Outdoor Traditions

A West Texas Weekend

Article and photo by SALLIE LEWIS

Steep canyons and vast vistas. The landscape, ecology, geology and just about everything else about Far West Texas is uniquely its own. Nowhere better to see and experience the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas than in Big Bend National Park.

Last year around this time I took my first road trip through West Texas. Over a long weekend, I stopped in Marfa, Alpine, and Marathon on route to Big Bend National Park. For years, I’ve heard stories about this more than 800,000-acre expanse of public parkland, but somehow, its overwhelming size and remote location always kept me at bay.

As it turned out, Big Bend was the highlight of the tour. Driving through the park gates, I saw the setting’s geological splendor unfurl in ribbons of gold, sage, sienna, and lavender. The dramatic desert and canyon landscape looked like an alien planet, and for a moment I felt farther from Texas than I ever have before.

Fifty million years ago, Big Bend was covered by a shallow sea. Dinosaurs once roamed this stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert, and today, an amazing 130 million years of life are preserved in the rocks.

Furthermore, there are more than 1,200 species of plants found within the park, along with 75 species of mammals, more than 400 species of birds, 3,600 species of insects, 11 species of amphibians, 56 species of reptiles, and 40 species of fish. This natural abundance makes it one of the most biologically diverse arid regions in the world.

Over the course of my visit, I hiked the edge of the Rio Grande River into the Santa Elena Canyon, marveling at the steep, 1,500foot walls slanting at either side. I savored the sweeping vistas from the Lost Mine Trail and soaked my feet in the historic hot springs near Boquillas. Through it all, I felt an immediate connection to the land, with its blooming cacti and yuccas, agaves and tumbleweeds.

Today, I still think about Big Bend, with its vast volcano and ash fields, its ancient canyons and creek beds, and the towering Chisos Mountains ablaze with light. I remember the unforgiving heat and plants like the ocotillo, which have adapted to endure this land of extremes.

My favorite fragments of the trip came in the quiet, solitary moments when I paused to catch my breath or take in the scenery. Those were the times I felt Big Bend’s magic most deeply.

Standing beneath the sky, I watched windswept clouds cast giant shadows on the earth. Every so often, sunlight pierced through, turning the landscape colors I’d never seen. My life felt as tiny as a grain of sand as I pondered the park’s immense geological and evolutionary history. Still, the beauty of its creation stirred a connection to something larger than myself.

Everything at Big Bend has been touched and weathered by the elements, from the 500-million-year-old rocks at Persimmon Gap to the windblown sand dunes at Boquillas Canyon. It’s always changing, and as I learned firsthand, it can change us too.

What a blessing it is to have this natural wonder in our proverbial backyard. Visiting last year reminded me of the importance of getting outside and seeing new places.

Little did I know then how much it would suck me in, how much the endless horizons would clear my head, open my mind, and activate my spirit. I can’t wait to return again and hike its mountains, float the river through its canyons, and camp beneath its starry skies, to chase a storm and find a rainbow waiting around the bend.