Death in Big Bend by Laurence Parent

[TedMT]

Are you aware that the author, Laurence Parent, free climbed from the base of Cattail Falls all the way through Cattail Canyon, and down to the Basin in one day; an incredible feat! My hero!
QS

QS/LP, up all those pour-offs, including the Big One?

[RichardM]

Are you aware that the author, Laurence Parent, free climbed from the base of Cattail Falls all the way through Cattail Canyon, and down to the Basin in one day; an incredible feat! My hero!
QS

QS/LP, up all those pour-offs, including the Big One?

lparent wrote about his excursion here, but unfortunately it looks like all of his attached photos got lost during the last host server move.

[lparent]

I haven't had time to be on here much lately.  Some friends and I did climb all the way up the canyon to Laguna Meadow and back down to the Basin in one day.  We climbed around the pouroffs.  Definitely difficult and treacherous, but not the same as free-climbing up the actual pour-offs!  Let me tell you, we were one tired group.

[TedMT]

Reading Laurence's chapter on the death of Ellwood Voorhees, the date seemed somehow familiar. When I complete a hike that LP covers in his hiking guide, I write the date in my copy. Checking my book, I realized that I was there that day.

It was the day of my second arrival at the Park, in February of '03. I woke up that morning in Alpine to find thick fog down to ground level. Driving toward Marathon, oncoming headlights would suddenly materialize less than 200 yards in the distance. Turning south, the fog lifted and the clouds began to break up somewhat.  Arriving at the Park I stopped to hike up Persimmon Gap Draw, had scarcely gotten out of my car, when, "Crrr-AACCK!" I don't know how close the strike was, but it was too close. I postponed my hike.

It was the same weather system that lethally engulfed the Chisos. It was a weird, weird day -- fog, atmospheric instability, a winter lightning storm. Later I heard that someone had been struck in the mountains, but I heard nothing in the way of details -- until early this year when I read Death in Big Bend.

[mm84321]

Really enjoyed reading this on my first visit to Big Bend; riveting stories. I tried not reading it right before bedtime though, haha.

[lparent]

Interesting to hear the description of that winter day.

[Boot Canyon 1 Cougar]

I bought this book last July at Whole Earth.  I then walked to me car in the Quarry parking lot, sat in my car, read the chapter about me--and was overwhelmed by the emotions that it unearthed.  I cried and cried and cried.

Laurence, your book is incredible.  Thank you for including my story, and telling it so well.  And thank you for sharing all of the other stories. 

I often mention to people that I'm one of the few stories that do not involve a body bag.

Upon reading my story, I realized that I never grieved about my incident in December 2006.  I did not know that I had so many buried emotions about my brush with death--emotions hidden beneath the veneer of survival.  Thank you for leading me to tap into those feelings.

Perhaps other characters in the book who have read their stories have a similar response?

While I have personal reasons for this book being so meaningful to me, I urge you all to check out this book. 

[Cyde]

I just finished this book last night.  I visited Big Bend for the first time last year and will be going back again this November.  The Park is almost magical in magesty and solitude and I've been missing it ever since I left.  I went with a large group and never hiked in groups smaller than 4 people.  We camped in the Basin and managed to hike to the Southern Rim one Day, Lost Mines Trail the next and St Elena Canyon that night with Dinner at El Kiva, Summit Emory Peak the next day and hike to the Window that night.  I had a happy-go-lucky attitude the whole time and never at anytime felt any sense of danger, well except when trying to get up and down the last 100 ft. of Emory Peak!!  
Now that I've read this book I realize despite the beauty and calm "vibe" of the park there is a ever present danger and I should make my choices with greater consideration.   The common theme through out the stories in this book are people hiking alone and making unfortunate decisions.   
Thanks to the book, I'm now enthralled with Cattail Canyon and have spent the better part of this day searching for pictures of it and maps too it on the Internet.  Surprisingly, the legends are true!  There is very little information about this part of the park, which just amped up my curiosity.  From my research I was able to find the story of John Sellers and Bryan Brock as told by John, which I though I'd share with you: www.bigbendgallery.com/uploads/files/okiehiker/On_The_Edge.doc

[jeffblaylock]

The common theme through out the stories in this book are people hiking alone and making unfortunate decisions. Thanks to the book, I'm now enthralled with Cattail Canyon and have spent the better part of this day searching for pictures of it and maps too it on the Internet.

