PHOTOS FROM BIG BEND NATIONAL PARK
and Other West Texas Locations
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The Big Bend National Park is located in far west Texas about 1000 km from Pearland, but not as far as El Paso. The Rio Grande swings to the southeast after it leaves New Mexico, and at the big bend, swings to the northeast. It eventually turns to the southeast again and enters the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville. The area is a contrast of high rugged mountains and rolling desert lands. The Park Service maintains several nice camping facilities in the park. Spring and fall are the best times to visit; it is too hot in the summer and snow can make travel difficult in winter. |
| CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL IMAGE TO SEE A LARGER VERSION. |
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 Moonrise from a roadside campsite west of Big Bend National Park. |
 Looking back east from the trail into the entrance to Santa Elena Canyon where the Rio Grande enters Big Bend National Park. (The stream is not the Rio Grande.) |
 Panther Pass at 5800 feet leads into the 'Basin' of the Chisos Mountains in the bend of Big Bend. |
 View of one campground from 'Boy Scout Hill.' Easy to climb up; scary to climb down. |
 The 'Window' of the Chisos Basin looking west. |
 Sunset through the Window |
 My wife, Ann, hiking along the trail down to the basin. |
 Louis, Jimy, and John looking across the Rio Grande into Mexico. This overlooks the campground at the place where the big bend in the river occurs. |
 A view more to the south.The river exits Mariscal canyon here and flows through a sandy soil area before exiting the park through Boquias Canyon on the east. |
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 The small town of Boquillas, Mexico, the residents meet tourists at the river and ferry them across on donkeys are in jeeps. Tourists can have a drink on the other side and give trinkets to the young children. |
 A view of Palo Duro Canyon up in the panhandle of Texas, several hundred miles north of Big Bend. |
 An old windmill near a friend's home in the central Texas plains. |