Upstairs at the Clark Hotel Museum

Photo by Dan Baeza, www.danbaeza.com

Van Horn's Clark Hotel Museum exhibits portray life in Far West Texas, from the perspective of an early travelers' and cattleman's hotel.  Built just south of the railroad tracks, most travelers first came by train.  When the highway came in, the front door of the hotel shifted to the road, at the other side of the building.

Many thanks to our friend, Dan Baeza, for this great photograph from one of the hotel room exhibits upstairs, but also for building the museum's website! 

Waiting for Fall Color!

Guadalupe Mountain National Park hosts true fall color every year....usually late October through early November.  While most folks know the pinnacle trail for fall color is McKittrick Canyon Trail (above), we can also suggest the shorter (and wonderful) Devil's Hall trail below:

 

Both trails are part of our Peak Fitness Challenge, a free, fun program to encourage hikers to get out on the trails.  And perhaps win prizes too!  Why not sign up?

Next Saturday, the park celebrates its 40th anniversary.  Read more here!

El Paso's Museum of Archaeology, Walking with the Ancestors

One of the excellent permanent exhibits
at El Paso's Museum of Archaeology
photo courtesy, Texas Historical Commission

El Paso's Museum of Archaeology on TransMountain Road, is a terrific place to visit and gain appreciation of our heritage and our roots as residents of the Trans Pecos and Chihuahuan Desert.

There's a great exhibit on now:

Walking with the Ancestors:
From Mesoamerica to the Southwest

On View September 22, 2012 through January 13, 2013

 

Guest Curator, Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva

Chair of the History Department, University of Texas, El Paso

A statement from the exhibit's curator, from the Museum's website:

"Walking with the Ancestors: From Mesoamerica to the Southwest is an exhibit about the connections among peoples across time and space. Although the movement of people shaped the El Paso del Norte region of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez for thousands of years, we often think of migration as a relatively new development. Yet, we are surrounded by traces of much, much older movements of peoples and cultures moving from south to north, from what is now Mexico to what is now the Southwestern United States.

My ancestors believed that without movement there is no life. The heart beats, moving our blood through our bodies. The earth rotates around the sun and the moon circles the earth. The seasons move from the new life of springtime to the resting time of winter only to begin a new cycle of growth again. Animals migrate. And people move. The history of humanity is a story of movement, of migration from one place to another for a season or for generations. Walking with the Ancestors connects us to each other because it asks us to remember what we share. At a time when immigration is one of the most contested and emotional issues in our nation, this exhibit calls on us to stop for a moment and think about the ancient history of movements of people and culture.

Utilizing pottery, photographs, stories and other artifacts, the exhibit draws on themes of corn, rain, parrots, the peyote cactus and the rabbit in the moon to trace the movement of life: the movement of the ancestors."

Olin, Aztec glyph from Codex Magliabechiano

Tlaloc from Codex Rios

 

 

Marfa Burrito and Pancho Villa

There's a little place to get great $5 burritos on South San Antonio Street (Hwy 67) heading towards Shafter.  Open for breakfast and lunch, there's more than just terrific Mexican food there.  The walls are filled with handmade posters with greetings from film crews and musicians who've blown through town.  There are also clippings and photos of Pancho Villa and his family...for Marfa's history is very much shaped by Villa and the exodus of refugees fleeing Mexico during the Mexican Revolution.

Consider this photograph from the collection of the Marfa Public Library in University of North Texas Libraries' Portal to Texas History of Mexican refugees fleeing Villa in 1914.


[Mexican refugees fleeing from Pancho Villa], Photograph, n.d.; digital image, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth39634/ : accessed September 27, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Marfa Public Library, Marfa, Texas.

From the Texas State Historical Association's online entry for Presidio County:

"The growth of Presidio County's population in the 1910s reflected the impact of the Mexican Revolution on border life. Refugees migrated to the county from Chihuahua as the fighting moved into northern Mexico. The United States Army established several posts in the county to watch for border incursions. Marfa became the headquarters for the Big Bend Military District, and in 1917 the Army established Camp Marfa, later called Fort D. A. Russell, at Marfa to protect the border. Cavalry posts were established at Shafter, Candelaria, Redford, Presidio, Indio, Ruidosa, and Camp Holland. Raids by Mexican bandits and paramilitary forces invited fierce and sometimes excessive retaliation by the United States military and by the Texas Rangers^qv. Incidents like the Brite Ranch Raid, the Neville Ranch Raid, and the Porvenir Massacre spread insecurity and racial hatred throughout the county and the border region."

