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 to attain concerning this natural masterpiece, there is infinitely more I still don’t know.

In truth and to paraphrase Churchill’s remark about Russia; “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.’ Much like the region itself, the more you learn is actually a double-edged sword in bringing home just how little you know. In essence, this foundational give and take tends to keep one humble.

I think we can all use an amount of humility at times, and I get my needed dosage when I saddle up my pack and point my nose in any given direction down here.

Such was the case this last Wednesday. I was swinging a narrow loop along the western fringes, which in reality is a series of mesas amid a huge, uneven lump of rocks of every size, color, variety and content.

With that are canyons and pour offs by the score along every side of the massive uplift, capped by more than a few situated on top. So many come together in their exit that I have named one particular locale ‘Valley of the Canyons,’ due to the sheer number present.

The reason for this trip was to guide Julie Childs, executive director for the Big Bend Natural History Association, into this area and specifically the vicinity of Apache Canyon. She is also a member of the park’s search and rescue team and recently an emergency extraction occurred there.

My goal was to make her aware of the general lay of the land, old trails, the surest and quickest way in and out and how close you could get a vehicle into the site. Creek beds and arroyos are nature’s highways, if you know which ones are capable of being such.

We had come in high and already found several old Indian camps, tinajas and chipping sites, and then dropped into the flat below. After a bit more scouting about, on a whim we decided to take a branch off the main arroyo and follow it up. The accompanying photograph details, though poorly, what was found.

I stood there in childlike awe, my heart and mind going back to when I was a small boy and would stumble across a discovery such as this. The curiosity, the sense of wonder, the elation and the need to know spurring one on. That was sixty years ago, but those feelings still remain and bubble forth in times such as these.

Something else about this country; it not only keeps you humble but also young at heart.

We all can use a bit of that, too.

God bless,

Ben

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Prehistoric cave set into the side of Burro Mesa in Big Bend National Park.