Big Bend National Park: Best of the Best Series--#1

June 14, 2010--My anticipation of the summer had culminated. I had a few purposes on this trip 1) Explore a part of the world I had never been to before 2) Focus on the one who created the grandeur of this place 3) Document His creation in photographs and 4) Increase my photography skills. In the end, I narrowed it down to about five pictures a day that are my best shots. Others definitely hold memories of various sorts, but these are the ones I am most proud. It was a great escape from most technologies and a new environment with adventures all it's own.

After approximately 11 hours of driving, we were greeted with desolate surroundings as we traveled into Big Bend National Park down Hwy 385. However, when we arrived at Panther Junction the landscape changed dramatically.

This is Casa Grande. It is a landmark in the Chisos Mountain basin. It stands 7, 325 feet. I thought it nearly glowed in the light of this sunset.
We arrived in time to view the beginning of the most beautiful sunset of the week as we ate dinner in the Chisos Mountain Lodge restaurant. Then we ventured down the Window View Trail to see the finale.
This is a popular location for visitors to spend the evenings. We met several fellow vacationers here and then later saw them during our day outings. It began to feel like camp with this being the evening meeting spot to recount the days adventures and local news.

Big Bend National Park is pretty isolated. Shortly after we entered the park we began to notice the effects of its location. Due to the import of electricity from remote locations it can be disrupted easily. The first night we had no electricity from about midnight to almost 7am. This happened additional times but for significantly less amounts of time for the remainder of our trip.