So while you wait for a huge, wonderful lunch or breakfast, take the time to get a local's spin on that heritage from Marfa Burrito's walls!

Bonus:  Special thanks to Stonewear Designs for letting us try some of their fall line...here our Texas Mountain Trail Executive Director is wearing the ready-for-any-adventure Liberty Skort!

Visit the Fort by Lantern Light, Evening Tours at Fort Davis, October 6

Our friends at Fort Davis National Historic Site host an annual evening event which projects visitors back in time.  They sent us the following about their October 6 evening tours:

"Over 40 living history reenactors will perform vignettes based on historical events that took place at Fort Davis when it was an active military post (1854-1891). Visit the Fort after hours and by lantern light at this once-a-year event! Fun-filled guided tours begin at 6:00 p.m. and are staggered every half hour; the last tour begins at 8:30 p.m. Wear comfortable walking shoes to walk about a mile on this tour that lasts just over one hour.
This year, the Presidential Election of 1884 will be featured. Find out who won the election and meet some of the characters who lived at historic Fort Davis. Meet the spunky officer's servant, Mrs. Murphy, as she banters humorously while serving warm cider and cookies to guests. Watch a delirious sergeant on sick call at the post hospital in 1887 chiding the capable post surgeon. Encounter officers' wives of the 10th Cavalry in 1885 discussing the regiment's upcoming move to Arizona.

It's a night to remember! It's not to be missed! Also see some of the new medical exhibits that the National Park Service installed recently in the 1876 post hospital.
For those with walking issues, we suggest you sign up for an early tour while it is still daylight. For those wanting to see the Fort after dark by lantern light, we suggest one of the later tours."

Sounds like fun!  For more details, including a phone call for questions about this free program (although they'd gladly accept donations!), click here.

One of our Favorite Ranching Images

From the collection of the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn of early life in Culberson County.   

Walter Beach on right; Jim Bean on left. Click on the photo for a closer look!

 

A Couple of Good Stories, a Historic Route Rerouted and Wild Rose Pass at Dawn



Click for a closer view and see that the current road
is not the historic Wild Rose Pass
From the Claytons Overlook exhibit at
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center

Taken at dawn yesterday, looking north

Clayton's Overlook exhibit at
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center

 

 

Taken at dawn yesterday, looking south

Yesterday in the low light of dawn, we drove through Wild Rose Pass between Fort Davis and Balmorhea.  Always a lovely drive, we were cheered to see so much GREEN, an welcome result of the summer rains we've been so lucky to receive. 

This area burned hot and long during last year's wildfires and was BLACK for much of the spring and summer of 2011, but now, there is vegetation growing all over the pass.

 

A popular scenic drive and cycling route (riding it downhill from Fort Davis to Balmorhea is so much fun!), it is also an important historic passageway.

The Texas State Historical Association posts this on their "Handbook of Texas Online" "WILD ROSE PASS. Wild Rose Pass is ten miles northeast of Fort Davis in east central Jeff Davis County (at 30°43' N, 103°47' W). State Highway 17 goes through the pass, which is two miles long. Elevations in the pass range from 4,320 feet to 4,546 feet above sea level, some 900 to 700 feet lower than the unnamed neighboring peaks to the east and west. The pass was supposedly named by Lt. William H. C. Whiting, who traveled through the area in March 1849, for the Demaree rose, which grows at springs and seeps in the area. Local legend has it that William A. (Bigfoot) Wallace, who in the 1850s was a driver on the Skillman mail route from San Antonio to El Paso, once shot a buck atop a nearby cliff in Wild Rose Pass. The dead animal toppled over the cliff, slid down the mountainside, and came to a halt directly in front of the coach, whereupon Wallace reportedly said, "Them's the first mountains I ever seen where the game comes to heel after being killed." Another story holds that in 1859 a band of Mescalero Apaches waylaid a mail coach, killed the guard, and made off with the mail. The Indians became so absorbed by the illustrations in the captured newspapers, however, that they allowed themselves to be caught by pursuing soldiers. Fourteen Mescaleros were killed, and thereafter the Apaches believed that pictures were bad luck and avoided them."



