Big Bend National Park Feb 2009
How did we Go:
Decided to go visit the National Park for a few days. Flew into Midland Odessa airport on a small American Eagle jet, rented a car and started driving west.
It took longed that I had anticipated; I always forget how huge Texas is. We ended up at Marathon, Texas where we had booked an hotel, as there was nothing available in the Big Bend National Park.
About the Park:
The National Park was very beautiful with great desert scenery and landscape, desert vegetation, and great hikes. See images below.
We also visited Alpine Texas, and Fort Davis, Texas on Valentine day. Fort Davis has a Univ of Texas at Austin Observatory there (Fort Davis is at about 5000ft above sea level, and being in the desert, it gets chilly and cold at night). The observatory was built here because of the altitude, and because there is no light pollution here.
We could literally see thousands of very bright stars here; truly awe-inspiring, while we froze :). Marfa was another interesting place, where they have at some time in the year, Marfa lights; which are weird mystical light colors in the night. We did not see any.
I got a speeding ticket in the National Park, and since this is Federal territory, the jurisdiction is with Federal court. So later on, I got summoned for my court hearing to Alpine, Texas. I got the sympathetic ear of the court clerk who pleaded on my behalf to get me a small fine and Driver’s Ed.
In Spite of this, I highly recommend a visit to this natural desert landscape National Park for some hiking and a change of scenery. The town of Terulinga just outside the National Park is also a very nice quaint old town.
Devils window; steep canyon drop on the other side
There are colors in the desert
The Rio Grande river, which divides Texas and Mexico forms the border, and the western boundary of the National Park. The Rio Grande has carved out a decent gorce/canyon here and it’s a very nice hike
Rio Grande river, and Mexico behind us
Rio Grande; Mexico on the right side (we are on the US side)
Chilling turtle on the Rio Grande
This entry was posted in Big Bend National Park Feb 2009, North America, Texas, USA
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