Big Bend

I was awakened by a phone call at five thirty. I was disoriented and confused. I did manage to turn on a light and pick up the phone, and then realized the light source was on the other side of my bed and the phone was not my phone. It took me a while but I did go back to sleep for another two hours. I just came back from a week of hiking in the western part of Texas the day before. 

One can see and learn a lot in a week. I did. Now I know a little more about the state that I’m calling home - probably for the rest of my days. I am grateful for that. This trip was a substitute for another trip that is still on my bucket list. The two trips are vastly different, one is on glacier land and one is on desert land. I signed up to go hike in Glacier National Park three years ago. It was cancelled when the pandemic hit. I still haven’t been there. Our schedule and Glacier trip offers somehow did not match and I found myself using the Glacier trip credit to sign up for Big Bend National Park. I still hope to write about Glacier one day, but I have no regrets about the Big Bend trip. The name of the trip is Hiking at Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains & Carlsbad Caverns, but we also went to Fort Davis and Boquillas, Mexico.

We flew to the El Paso airport. The hotel was supposed to call an Uber for us, but we were told the president was in town and Ubers were not available. However, if we could get a taxi ourselves, the hotel would reimburse us. I did not keep up with the news and it did not register to me that this was our PRESIDENT she was talking about. I was also confused about getting a taxi when Ubers were not available. It was a good thing there was an information desk inside and we were directed to walk a few blocks away to get a taxi or Uber.

We decided to google the location of the hotel to see if it was within walking distance. It was only a little over a mile away. We decided to walk. The roads around the airport were deserted of cars. We smiled and said hi to the people who were walking towards the airport as we were walking away from it. People didn’t seem stressed out. They smiled back and were friendly. Except for the bumps on the brick sidewalks which were not easy on the suitcases, it was a fairly pleasant walk. 

We made it to the hotel and had time to relax before meeting with the group and the trip leaders. Our guide Erica promised we would learn at least ten plants by the end of the program. I’m not sure I can recognize ten different plants, but I did learn the names of the 22 participants in our group. The plants I remember the names for are sotol, mesquite, acacia, porcupine cactus, strawberry cactus, Christmas cactus, Engelmann cactus, lechugilla, creosote, leatherstem, weeping juniper, one-seeded juniper, alligator juniper, Texas sage, and madrone.

We stayed in El Paso for one night. Our first outing the next day was to Fort Davis National Historic Site. We walked the Hospital Canyon Trail, North Ridge Trail, and Tall Grass Trail and explored the ground and learned about the history of the fort. We saw a big horn sheep that seemed to stay at the same spot in the mountain for a few hours while we were there. We also saw a mule deer on the trail.

There is a military cemetery at Fort Davis. I found this poem called Fiddler’s Green at the cemetery.

Halfway down the trail to hell, in a shady meadow green
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped, near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place is known as Fiddlers’ Green.

Marching past, straight through to hell, the Infantry are seen
Accompanied by the Engineers, Artillery and Marine
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen stop off at Fiddlers’ Green.

Though some go curving down the trail, to seek a warmer scene
No trooper ever gets to hell ere he’s emptied his canteen
And so rides back to drink again with friends at Fiddlers’ Green

And so when man and horse go down, beneath a saber keen
Or in roaring charge of fierce melee you stop a bullet clean
And the hostiles come to get your scalp, just empty your canteen

And put your pistol to your head and go to Fiddlers’ Green

After visiting Fort Davis, we went to the town of Terlingua and spent the next four nights there. We explored the various areas of Big Bend National Park the next three days and hiked into Boquillas del Carmen in Mexico on the third day. We enjoyed an evening of stargazing on our first night in Terlingua, which is one place with a “dark skies” designation. I hadn’t seen a shooting star in a long time and we saw one that night.

On the first day at Big Bend, we travelled on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and hiked the Chimmneys Trail, with volcanic dike formations. We found evidence of past culture through pictographs and metates and stones with marks showing the where the sharpening of knives occured. 

We ate lunch at Cottonwood Campground, which was covered with cottonwood trees. Then we travelled the rest of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to Santa Elena Canyon. We didn’t get to walk the trail because the water was high and muddy. We went to the Homer Wilson Ranch instead, after enjoying the beautiful view at Sotol Vista. We relaxed on the porch while our guide Jimmie told stories about growing up and herding cattle. We had dinner at the Starlight Theater in Terlingua. I ordered a Scorpion, which is a margarita with Sotol since we had just learned about this plant.