Waiting for Gov. Hobby on Old Settlers Day, Van Horn, August 28, 1919

Click on the image for a closer view!

Taken at the Van Horn railroad station (near today's Clark Hotel Museum)....click on the image for a closer view of cowboys, autos, and Van Horn's mountains in the background!  From a collection of early Van Horn life in the Clark Hotel Museum.

Last night's light at the Jeff Davis/Presidio County line

 

Subtle colors near sunset by Monte Riggs of Marfa
(click on photo for a closer look!)

Last Night's Moon

Beautiful!  Our clear skies make planet and stargazing so enjoyable.  Thanks to Monte Riggs of Marfa for sharing this photo!

Tenacious and beautiful in the evening light

Taken last night outside Marfa, shortly before sunset....so beautiful!

Remembering a Cherished Volunteer

Iris Stagner, of Mineral Wells

Our test riders leave Van Horn, Iris is riding at the right
in the light blue jacket

An organization like ours relies on volunteers, many of them don't live in Far West Texas but LOVE what our region offers, and they work hard to help Texas Mountain Trail deliver important service to the region's visitors and residents.

One such person was Iris Stagner, a Bike Texas board member, participant in the Texas Forts Trail's Forts Tour, and incredible cyclist, cycling advocate and friend.



Vintage postcard for the Hotel El Capitan
The fully restored hotel was the starting
point for the El Capitan to El Capitan
Heritage Bike Route

1910 View of Ranchland along the route
The view remains very much the same today

She helped us out in March 2010 by traveling all the way from Mineral Wells with her husband, Butch, to be a test rider for us on our first Texas Mountain Trail Heritage Bike Route, the "El Capitan to El Capitan Heritage Bike Ride" from Van Horn to the base of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  She then wrote about the ride for The Racing Post.  (Here's the link to the bike route information, which will be up for only a few days in this form, as we update our organization's website.)

The road from Queen, New Mexico to Dog Canyon,
Guadalupe Mountains Nationanl Park, one of Iris' favorite rides
in our region

Iris and Butch were frequent visitors to our region.  She came to ride the Scenic Loop in Fort Davis, and lately enjoyed Guadalupe Mountains National Park, especially the northernmost entry through Dog Canyon.  Butch would take her bike out of the truck, and she'd ride downhill all the way from Queen, NM to the Dog Canyon ranger station.

Tragically, this tireless advocate for cycling safety was killed riding her bike home from work on Monday night.  We will remember her as a dear friend (so upbeat, positive, willing to give, and willing to laugh!), a wife, mother, grandmother, a true fan of Far West Texas and our Texas Mountain Trail, and a great all-around person.  Her family has asked that memorials be sent to a special fund for cycling education and safety, the Iris Stagner Memorial Fund at Bike Texas.  You can read more about Iris on their website, here.

 

Right before sunset

Taken on Hwy 17 between Fort Davis and Marfa

This land was burned BLACK seventeen months ago in the Rock House fire, but look at it today!  Waist high grass, wildflowers, and the promise of more rain.  LOVELY!!

Eating Healthy (and Still Enjoying It) on the Road

Above:  Some healthy breakfast offerings (fruit, yoghurts, cottage cheese) and Hummus Trio plate
both from Hyatt Place (our El Paso Airport location)

As Texas Mountain Trail Director, I'm on the road almost half the time for long stretches of the year, and I try to stay healthy and still enjoy all my travels.  Don't get me wrong:  I love indulgences, and will be the first to pull up a chair to barbecue, peach cobbler, and plate of our wonderful regional tacos.  But I also like a balance too, and very much appreciate alternatives that help me stay fit when I travel. 

If I'm feeling the need to "go light," and I'm staying at a B&B I often mention this when I check in, and in the morning--more often than not--they'll provide a breakfast alternative for me. 

