| El Paso, Texas |

Big Bend National Park is a big place and my three days there were filled with big scenery, big adventure and big wonder.

So much so that I’ve decided to break up my journal notes into two parts, to hopefully better capture the essence of my three days there.

Big Bend was truly ambrosia for the soul.

And so with that, here’s part one:

Everything’s bigger in Texas

Texas is a very large state. How large? Well, it takes close to 14 hours to drive through the state from East to West.

Though I was indeed driving in that direction, my route was much more circuitous as I moseyed my way along the highways and rural routes of our second largest state.

Galveston to Houston, to San Antonio, to Del Rio and eventually to Sanderson, Texas where, as I illustrated in ‘The Hotel that Time Forgot’ I found myself at The Desert Inn.

I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and then set off for the only coffee shop in these parts, V6 Coffee at the Gage Hotel in Sanderson, about an hour to the West and on the way to Big Bend.

In my travels I use these coffee shops as my mobile offices and through the wonders of modern technology, I’m able to stay connected to the world no matter my location, all the while approximating a level of productivity pretty darn close to what I’d accomplish were I sitting in front of my desktop at home.

Sometimes though, you’re not going to find one in whatever town you happen to be, and this was one of those times.

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The drive from Sanderson to Marathon consisted of exactly what I thought it would. Not much.

A ribbon of highway, the occasional ranch, a tree here or there and really not much else except for scrubland and miles and miles of view.

The drive from Marathon to the park was exactly the same level of nothing, just with a beauty of nature amplified by a factor of a hundred while the terrain changed more mountainous as I entered the protected area.

Note: At V6 I had, what I’d consider to be the perfect hiker’s breakfast. Scrambled Eggs, potatoes, half an avocado and homemade toast with butter. Though a bit overpriced, as you’ll often find at touristy spots, it really hit the spot. I definitely should include avocado on the shopping list more often when I get home. Delicious.

Point being, that this is a very large country; an appreciation of such is probably better demonstrated as you get into the wide open spaces in ‘The West’.

The Spirit of Adventure

I was just starting back from the viewpoint on the Window Trail, my first trail in the park, when a man whom I had passed a little earlier in the hike, struck up a conversation.

He quickly launched into a series of short, rapid fire questions about myself, my background, reasons for being out here, etc, and in real-life this may have been a little off-putting as he could be seen as quite nosy. He however, had a very pleasant way about him, and because of this, I was more than happy to play along.

I told him of my travels and eventually flipped the script to ask some about him. Introducing himself by name, he motioned to the persons he was hiking with and advised he was here from India with his wife, to visit his son and daughter in law.

I remarked on how far he had come and that in addition to the factor of distance, he’d made it to one of the most remote parks in America, only to meet someone who’d come a couple of thousand miles himself.

That led to him introducing the reason for his inquisitiveness as the fact that he loved adventure and was significantly impressed by ‘adventurers’ and the lives they lead.

While appreciative of the nobility he foisted upon me, I told him I didn’t quite think that I lived up to that title and he quickly disagreed stating:

‘Oh yes, I have watched, I have seen, you have the spirit. The spirit of adventure.’

As we shook hands and then parted ways, a smile came upon my face, thinking that though that title may still not be deserved, it truly was one of the nicest compliments I had ever received.

The path less taken

On the hike back from that encounter, I decided to add on an offshoot to the trail. The core hike was only about 5.5 miles and it was feeling good both mentally and physically, so I figured a little more hiking would do me good.

In addition, I was a little, well, I don’t think disappointed is the right word, but I just didn’t feel as satisfied as I thought I would, at the Window Trail finale.

The hike was beautiful, especially as it got closer to the end and followed the course of a flow of water through some fantastically smooth boulders on each side. But the viewpoint itself was through about a 12 foot gap in those boulders, and that naturally restricted the majesty of field of vision.

Also, those same smooth boulders kept me from getting too close to the edge, given the fully understandable desire to not slip and fall several hundred feet to my death.

And so I suppose I wanted a little more, and maybe at some level thought I’d find it on my side project.

Prior to going out I hadn’t researched this spur at all, so I had no idea what it was all about, but I’ve had more than my share of luck on such trails in the past, and generally had found betting on such things to be a winning proposition.

Very shortly in the grade steepened, and up I climbed until, after only about a half of mile had passed, I came upon what I was inadvertently (or advertently, I guess) been looking for.

Laid out before me was the exact same view, but with a full and spectacular field of vision that extended for literally, as far as the eye could see.

The path continued along the ridgeline for a ways and eventually I picked out a good size boulder, so that I could sit, reflect as I stared off into the distance for a while. And so I did…