Big Bend Ranch State Park stretches along the Rio Grande in far west Texas, on the US-Mexico border. Featuring 300,000 acres of remote desert landscape, spectacular views, rugged mountains, steep canyons, and 238 miles of multi-use trails.This guide is an informative "trail buddy", designed to helpplan your hiking adventure and to carry with you on the trail.Highlights include:* 12 easy-to-moderate hikes *5 trails easily accessible from FM 170 * 7 trails within the remote park interior* Hikes range from approximately 1-8 miles* Photos, trail descriptions, maps, reference points,directions and safety tips
Most people visit Big Bend National Park and have a wonderful, incident-free vacation. For a tiny number, however, a simple mistake, unpreparedness, or pure bad luck has lead to catastrophe. Massive rescue efforts and fatalities, while rare, do happen at the park. Heat stroke, dehydration, hypothermia, drowning, falls, lightning, and even murder have claimed victims at Big Bend. This book chronicles selected rescues and tragedies that have happened there since the early 1980s. The lessons you learn reading this book may save your life.
A collection of Courtney's columns from the Texas Monthly, curing the curious, exorcizing bedevilment, and orienting the disoriented, advising "on such things as: Is it wrong to wear your football team's jersey to church? When out at a dancehall, do you need to stick with the one that brung ya? Is it real Tex-Mex if it's served with a side of black beans? Can one have too many Texas-themed tattoos?"--Amazon.com.
This book will help turn every trip to Big Bend National Park into a memorable adventure. Veteran naturalist Gary Clark and photographer Kathy Adams Clark help you choose the best hike or drive in Big Bend National Park, based on the season in which you visit; the number of days you have in the park; and your activity, age, and fitness levels. The Clarks provide valuable practical information, along with a descriptive list of items essential for being outdoors in desert and mountain environments and an overview of park rules. They describe more than thirty activities available in the park: two-hour or half- and full-day adventures; adventures for the physically fit or physically challenged; and adventures with children, for nature lovers, or in vehicles. The Clarks also point out scenic highlights and animals and plants that might be seen along the way.
With its combination of desert and mountain landscapes, the dramatic canyons of the Rio Grande, ancient pictographs, and remnants of pioneer ranch life, Big Bend National Park presents a wealth of subjects to the photographic eye. Add early morning and late evening sunlight, summer thunderstorms, and clear, star-spattered night skies, and the opportunities become irresistible. Professional nature photographer and frequent Big Bend traveler Kathy Adams Clark offers this handy and beautiful guide to maximizing the photographic experience of this visually stunning landscape. Photographing Big Bend National Park begins with a tutorial on the basics of light meters, shutter speeds, and f/stops, featuring practical, hands-on-camera exercises and answers to common questions. The chapters that follow take readers on six excursions to well-known locations within the park—the Basin, Panther Junction, Rio Grande Village, Ross Maxwell Drive, Santa Elena Canyon, and the Chisos Mountains among them. A primer on night photography (including “light-painting” and star trails) is also included. Within each chapter are instructions for photographing various subjects at the site using simple, intermediate, and advanced techniques; information on the best seasons to photograph; and tips designed to benefit the novice. Photographing Big Bend National Park not only provides practical information for photographers of all skill levels, it also offers a visual feast of striking images. Nature lovers, photographers, and anyone who loves this remarkable national park will treasure this latest book from veteran writer and photographer Kathy Adams Clark.
"Come along with Julie, Grant, and their family as they follow Ranger Gus and find poop (scat) and footprints (tracks) and discover which animal made them" -- Back cover.
The grandeur, remoteness, rich history, and dramatic ecologic diversity of the Big Bend is dramatically captured in this beautiful collection of intimate photographs. Showcasing rugged landscapes and geological wonders, this celebration of the region includes images of the historic towns and sweeping territory of southern Texas. Capturing the diverse local flora and fauna of the region, this volume illuminates the wonders of nature in new and provocative ways.
