November 21, 2019
“Boundaries in the Big Bend are vague and fluid; it is variously a place, a state of mind, and at times an illusion. Paradoxical views reflect different tastes and different experiences. It is a heaven or a hell, a land of serene beauty or barren ugliness, a place of soothing solitude or haunting loneliness... The Big Bend allows no winners; there are only survivors.” -Kenneth Baxter Ragsdale
Here I am. Texas again. Texas was one of the first states I completed on this journey. Back at the beginning of the year, the government shutdown was dragging on and threatening to ruin my year-long quest to visit all 418 National Park units. As I made my way through west Texas, I could only spend a short afternoon driving into and out of Big Bend National Park. The gates were open, but the campgrounds were closed. The park is so remote, and it takes the better part of a day to drive there and out again. I had no good choice but to make a very short visit. Moving on, I had nothing more than a pit stop at Guadalupe Mountains National Park – also closed down. Within minutes of leaving Guadalupe and crossing the Texas border into New Mexico, the presidential press conference aired on the radio – proclaiming an end to the prolonged shutdown. I remember it vividly. It was a moment I had waited weeks for. Since then, my trip has been much smoother. I even hustled back to all of the closed parks I encountered in January. But I never got back to Big Bend or Guadalupe, and it has nagged at me all year. Even though I was able to get my passport stamps for both parks, and was able to have a short visit to both (technically meeting my qualifications for an official visit) I didn’t get to experience these parks the way I wanted to.
Finding myself with a little extra time in November, I decided to trek back to west Texas. To take that long-haul drive and come to see what it was I missed the first time around. After several weeks of mostly historical parks, I was ready to get back to a wilderness area, back to that raw natural beauty. I was ready to get back to the desert. The long 18-hour drive was extended by another day, when I was delayed for truck repairs. Finally, I made it. Big Bend National Park. Finally, the last of the four North American Desert parks. Saguaro National Park and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument illustrate the species of the Sonoran Desert. The Mojave Desert has Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. Great Basin National Park sits in the middle of the vast Great Basin Desert. Guadalupe Mountains and Big Bend National Parks showcase the seemingly infinite diversity of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Here in a quiet isolated corner of Texas, on a bend in the Rio Grande River, the park practically juts into Mexico. The river is the only boundary. Mountains and badlands, cactus and sotol, foxes and roadrunners. And the sky. Open and huge – an infinite blue dome stretched over it all. The sky is alive here. Grey and rain at first. Then sun streaked and rainbows as the clouds break. The setting sun illuminates the remaining clouds in an array of colors unlike any sunset I think I have ever seen. The sun highlights the mesa rims and mountain peaks, which reflect their warm amber light back up and onto the belly of the clouds – adding even more color. The scene does not look real. Flashes of lightening on the horizon add to the spectacle. Yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, violet, indigo – all within minutes painted across the sky. Before the sun is fully set, Jupiter and Venus are clearly visible. The stars are itching to shine, and soon enough they do. The moonless desert dark is a thing to behold. By the time your eyes adjust, the sky is alive again with infinite points of light. It is enough starlight to illuminate the ground well enough to not need a flashlight. Incredible. The cloudy bands of the Milky Way streak across the dome. A pack of coyotes yelp and holler out of sight, but not far away. The air is still and cool. Only the coyotes break the silence. There is no artificial light to be seen. There is only me – standing in the middle of a vast desert, under the light of the stars and planets and galaxies. All of this was within my first 6 hours at Big Bend National Park.
Parks visited since November 11th:
Big Bend National Park (return visit)
Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River (return visit)
Guadalupe Mountains National Park (return visit)