One of our organization's long-time friends is El Paso's Hyatt Place near the airport.  They were one of our very first Texas Mountain Trail cycle-friendly properties, and they always offer great service to their guests.  They've always provided healthy alternatives at breakfast I enjoy like fruit and yoghurt, steel-cut oatmeal and cereals.  (And some indulgences too!)  They're one of 15 properties nationwide to offer a new menu, which has my new fav dinner after a long day of travel...their Hummus Plate  (A trio of Red Pepper, Roasted Garlic and Basil Pesto Hummus, served with Kalamata Olives, Pepperoncini, Fire Roasted Peppers, Warm Herb Flatbread & Carr’s Crackers)

For more ideas on how to stay healthy on the road, check out my blog on staying fit, www.onefoottostart.blogspot.com

--Beth Nobles, Texas Mountain Trail Executive Director

Make Plans Now to Visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park/Fall Highlights!

 

There are THREE big reasons to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park this fall.

REASON #1:

Saturday, October 6, the park is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the National Park Service!

Guadalupe Mountains National Park Announces Schedule of Activities, Adds
Performances and Programs for 40th Anniversary Celebration

(Pine Springs, TX) Guadalupe Mountains National Park Superintendent DennisA. Vásquez announced the schedule of activities, and additional performers and activities for the park’s 40th anniversary celebration on Saturday,
October 6, 2012 from 9:00 AM until 4:30 PM. The park was authorized on 1966, but was established on September 30, 1972. The day’s activities will include musical and dance performances, hay rides, pony rides for the children, special guest speakers and delicious BBQ at Frijole Ranch, Butterfield Overland Mail and Buffalo Soldier living history at the Pinery Butterfield Stage Ruins, and lectures, films, and special photograph and mural exhibits at the Pine Springs Visitor Center. New performers and activities that have just confirmed are the Mescalero Apache War Dance Group from Mescalero, New Mexico, Mariachi Unido from Loving, New Mexico, the 1st Armored Division Band from Fort Bliss, Texas, Buffalo Soldier living history by the Donnie W. Brown Chapter of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Association and the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club, both of El Paso, and 19th Century living history by 6 Guns and Shady Ladies of El Paso. The park’s non-profit cooperating association partner, the Carlsbad Caverns Guadalupe Mountains Association (www.ccgma.org) will sell books, water bottles and other interpretive and thematic items throughout the day at Frijole Ranch and in the Pine Springs Visitor Center Bookstore. The Texas Mountain Trail and Peak Fitness Challenge will be on hand at Frijole Ranch throughout the day, informing visitors about those partnerships, and the El Paso Visitor and Convention Bureau will be on hand with information about regional attractions. All 40th Anniversary activities are free.

The schedule of activities for the day follows:
Frijole Ranch
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM – Mariachi Unido from Loving, New Mexico (Mariachi Music)
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM – Welcome and Opening Remarks
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM – Muletones from Dell City, Texas (Country Western Music)
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – The 1st Armored Division Army Band from Fort Bliss, Texas (Patriotic Music)
2:15 PM to 3:15 PM – Ceiba from El Paso, Texas (Latin American Folk Music and Dance)
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM – The Mescalero Apache War Dance Group from Mescalero, New Mexico
9:30 AM to 4:30 PM – Hayrides and Children’s Pony Rides The Pinery Butterfield Station Ruins
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – Butterfield Overland Mail Living History and authentic Butterfield Stagecoach Exhibit with National Park Service Staff
9:30 AM to 3 30 PM – Buffalo Soldier Living History and Exhibit with the Donnie W. Brown Chapter of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Association and the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club of El Paso, Texas
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – 19th Century Old West Living History with 6 Guns and Shady Ladies of El Paso, Texas

The Pine Springs Visitor Center
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – Guadalupe Mountains National Park Mural by Muralist Brother Boko of the Carlsbad Mural Project, a project of the Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug/Gang Coalition, and young artists from Carlsbad, New
Mexico, on the Front Patio
8:00 AM to 4:30 PM – Guadalupe Mountains National Park Photo Exhibit by local Photographers Chuck Burton, Randy Rakes and Dale Pate
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – A Historical Overview of Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains by Historian Dr. Jeffrey Shepherd of the University of Texas, El Paso, in the Auditorium
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM – The Butterfield Overland Trail Corridor by Historical Architect Dr. Julia McGilvray of SWCA Environmental Consultants of Austin, Texas, in the Auditorium.

