Huge, Hot, Horrible, Wonderful: Two Days in West Texas, Part I

You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!

Let’s start with horrible and see what happens

Hate spiders? Lots of folks do. Especially when it comes to the furry, rather large, mostly docile and not-at-all poisonous tarantula, that spider most often used to scare the bejesus out of folks in the movies. Harrison Ford gets covered with them in the Indiana Jones films. His character is far less frightened of them than of snakes, for good reason. Tarantulas make great pets.

For those not raised with critters, and today that’s most of us, the above black and tan lovely can be terrifying. She’s in her mating season. We’d arrived for a hike late in the day as dusk was beginning, and wildlife was inching out after another hot day. One of our group spotted her long legs sticking out from her hunting hole just as we began our walk in the magnificent Big Bend area of Western Texas.

In our group of Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) members here on a familiarization trip (FAM) exploring West Texas, we had a biologist, athletes and skilled observers of all things natural. We’d just driven many miles from El Paso to explore a tiny piece of Big Bend National Park.

With the exception of the larger cities in this enormous state, I’ve not spent much time in Texas. This trip allowed me to appreciate a bit more about the sprawling, immensely varied landscape which can utterly overwhelm the casual traveler.

Our small group would take in a restaurant, a hike, then spend two days at the newly-minted Jacitas golf resort before returning to the conference. Nora Ochoa, Ecotourism & Cultural Heritage Manager of Visit El Paso, worked closely with the staff at Visit Big Bend to organize a variety of activities which would allow us to appreciate a snippet of the abundance of offerings in this corner of Texas.

Our small group had begun in El Paso where we loaded into a roomy van for the long road trip. We draped ourselves over the seats and began the process of getting to know one another as we inched our way across the arid landscape towards the tiny spot of Alpine, Texas. There we had lunch at the Spicewood restaurant.

Having hailed from Colorado, I was tempted to scoff at the name of town. However it sits at the base of the Davis mountains at 4462’, so just under Denver’s vaunted mile-high mark. The residents are spread out everywhere.

The restaurant surprised with its varied menu and a capable, attentive server named Ian who hailed from Alaska. I had a plank of salmon, perfectly cooked and without the punishing Southwest spices for which El Paso is famous.

Table pepper burns my tongue. I am a proud wimp. Spicewood held the spices for me and the food was terrific.

You can understand that my enjoyment of local cuisine is limited. That said, everyone was delighted with lunch and the swag bags from the staff of VisitBigBend, which were chock-full of useful gear. Certain items we’d use daily: a cooling towel and a bandanna.

As the day turned towards afternoon, our driver loaded us towards a very special corner of Texas: Big Bend National Park.

“Corner” is a euphemism, of course. Big Bend, at just over 800,000 acres, is the fifteenth-largest park in the United States. Larger than the state of Rhode Island, the park was established in 1935 to preserve large tracts of the Chihuahuan Desert.

This time of year there are extreme heat alerts, even in the higher Chisos region where our group hiked. That means temperatures approaching or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s why the cooling towels were so important.

We arrived later than planned which ended up being perfect. The heat of the day had receded swiftly. Light breezes ruffled our hair as we headed up the well-maintained path, alert to all the movement.

The winding, well-maintained trail headed up towards high bluffs. Every so often it opened out to a viewpoint were the late afternoon sun and a few clouds had begun to paint the distant valleys.

In stark contrast to the high flat we’d driven through from El Paso, our hike was softened by dense tree growth: Drooping Juniper, Honey Mesquite, Mexican Pine and Texas Madrone, offering a soft alternative to the cactus-studded deserts in all directions.

Late afternoon sun on the valley

In the bushes, our group found all kinds of incredibly colorful grasshoppers and the odd lizard, which darted across the cooling rocks as we approached. Once the worst heat of the day, up in the low hundreds, had retreated, the world came alive again.

Two colorful grasshoppers from the many we found

Despite the respite from the heat and the gorgeous scenery, we couldn’t linger long. Getting anywhere in Texas is a major endeavor, and we still had a long drive ahead. So we headed back down the trail, grateful for the paint job the setting sun was doing on the high bluffs.

By the time we made it nearly all the way down to the van, the ladies with eight legs were scurrying all over the trail again, this time directly towards some of our hikers.

That’s not for everyone.

When the largest ran between my hiking boots, I took advantage of the chance to capture her in motion. Call me crazy, but she was gorgeous:

But Nature wasn’t done with us. Big Bend had one more surprise. We’d heard that a black bear had been sighted near the van while we were hiking, so we walked around scanning the nearby hills for a sign. We did spot movement, but it was likely prey rather than predator.

Disappointed, we loaded up, draped ourselves over the seats again as our driver began the slow way to our next spot, many miles away.

Just as we pulled out, however, a black bear ambled out onto the road right in front of us. The driver was in a hurry to get away from it just as much as we were in a hurry to photograph it. Sadly, the driver’s evasive actions meant that we couldn’t capture the bear on camera.

You’ll just have to take my word for it.

West Texas is full of surprises, as is the entire state. When a “corner” is as big as Rhode Island, the surprises likely are as well.

Big country, big surprises, big pleasures. Especially when the heat of the day drops off, there is a lot to love in West Texas.

land of many beauties

Thanks for joining me for the first of a two-part exploration of time in West Texas, the only part of that huge state operating on Mountain Time. I hope you join me for Part Two, coming soon. If this was enjoyable please consider

Above all, get out and play. Be in Nature. Nature heals, distracts, and teaches. You don’t have to like spiders to love Nature, but I hope you don’t fear them enough to kill them on sight. They are doing a very important job out there and we all benefit.