On the second day of Big Bend, we went to the Chisos Basin. We hiked the Lost Mine Trail which climbs up the whole way, gently at first and more steeply at the end. At the top, we were rewarded with the beautiful vista of the Juniper Canyon and the northern rim of the Chisos mountains. It was a windy day and I was a bit chilly as we sat on the exposed rocks to eat lunch. On the trail we could see Casa Grande, but we were told it was off-limits because there is a protected nest of peregrine falcons up there. We saw a lot of Mexican jays on the trail.

After spending some time at the Chisos Basin Visitor’s Center, we walked the short Window View Trail to get a view of and through the “window.” 

We went back to Terlingua for a tour of the ghost town with a history of mercury mining from cinnabar ore. We started at the Terlingua Cemetery which is still being used by the local community and ended at a church and met a Presbyterian priest there. He said there was going to be a service, but I didn’t see anyone around to attend. The cemetery has unique tomb decorations. 

We had a delicious lasagna dinner at the Big Bend Boating and Hiking Company where our guides work. The sunset was spectacular.

On the third day at Big Bend, we happened to be at the Panther Junction Visitor’s Center when the ranger set up a sunspot telescope. We took advantage of the opportunity before going for a walk at the Boquillas Canyon Trail. We went uphill to an overlook of the Rio Grande and then descended to a pebble beach. The wind was blowing hard. It was impossible for me to keep the sand out of my eyes. 

The wind stayed with us as we later ventured into Mexico, causing me to walk with one eye closed to minimize the chance that the sand would disturb my contact lens. We crossed the border at the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry. We were taken across the Rio Grande in a small rowboat. Once we were across the river, we chose the transportation mode to town which is over a mile away. Two people from our party chose to ride burros while the rest of us walked. We had a tour of the town and had lunch at José Falcon, one of the two restaurants in town. The restaurant has a patio that looks over the Rio Grande. Very picturesque. We had dinner at Chili Pepper Café in Terlingua.

We left Terlingua the next morning and headed for the Frijole Ranch Historic Site in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We drove through the town of Marfa, an arts hub, and stopped at the Prada Marfa exhibit. 

We had lunch at the Frijole Ranch. After lunch, we went to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We took the Natural Entrance Trail down to the lower caverns, and then took the Big Room Trail loop for a total of 2.75 miles of walking underground. We had pizzas for dinner at Guadalupe Mountain Brewing Company in Carlsbad. Since the bus ride was long, we watched three movies: Geronimo, Kiss The Soil, and Carlsbad Cavern. We stayed overnight in Carlsbad.

We went back to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park the next day. We watched The River and The Wall on the bus. Our hike was on the McKittrick Canyon Trail, which is below the Capitan Reef. I like this trail because it has shade trees and is colorful with orange and red leaves. It follows a small spring fed creek through the desert and transitions into a canyon woodland ecosystem. We crossed a dry wash and creek several times. We stopped at Pratt Cabin where we met the same park ranger who was giving us information at the Frijole Ranch the day before. She gave us a talk of the history of the cabin while we sat on the cabin’s porch, enjoying the nice view. 

Afterwards, we continued on the hike and stopped for lunch at the picnic tables a little past the Grotto, which is a small cave with formations. It is only a short distance to the Hunter Cabin, which we explored after lunch. 

This was our last day with the group tour. We rode the bus back to El Paso and stayed at the same Hampton Inn we did on our first night of the tour. We had dinner at Los Bandidos de Carlos and Mickey’s in El Paso. Tom and I shared a large margarita, which was replenished with Linda’s margarita when she could not finish hers. We sang happy birthday to Erica before the night was over.

I told Erica and Jimmie that I had fallen in love with Big Bend and Guadalupe National Parks. It was a wonderful trip. Erica and Jimmie shared with us a lot of their personal stories and their knowledge of everything from plant identification to history of the area they created their home in. I am grateful we had them as our guides. Now Rio Grande is no longer an abstract geographical place that I could not pinpoint on a map. It not only forms a border between Texas and Mexico, it links the people who live across it in many ways. It houses a zone of biodiversity that I hope will be protected always. I hope to come back to this part of the state many times to experience more of its wonders.

We were fortunate to have Orest and Linda, two trip participants who live in El Paso, show us around before our flight back. They drove us around El Paso, showed us the border walls, the mountains that spread the length of El Paso and beyond, the views to Mexico and New Mexico, and their house at the foot of the mountains. 

We are thankful for the vision to preserve nature for mankind’s enjoyment. We are indeed lucky to be able to leave the hustle and bustle of everyday life to relax and enjoy what Nature has to offer.

I’ve enjoyed meeting and chatting with fellow participants. I’d like to thank Ken, Amy, Alan, and Marcie whose pictures are used in this piece.