More to be added, so contact the Pine Springs Visitor Center or visit the
park’s website (www.nps.gov/GUMO/), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Guadalupe.Mountains/) or Meetup page (www.meetup.com/Guadalupe-Mountains-National-Park-Meetup-Group/) for
updates.
All visitor parking for this event will be at the main Pine Springs Visitor
Center Parking Area.  However, free shuttles will run between the visitor
center, Frijole Ranch and the Pinery, throughout the day.

REASON #2:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park will also formally launch the Peak Fitness Challenge (www.texasmountaintrail.com/hikewww.texasmountaintrail.com/hike) on October 6, along with partners Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/franklin-mountains), the Texas Mountain Trail (www.texasmountaintrail.com), one of ten Texas heritage trails, and GeoBetty, that day. The Peak Fitness Challenge is a new partnership effort to encourage people to enjoy the many spectacular trails, in both Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Franklin Mountains State Park, to achieve their peak fitness level and enjoy the mental and physical health benefits  of hiking in America’s Great Outdoors. The Peak Fitness Challenge supports the National Park Service’s Call to Action and Health Parks, Healthy People US Action Plan.

Said Vásquez, “the park staff has worked very hard to plan an event worthy of this momentous occasion, and we are grateful to all of the performers and everyone who help us celebrate 40 years of Guadalupe Mountains National Park history. Even more importantly, we invite everyone to remain engaged with us as we look forward to and celebrate the future of this wonderful park. We hope old friends of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, as well as new, will join us for a full day of family fun as we go into our fifth decade. With more than 80 miles of hiking trails through some of the most
spectacular scenery anywhere, Guadalupe Mountains National Park is very much a hiking park. We are proud to launch the Peak Fitness Challenge with our partners and encourage everyone to use the park to exercise and become more fit and healthy. We hope that all who visit on October 6th will
continue to visit, hike, camp, watch wildlife, photograph and enjoy Guadalupe Mountains National Park.”

REASON #3:

Fall color usually comes to the park in late October or early November.

Tree Climbing Clothes?

click on the image for a closer view!

Another great image from the collection depicting early life in Van Horn...from the Clark Hotel Museum!

Visiting El Paso's beautiful downtown!

El Paso's Museum of Art is hosting Rembrandt, Rubens, and Golden Age of Painting in Europe 1600-1800 from the Speed Art Museum and From Church To Village: 16th and 17th Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings

Enjoying the garden at the Museum of History

Downtown El Paso packs a whallop of surprises in cultural offerings, all within walking distance of each other.  Consider the museums alone...park your car and walk to each one!

El Paso Museum of Art
El Paso Museum of History
Insights Science Center
El Paso Holocaust Museum
Railroad and Transportation Museum of El Paso
Lynx Exhibits



Not to mention the historic Plaza Theatre, next to the Museum of Art!

Oasis Bistro outside the historic Plaza Theatre

Our Texas Mountain Trail Executive Director, Beth Nobles, is also a Grassroots Ambassador for Stonewear Designs, a clothing company specializing in women's active wear  which she'll be testing on her adventures throughout Far West Texas.  For more information, visit Nobles' blog for newcomers to fitness, "One Foot in Front of the Other."

Discovery of 100 Year Old Doors--Jeff Davis County Library Terrace Project!

A worthy Texas heritage and preservation project can use your help! 

The Friends of the Jeff Davis County Library have been working to create a pleasant, welcoming outdoor 24/7 space to sit and relax (and use wi-fi!) outside the library while preserving the historical character of the 1906 building.  A project for community members and visitors alike, there will be attractive permanent outdoor heritage displays about the Fort Davis area.  (Our Texas Mountain Trail organization was proud -- along with the Texas Historical Commission--to play a role in providing some funds for this project!)

