Retreat from holiday hype in the Big Bend

[SHANEA]

http://www.swtexaslive.com/node/2560

December 13, 2006
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer
 

What a lovely surprise to discover how un-lonely being alone can be.
--- Ellen Burstyn
 



The landmark Mules Ears pinnacles are an inescapable feature for travelers along Big Bend National Park’s Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, though a surprising mix of colors in stone and mineral deposits also compete for the traveler’s attention, particularly as one travels south toward Santa Elena Canyon. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag)
Below a sky of obsidian flecked with diamond-dust stars by the millions, night visitors to the Big Bend region of Texas are treated to a celestial show of increasingly rare performance.



Nearly vertical walls soar more than 1,000 feet above the Rio Grande that cut the Santa Elena Canyon, and the action was not simply millions of years of flowing water. The river carries volumes of silt and sand particles that abrade even the toughest of stone, and can be heard singing along the sides of aluminum canoes. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag)With little regard for anti-light pollution measures, cities brighten up for crime-resistant neighborhoods, bigger airports, safer streets, shopping malls, and Christmas spectacles. And, in small increments, the real show fades into obscurity.

But the skywatcher’s sensation of nocturnal vastness in the Big Bend, named for the 300-mile southern downturn and northward return of the Rio Grande, doesn’t fade when the sun comes up. For those who enjoy a little transient solitude, West Texas is a sanctuary.

There are those who love – even thrive upon – the hustle, bustle, hype and crush of Christmas, but many will travel far to escape it. The Big Bend region of Texas is not far, only remote. A four-hour drive will put you into the sparsely-populated middle of it, yet within easy reach of splendid accommodations, culinary masterpieces, colorful residents, and scenery beyond imagining.

On a recent visit, my wife Debbie’s maiden voyage to the Big Bend, she exclaimed, “As I was growing up, I was always told that Texas doesn’t have real mountains. Just look at those rocks! They are so high!”

And the brief, exhilarating hike into the Santa Elena Canyon, tucked away on the national park’s southwest corner, reveals how deeply cut that rock can be, too. The steep-walled canyon – 1,500 feet deep – is a habitat of plants and animals as different from the surrounding desert as is an apple from an orange.

The same may be said for the peaks that form the Chisos Basin in the heart of Big Bend National Park. Rising more than a mile above the lower elevations in the park, Emory Peak tops out at 7,825 feet above sea level. The trail to its spindly top is steep, exhilarating and rewarding.

A less challenging, but equally prized hike is to the top of Lost Mine Peak, with a trailhead along the road to and from the Chisos Basin. The park is full of such treats scattered across its 881,000 acres, about 1,300 square miles. There’s archeology, paleontology, history and pre-history here, too, framed by the too-obvious geological and botanical displays.



The Rio Grande spills into sunlight from the darkened Santa Elena Canyon, continuing to form 180 miles of the national park’s southern boundary. Regrettably, much of the verdant appearance of the river’s riparian habitat is provided by tamarisk (or salt cedar) a pernicious, exotic, water-sucking weed-tree. Control of this unwanted pest is very difficult. (LIVE! photo/Bill Sontag)Wild, wooly, remote – Big Bend is all these things, and a raw, unforgiving landscape, to boot. But it’s not without hospitality. Forever Resorts, a nationwide chain of hotels, marinas (including the one at Diablo East on Lake Amistad), stores and restaurants, provides the accommodations at the Chisos Mountains Lodge.

In the Chisos Basin, visitors are afforded lodging in clean hotel rooms (no TVs and no phones, in keeping with National Park Service policy), acceptable fare in a restaurant, modest supplies in a store, money from an ATM, and stamps in a Post Office. If lodgers simply must have electronic visuals, Forever Resorts has rental VCRs and movies available.

But don’t expect a lot of hoopla for Christmas or New Years Eve. “No, we don’t have any special events scheduled,” explained Forever Resorts Clerk Joyce Griffin, appearing puzzled by the question. Though visitation is subdued now, it picks up dramatically between Christmas and New Years, Griffin said.

Lodgers and day-tripping visitors may be fortunate enough to learn that all the basin’s inhabitants are not two-legged. Sightings of groups of javelina and deer are common, black bear are more occasional, and glimpses of mountain lions are rare – reserved for the very lucky.


Gas before you go!

Gasoline is not a bargain in West Texas.

Regular grade gasoline over the Thanksgiving weekend at H-E-B and Wal-Mart was $2.05/gallon. It’s a certainty that you’ll need to buy gas in the Big Bend Region, but a full tank will delay the necessity of a first purchase there.

Here are the prices for regular grade gas seen at filling stations around the area:

Sanderson, $2.39

Alpine, $2.39

Study Butte, $2.48

Marathon, $2.51

 


Even clumps of prickly pear appear somewhat festive in red and purple hues in many landscapes around Big Bend. Mexican recipes often call for nopalitos, de-thorned, peeled and sliced pads of fresh, green prickly pear, while the tunas, swollen, red fruits, are often sweet as a fig, and popular for preserves. This group seems crowned by a woody spray of ocotillo stems, surrounded by sprigs of lechuguilla, the signature indicator species of Chihuahuan desert vegetation.Though closures on Christmas Day and New Years Day are common elsewhere, Interpretive Ranger Bob Jacyna said the park’s visitor centers at Panther Junction and in the Chisos Basin are open every day of the year. No rest for the Forever Resorts folks, either. Griffin said their facilities are open all year long, 7 a.m. – 9 p.m.

But bring your own celebration, and keep it low-key so other visitors aren’t disturbed. This is the time of the year to see this magnificent park. From late spring to early fall, this place is a sand and stone oven, but now it’s cool and crisp in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon. Chilly at night, though: Bring jackets and sweaters.

Big Bend is a vast, nearly silent wilderness, and meant to be enjoyed for that alone, a quiet distinction that creates a memorably distinctive holiday season.

For more information, take a look at the Big Bend National Park official Web site, www.nps.gov/bibe.