Big Bend Country

PICTURES; Marathon, distressed ocatillo, Crane? On the Rio, The Chisos Mtns (2) Along the Rio west of Big Bend

When we left Happy Union and headed south, we stopped in Slayton at “one of Texas’s oldest continuing bakeries.”  Maple bars are dang good when they’re made fresh that morning!  Somewhere south of Lamesa (which is south of Lubbock) the row crop farms yielded to the increasing sand in the soil.  We were at the edge of the Chihuahua desert.  The scene would be the same the 300 miles down to the park and on into southern New Mexico: creosote bush, yucca, and prickly pear cactus.  About the time the desert started, the oil wells started too.  We were in the Permian Basin.  The center of this oil rich area is Midland-Odessa, the former town known as the hometown of George and Laura Bush.  Our destination for the night was Alpine, TX.  I always was curious to know what that place looked like.  Well, it the Chihuahua desert with hills.  The drive down to the park the next morning was a precursor to one of the most stunning national parks I’ve been privileged to witness.  It is in a class by itself, unique.  First the harsh wildness of the place gets your attention.  There has been such little rain that the prickly pear is withered and the yucca leaves are brown.  The ocotillo was turning yellow making me think I was witnessing a desert autumn but that plant does that during drought.  It’s not seasonal at all.  Second, the shapes of the mountain are unlike anything you’ll see anywhere in the US.  They come to needle points, mesas, columns, high bluffs and gentle curving mounds.  The Chisos Mountains form the crown jewel of the park and it looked like a huge fortress complete with turrets.  There are a lot of places to camp, both developed sites and primitive ones.  The park also has a lot of miles of primitive roads for the adventurous.  We camped down by the Rio Grande on a lawn of green grass under giant cottonwoods.  The temperature gage in the car hit 100.  By Thursday morning a cold front came in and we traveled all day never exceeding 64 degrees.  To the west of Big Bend is a huge state park.  The 50 miles from Study Butte to Presidio is the best roller coaster ride you’ll ever take.  Not only are the hills, drops and curves fun, the scenery is awesome as well. Leaving the park on Thursday, our destination is somewhere in the Deming, NM area so that we can make Phoenix on the weekend.