When the project is completed, there will be a new GREAT public space for everyone to enjoy and appreciate the historic downtown area of Fort Davis....how terrific is that!?!?

b

In 1908, Whitaker Keesey and his brother Otis sold their business
to a group of stockholders at which time it became known
as the “Union Trading Company.” It had merchandise
that included ammunition, guns, windmills, coffins, lumber,
and hardware. The Union complex contained a general
store, stable, post office, gentleman’s club with bar,
machine shop and feed store, and had the first electric
company and telephone exchange in this area,
becoming the largest mercantile in the Trans-­‐Pecos and Big Bend.

During excavation of the loading dock in preparation for new concrete work, two items of interest were discovered. A window well grate, similar to the ones on the west side of the building was discovered, still intact. The more significant item is a pair of hand crafted metal doors covering what used to be a coal chute.

The Terrace Committee sent us the following update:

As the Jeff Davis County Library resides in an historic building, it is important for these items to be preserved and displayed.  After lengthy discussions between Judge George Grubb, Library Director Toi Fisher, contractor Jeff Collins, and Friends of the Jeff Davis County Library president Cyndee Barnes, exploring the options on how to preserve the historic doors and window well grate, it was agreed the best solution was the following:  The metal doors and grate will be removed and replaced back in their original spots on top of the new concrete finish. The doors will be sealed around the perimeter and between the two doors to protect the chute under them from weather. A sealant will be used under the per imeter, and the doors will be straightened as much as possible and welded together from underneath. The grate will be concreted back in place flush with the new surface.  While this work will add to the cost and timing of the project, it will protect and display a piece of our library's history. 

This project is being managed by the Friends of the Jeff Davis County Library, a non-profit organization, in cooperation with the county. It is being funded solely through donations and grants. No tax dollars are being spent on this project. The Friends is grateful to all those who have contributed to this project. Please follow our progress at www.friendsjdcl.org

Yes, the friends are inviting folks to help with the project....this worthy effort relies on donations from visitors and regional residents.  The Terrace Committee sent us this information:

Jeff Davis County has committed support, however, no county funds are being used for this project. We are close to our funding goal and the work has begun, however, we need your help to complete the project. Please join the Friends by making a tax-­‐deductible donation at one of the following levels:
 
Classics: $10,000
Westerns: $5,000
History: $1,000
Science: $500
Poetry: $250
Romance: $100
Drama: $50

All donations are appreciated & acknowledged. For more information visit: www.friendsljdcl.org

Can you name the Baby?

There's a sweet little former stray cat guarding Big Bend Resort and Adventures in Terlingua.  He just showed up one day and never left, and is always, always up for a good rub or a pet.  Shy with no one he keeps watch on the front porch or at the registration desk.  Folks started calling him "Baby," but he's never really had a name.  Kids like to call him "Garfield."  What would YOU name him?

Big Bend Resort is at the intersection of the River Road (Hwy 170) and Hwy 118, just three miles from the entrance of Big Bend National Park.  They have comfortable motels rooms, RV and tent camping sites, a store and restaurant, gas station, laundry and a big party area.  They can also plan adventures for you--there's a golf course and a stable on the property.  And they're on our Texas Mountain Trail cycle-friendly list too! 

Forever Resorts Honored for Environmental Achievement

Bill Wright, Acting Superintendent of Big Bend National Park (l) with Danny Ferguson, General Manager of Chisos Mountain Lodge and Forever Resorts in Big Bend National Park

 

Only one Environmental Achievement Award is given by the National Park Service, and this year we were so happy to learn Chisos Mountain Lodge in the center of Big Bend National Park earned the recognition this year.  We offer our hearty congratulations to Forever Resorts (a great partner of our organization), which manages the Chisos Mountain Lodge.  Despite the Lodge's remote location, it is an active recycler and goes above and beyond to be a good environmental citizen...that's why this honor is so well deserved.

Click on the image for a closer view!

More Views of the Lost Mine Trail in Big Bend National Park

It was so pretty and green out on the Lost Mine Trail in Big Bend National Park on Friday afternoon, we had to show you more pictures!  (Page down to see yesterday's entry too.) 

Plan to visit the park soon!

Here's a link to the park's hiking page of mountain hikes, including the Lost Mine Trail!