We emerged from Big Bend Country and West Texas to land on a little ranch in the town of Oatmeal. The 2020 Census put the population of Oatmeal at 20. The town is unincorporated, technically a part of Betram in Burnet Country in the Texas Hill Country outside of Austin. The town’s claim to fame appears to be the the Oatmeal Festival held each year over Labor Day weekend. There are town offices, a town windmill, at least one cemetery, a water tower painted to look like a can of oatmeal. At one time, there was a Black section of town, but there’s no trace of it now. Recently, a police officer ..read more

I had stopped in Terlingua back in March 2023 on my way to Big Bend Ranch State Park. The town sits between the state park and the national park and is an ideal spot to get your vehicle and yourself fueled up. I did the quick detour and followed the signs to the ghost town, a collection of dwellings that are little more than a few walls and a cemetery, but still told a story of what used to be there. This time around, it was an emergency stop. We had vastly miscalculated how far our rental SUV could carry us on a tank of gas, then found that the only gas station in the national park at Panthe ..read more

We arrived at Santa Elena Canyon late in the day and the parking lot was nearly full, but beginning to empty. We met several group heading out as we walked toward the river. By the time we were at the mouth of the canyon, it felt like we had the place nearly to ourselves. The favored light – the one you see in the posters and postcards – hits the canyons in the morning. We were there late in the afternoon, which meant that the sun was beyond the canyon. The way was also overcast, but that worked in my favor by eliminating the harshness of backlighting. Looking towards the canyon, especially ..read more

This is by the ranger station in the Castolon Historic District inside Big Bend National Park. From the National Park Service website: The Alvino House is the oldest intact adobe structure in Big Bend National Park. The building represents the everyday life of the many families who lived and farmed along the Rio Grande. This building was constructed around 1901 by Cipriano Hernandez, one of the Hispanic settlers who farmed near Castolon. National Park Service What makes the photo for me is that off in the distance, you can see the Sierra Ponce Mountains stretching across the horizon like a f ..read more

If I had a choice, I would have chosen a longer focal length than 35mm to make this image, but 35mm was all I had. To my eye, the moon looked a whole lot bigger, as it always seems to do compared to the images I capture. As it is, you have to kind of work to spot the faint moon. Still, the image has a certain John Ford vibe that I like ..read more

I’ve covered quite a few miles traveling around Big Bend region, and the only agave plants I’ve seen in blood were both cultivated. I posted a while ago about the one I saw at the Chiso Basin Lodge. This one was in the garden of the Panther Junction Visitors Center, the main ranger station for Big Bend National Park. The fact that his agave was planted besides a paved walkway didn’t take away from its grandeur. I like the look produced by the Catlabs 320 Pro developed in 510 Pyro ..read more

I don’t know if it was the time of year or the particular patch of the Chihuahuan Desert, but our campsite was surrounded by sotol and I couldn’t stop taking their picture ..read more

Ok, so not so alone. You can see plenty of others dotting the landscape in the background. This was in the Pine Canyon area of the national park. Sotol are plentiful in the Big Bend region, but they do give off a solitary feeling, especially with the wide-open sky as a backdrop. I love the flora of the Chihuahuan Desert ..read more

The agave is known as the century plant because the stalk that bears its flowers only emerges at the end of its life, which can be decades. This particular agave was just outside the lodge at Chiso Basin in Big Bend National Park. I don’t think I saw another one in bloom during our extensive wandering in the park ..read more

A yucca is a common sight around the Big Bend region, but this particular sample along the River Road in Big Bend National Park caught our eye. It’s the same one seen in the post about the Sierra Mederas del Carmen a couple of weeks back, an image that fits the yucca into its environment. I don’t know much about yuccas, and the ones I’ve noticed before are shorter. Last March, I was lucky enough to visit the Big Bend area when they were in full bloom thanks to a wet winter. I’m told that bloom was particularly magnificent and I was lucky to come across them ..read more