Big Bend: Unexpected Beauty

I tried my cell phone again. Yes, I had been warned that cell phone service is hit-and-miss in West Texas, but I was determined to get a signal long enough to call my husband and tell him we’d arrived safely at Big Bend National Park.

Nope. No service. He’ll just have to assume we made it.

When we first entered the park, we saw lots of desert. Brown dirt, small plants, and a huge blue sky. This fit my expectations for the park.

But as we made our way to the park’s Chisos Basin, we began to see what really makes Big Bend so special. The flat landscape became a series of dramatic cliffs. The short desert plants disappeared and were replaced by golden grasses and Juniper trees. The straight road began to curve in its attempt to make its way into the basin.

Of the places we visited on our West Texas trip, this is the one I would be most likely to return to for a second visit. We only scratched the surface of this large park, and I’d love to see more. We hiked the Lost Mine Trail to the overlook, which was one mile in and one mile back out. Two miles round-trip in an enormous park. I wonder what we missed–and what awaits us on our next visit.