Hiking solo isn't so much the culprit as the unfortunate decisions part. Sometimes, the unfortunate decision is the very first one, like deciding to go into Cattail Canyon. There are lots of beautiful places in the park to explore that aren't as inherently dangerous as Cattail.

[iCe]

Bad decisions that include a lack of planning. I was hiking back to Cattail Falls in August last year? Maybe the year before. I carried a full camelbak, food, simple things just in case I messed up and couldn't come back out. When I got back to the parking lot a young man came walking in from the road. Turns out he didn't think his car would make it in so he walked in. He was in the USAF and he came alone because he couldn't get his friends interested in coming with him. It was his first trip to BiBe. He was headed back to Cattail Falls. On a whim I asked him if he had any water. Nope  he ran out hours ago. I had a gallon in the cooler and he had a camelbak so we fixed that problem. I talked with him about the importance of water, trying not to preach. He was a veteran if the Gulf War so he knew about desert survival. Since BiBe is a national park he didn't think it would be like the desert... I wonder if that's a common thought? Anyway, even though it was a little late in the day he didn't want a ride out. He was going to explore a little and then head back to the car. Hopefully he heard me when I warned against cold when the sun goes down and how far he still had to go.

The common theme through out the stories in this book are people hiking alone and making unfortunate decisions. Thanks to the book, I'm now enthralled with Cattail Canyon and have spent the better part of this day searching for pictures of it and maps too it on the Internet.

Hiking solo isn't so much the culprit as the unfortunate decisions part. Sometimes, the unfortunate decision is the very first one, like deciding to go into Cattail Canyon. There are lots of beautiful places in the park to explore that aren't as inherently dangerous as Cattail.

[Flash]

My Son bought this book Aug. 13th as a souvenir of our recent trip and finished it on the way back to Houston. I just finished it myself. A couple of the stories are pretty disturbing, but overall an intriguing set of accounts. It was very sobering to have place names mentioned that I either recently visited or visited in the past. For example, I seem to remember the extra signs they placed near Grapevine Hills to make sure you don't miss the turn and go off into the desert... 

[RichardM]

My Son bought this book Aug. 13th as a souvenir of our recent trip and finished it on the way back to Houston. I just finished it myself. A couple of the stories are pretty disturbing, but overall an intriguing set of accounts. It was very sobering to have place names mentioned that I either recently visited or visited in the past. For example, I seem to remember the extra signs they placed near Grapevine Hills to make sure you don't miss the turn and go off into the desert... 

My Dad and I missed that turn years ago and continued down the wash a ways after crossing the road. After a few minutes, it finally dawned on us that there was no way it would lead back to the trailhead if we already crossed the road, as it was the only one around. We backtracked and split up, each heading up/down the road to the top of each hill. Dad was the winner and had the hill by the trailhead.

[jave]

Last weekend we had the good fortune to take a look at upper Cattail Canyon.  Experienced BBNP hikers and my son-in-law and daughter (both with multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and climbing skills) went with me.  We were the second backpackers after the Chisos reopened.  Weather was great.  We proceeded past House rock a little ways and managed to get up a side canyon to a ridge overloooking the two drainages. We ignored the  rope at the first big pouroff tempting us to go deeper.  Do NOT fool around up there if it is the least bit wet or stormy, or if your group does not have considerable depth.  If you want a vista the 7070' hill top near LM is nice although the rock escarpment on the east side can be treacherous.  Also since the drought it appears the bears are using the water sources in Cattail frequently.

[RichardM]

Thought y'all might find this interesting. The attached are from the book:

"Shod With Iron: Life on the Mexican Border with the United States Border Patrol: C.M. 'Buck' Newsome"

Its a great little read and it can be found on Amazon. I got my copy at Half Price.

Interesting find.

I've moved your post off to its own topic:
http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/big-bend-book-reviews/shod-with-iron/