Hidden Treasures
Many before us discovered these precious places. They found them beautiful, fragile, unique, an aid to survival… and then worked to preserve and protect them. Treasures can be found in your own backyard if you go looking. But what a truly grand and awesome experience to visit a National Park!
We would not presume to dictate the rich history or ecology of parks we’ve visited, as that is readily available in much more comprehensive forms by the experts. So, we’ll share what has felt remarkable and precious in our experience. At nearly every park we’ve been to over the years, the moment that often strikes you first is the enormous grandeur of a place. The sudden chasm, the gigantic trees, the distant views of open space from a mountain peak, a frozen river moving at a glacial pace, impossibly balanced boulders, the time it took for such things to be created… it can make you feel small and rather humble. It offers perspective on your own life and how you fit into the bigger picture. Then once you begin hiking you spot the tiny intricate worlds of ferns & lichen, pollinators at work in architectural flowers, the long roots of grasses carrying rain deep into the earth, seriously busy ant hills, patterns in rocks made clear by creek water… and again, Mother Nature amazes us in her artistry and scientific complexity.
To read about a thing and to see it, hear it, smell it, touch it are such vastly different understandings of a place. In honor of National Parks Month, we give you our li’l love story of many visits to one that lies in the big bend of the Rio Grande along the border of Texas and Mexico. Perhaps, you too, have such stories of a place or will find your way to a park one day soon to make some.
While Texas has a plethora of fantastic State Parks, it is home to only two National Parks: Big Bend & Guadalupe Mountains, both in the far West and relatively remote. It takes some effort to get to these far flung places and since many people don’t, it makes these parks feel like hidden treasures. Now, the Bend is actually a massive park with three very different ecosystems working alongside each other: The Chihuahuan Desert, The Rio Grande, and The Chisos Mountains. And yet, it has only been this combination in recent history. We are often fascinated to imagine how drastically the landscape has changed over time. There is a story in the land of ancient shallow seas filled with crustaceans and aquatic dinosaurs, of a swampy coast with giant alligators, of the recession of ocean when rivers, forests and dinosaurs reigned, of tectonic plates colliding to form mountains, of volcanic magma emerging, of rivers carving canyons, of mammals claiming their habitats and humans settling and surviving with the resources they found. The history of life and change is found in the fossils, rock formations, pictographs and tools left behind.
Living in Texas has given us many opportunities over the years to make our own stories exploring this park through its seasons. Khara first visited with her family in summer of 1999. They rafted along the Rio Grande emerging from Santa Elena Canyon in a sudden storm, sending waterfalls cascading over the high walls. Hikes along the Lost Pines Trail led to a fascination with the striking Century Plant and beautiful views of a rolling green landscape from the Chisos Mountains. [Century Plants look like large common agaves for most of their life and then in the last year they grow an enormous stalk (25-30 feet) which fills with yellow blossoms before it dies.]
Jesse & Khara escaped to the Bend together in the fall of 2009. Chilly nights in the campground without a fire had us watching the sun set on Casa Grande and heading to to bed early. So by day we hiked in the mountains and down the famous Window Trail, which was frequently the target of many a sunset photo. We climbed the sand hill challenge at Boquillas Canyon to gaze down on the high view from the tiny cave. We stood in the Texas Mexico border of the cool river at Santa Elena Canyon and skipped rocks. A mama black bear who followed us taught us to actually follow the rangers’ directions when interacting. Spotting road runners, javelinas, tarantulas and vinegaroons were such a delight! And Khara first fell in love with the unusual Ocotillo covered in tiny yellow leaves for autumn; indigenous to the Chihauhuan Desert, these semi succulents often look like spiny dead sticks emerging from the ground in clusters, but when they look alive and green or fresh with bright red flowers, they seem like an alien coral growing above sea.
We returned in spring of 2019 with Jesse’s dad and stepmom and enjoyed one of the best showings of Chisos Bluebonnets in years (hooray rain!). The more common Texas bluebonnets grow to maybe 20 inches tall, but the Chisos variety can grow 3-4 FEET tall. And there were sooooo many of them lining the roadsides and blowing in waves as we toured the park, stopping to see the Mule’s Ears formations, Boquillas & Santa Elena canyons and that famous Window Trail. Some of us ventured to get in the hot spring pool, literally adjacent to the chilly Rio Grande. And Khara finally got to see the Ocotillo in bloom!
So, what a treat for us to pick up a workamping job in Marathon, Texas, just 40 miles north of the entrance to the park in October of 2020! We parked the house, set up shop and were able to take many trips down to the park with and without dear visitors. Our Seek App and Nature Watch: Big Bend (highly recommended monthly guide by Jim & Lynne Weber) in hand, we explored new trails like Dog Canyon, Pinnacles, Dagger Flats and Burro Mesa and returned to some favorites as well through the fall, winter and early spring. We are grateful to have had the opportunity to return to this West Texas gem so many times and to discover what makes it precious to us.
We encourage you to find time to spend in a National Park and get to know it. You might read about it first to build some context and spark your curiosity. But get there. Use all your senses, let the awesome soak in and appreciate the treasures you find.
More National Park Visits, Together, Over the Years…
This was really a great post! You guys really do get around!