Tour of Big Bend Ranch

Before I forget again.... http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/big-bend-ranch

Welcome to the Other Side of Nowhere!

Big Bend Ranch State Park, the largest state park in Texas, lies over more than 300,000 acres of Chihuahuan Desert wilderness in a remarkably rugged, remote and unpopulated setting. The park extends along the Rio Grande from southeast of Presidio to near Lajitas in both Brewster and Presidio Counties. Embracing some of the most remote and rugged terrain in the Southwest, it encompasses two mountain ranges containing ancient extinct volcanoes, precipitous canyons, and "waterfalls" (quotes added.... trust me). The area has been a crossroads of human activities for over 11,000 years, as diverse people and cultures have been drawn by the abundant resources of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo corridor. If you are looking for a "wild west" experience...

Captured from the Park website... little quarter image on the left, no extra charge.

Wish I had a horse there! 

On my one full day at the ranch a park ranger, Blaine Hall, took me out in HIS 4wheel vehicle and showed me the park.  I should say he showed me a tiny portion of the over 300,000 acres of the park. It’s bigger than Rhode Island and much harder to traverse.  One of the outstanding features is a huge...well, hole in the ground. Blaine is a geologist and he was thrilled  to go into the details of the big hole.( I jest- he must explain this to dozens of people a year)  But he tells great geology and history. And ties it all together.  I'd go back just for another tour I learned so much.  My college geology course was wasted on my youth. All I wanted to do was date a certain geologist student. 

Solitario- ten miles from edge to edge.
We wandered in a Suburban along the west flank.
HUGE

Wikipeidia says this, “The Solitario is a large geologic formation in Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas. Viewed from above it suggests an impact crater, though it is actually the eroded remains of a laccolith.”

I wish we could have seen the Solitario from above but the uplifted sides are really spectacular, too. As are the roads.  These are easily the worst roads I have ever been on and I’m only sorry that I couldn’t capture them on film.  I was busy hanging on.

I think I’ll just do some pictures- these are mine. 

Gary Nored is a park volunteer and generous photographer.  Here’s his link if you are smitten with this beautiful area of Texas.   http://www.flickr.com/photos/aneyefortexas/

If you are a true glutton for punishment, how about biking this place? 

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2009/nov/ed_1/

We found a cliff overhand near the river bed. 

Ancient petrographs- paint from pigments on an overhang. 

This is probably 3, 000 years old.
Still there- a testimony to man's desire to leave his mark.

 Likely a place of worship or  healing. They assume a spiritual significance

I loved these.
They are all sizes but obviously printed by a human hand and life size. 

The earth layers are beautiful.

We left the Suburaban and hiked along the river bottom in Fresno Canyon.

That isn't snow- it's the exposed white limestone bedrock of an ancient sea.
 It butts up to a layered formation on the right.

And the  seasonal water flow deposited the black gravel. 

Same scene- messing with black and white.

At the bottom of the Fresno Canyon there is a spring and an abandoned ranch. It was a goat and sheep ranch from the turn of the last century to the 1950's when drought ended the ranching days.  Interested? The full story is in the park's newsletter. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_p4507_1437_05_10.pdf


I just thought a few pictures of the ranch would be fun.  Now I'm going to convert more to the cool sepia. Fun with iPhoto.

View for a ranch wife.

It was a family's life,
now the desert will reclaim it. 

Sit for a spell.

Enduring adobe. 

Love the texture. 

We climbed out of the canyon and left the ranch behind.

View of the Solitario's flanks, the Flatirons, so named for their resemblance to the old flat irons
placed on hot wood stoves and used by our terribly industrious forebears.

It was a great day. Thank you, Blaine.

My kids and friends were concerned with me going alone to the Texas/Mexico border. So instead I hired a guide and spent the day alone in a remote desert with a complete stranger. We're laughing here remembering our lunch. I told him their concern and he assured he wasn't a psychopath.
Lovely man and has forgotten more information about the natural world than I've learned!