It’s been three years since our last visit to Big Bend National Park (TX), and we again realize why we love this place so much.  It is not for the “epic” things you see (think Mount Rushmore, Half Dome, El Capitan…), but instead the myriad “little” things of beauty here.  The fact is, you can sit in any one place in the park and throughout the day you will be exposed to endless changes as a result of the sun, clouds, plants, stars, wildlife and weather.

 

There is a certain “karma” from camping in national parks and remote places that defies logic.  It doesn’t make sense that you feel this inner peace.  Or that you sit/hike/paddle/chill in such an environment, take a deep cleansing breath, and feel all is right with the world.  Or that you are outside all day without the benefit (?) of smart phones or technology and head back to your campsite and sleep the sleep of the dead, exhausted from the day’s activities – or inactivity!

There are those who have gone before us that have evidently felt some of these benefits from spending time with nature and creating and preserving these incredible national park treasures.   Environmentalists such as John Muir, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and photographers like Ansel Adams, just to name a few, are people we owe much for their artistry, wisdom and vision.

Big Bend, if you are not familiar, sits on the Rio Grande River along the Mexican border in southwest Texas.  There is no wall here (yet).  Little need – the bad hombres to be feared most are located in Washington, DC.  From any vantage point in Big Bend, all we can see is beauty – in every direction, and on both sides of the river.

The smells, colors and textures of this area of river, mountains and desert are amazing.  Here are just a few of our pictures from this trip – hoping you get a chance to visit here!