or contour. So much so, that getting a decent photograph amid such a juxtaposition of color and composition...
Where the ponies come to drink…
SOMEWHERE IN THE LOWER BIG BEND: “And across the trail a stream runs, All but hidden in the grasses; ‘Til it finds an emerald hollow, Where the ponies come to drink…” --Henry Herbert Knibbs We were working our way down the middle parts of...