Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest!

We are excited about the upcoming Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest, when Lajitas Golf Resort and the Big Bend community (including Desert Sports) welcomes mountain bikers to the trail! Want to join in?  Mark February 14-16 on your calendar and sign up here!  Riders of all abilities are welcome!

Click here to view our cycling page with links to routes and cycle-friendly hotels!

Making last minute plans to participate in the Bike Fest?  The folks at Big Bend Resort  want you to know that they're offering Fest participants (who book a room with them)  a free (and fully loaded--bacon, eggs, sausage, grits, yoghurt, fruit, biscuits and gravy, etc!!) breakfast buffet.  What could be better than that!?!

Music in the Mountains

One of our cycle-friendly and historic hotels, Marathon's Gage Hotel, is sponsoring a singer/songwriter's show next month!  Call for dinner and show tickets 432-386-4205.  Show will include Drew Kennedy, Walt and Tina Wilkins.

Gage Hotel

Looking for more music events in the region?  Check out Viva Big Bend's Music Festival in late July!

Early morning....

Our friend in Marfa, Monte Riggs, recently moved to the region from Houston.  A long-time runner, it took some time to adjust to a difference in altitude and running conditions, but eventually found new inspiration in the natural beauty of the area.

"Waves of sparrows or chickadees in silhouette against the bright morning sunlight break away before me, launching themselves from the tall grasses and creosote bush to scatter across the road ahead of me, their flight pattern a rhythm of rising and falling just above the tops of the grasses surfing on the slowly warming air." 

Read the entire post on "One Foot in Front of the Other," a blog for newbies to fitness.

Spring Wildflowers

Our winter precipitation
is good news as we're
anticipating spring flowers!

Like these! Van Horn in April

Some of our spring flowers start in February (or even earlier during a warm period) and then extend through early summer.  Some bloom in summer, and some will peek out during other times if there's rain and the temperatures are right!

Mountain poppies in El Paso in March

Roadside flowers along Hwy 54 just south of
Guadalupe Mountains National Park in September

Flowers found along the trail in
Big Bend National Park the first of October!

Sites along the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail

Several years ago, we partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife and our neighboring Texas Pecos Trail to develop the
Far West Texas Wildlife Trail.  Click here to read more about this trail and to learn how to access/purchase the map!

From the El Paso Uplands Loop of the trail, Franklin Mountains State Park Tom Mays Unit

From the Davis Mountains Loop, the Davis Mountains Preserve (open 365 days a year, their Madera Canyon Trail)

From the Davis Mountains Loop, the Cactus Greenhouse at Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center

From the El Paso Uplands Loop, the botanical garden at the Museum of Archaeology

From the Big Bend Loop, Big Bend National Park's Window Trail

From the El Paso Uplands Loop, near the Museum of Archaeology

It is part of the mission of our non-profit Texas Mountain Trail organization to develop programs that help folks get the most out of their visit to the Texas Mountains, like the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail.  You can now become a member of the Texas Mountain Trail and support our programs!  Click here for more information!

A short little jaunt, by bicycle or motorcycle or automobile! Our Heritage Bike Route called "Ride to the Post!"

A lovely view of the road on our Texas Mountain Trail Heritage Bike Route, the Ride to the Post!

A five miles out, and five miles back easy ride just about anyone can do...on a bike, motorcycle, or a car. 

Start in Marathon, at the cycle-friendly Gage Hotel or Gage Gardens and follow the signs to the "County Park," and soon you'll arrive at a VERY neat oasis in the mountains, which was used by Apache and Comanche and Buffalo Soldiers alike.

Click here to learn more about the route.

Alpine's Train Station and El Paso's Train Station and getting here by Amtrak

Inside Alpine's train station

There are two Amtrak stops in our Texas Mountain Trail region, Alpine and El Paso.  Click here for details about the Alpine station, and here for details about the El Paso station.  Both stations are absolutely lovely, and both are on the Sunset Limited Route.  Click here to read the Sunset Limited Schedule brochure from Amtrak.

Union Station, El Paso

Dell City, off the beaten path but on the way to the Dunes!

Dell City, a unique farming community off
the beaten path in the Texas Mountain Trail Region

Dell City has a great view of the salt flats and Guadalupe
Mountains National Park

Accessible a few miles off 62/180 just west of Guadalupe Mountains National Park is the farming community of Dell City in Hudspeth County.

Dell City is the closest place for gas, water, and food for Guadalupe Mountains National Park Salt Basin Dunes visitors.   Click here for information on gaining access to the dunes.

Read about the El Paso Salt War, here.

One of our very favorite shots.....

This cemetery marker mirrors the roofline of the
Soccoro Mission along El Paso County's
Mission Trail

We really enjoy exploring the Mission Trail communities in El Paso County, and every now and then, we see something truly special.  Consider this grave marker in the cemetery by the Socorro Mission.  What thought and care must have taken place to build this special marker?

Visit it yourself, click here for more information!

Diesel Fried Chicken

From Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men

Yes, it is a real place, the sign still there...in Van Horn

 

"When they pulled into Van Horn it was seven oclock at night.  She'd slept a good part of the way, curlted up with her knapsack as a pillow.  He pulled into a truckstop and shut off the engine and her eyes snapped open like a deer's.  She sat up and looked at him and then looked out at the parking lot.


Where are we? she said.

Van Horn.  You hungry?


I could eat a bite.


You want some diesel fried chicken?"

Big Bend Stories

Look closely in Big Bend National Park
and you'll find evidence of past lives

Big Bend National Park's website is full of great stories about its past. 

One of our favorites is here.

One of our favorite passages:

"Houses in La Coyota had wood stoves for cooking. There were no glass windows or screens. The houses did have doors, however, which usually were shut in fear of bandits from Mexico."  Imagine the life!!

Also, in a remembrance from Mrs. German Rivera, "Mrs. Rivera remembers that there was usually running water along Alamo Creek (now a dry wash), which made subsistence farming possible. The families dug ditches to bring surface water runoff into the fields. They raised corn, wheat and many vegetables, as well as hogs and chickens for their own consumption, selling surpluses and tamales to the miners in Terlingua. The road to Terlingua went alongside the creek in those days."

More stories in the History and Culture section of their website, link here.

When you see evidence of the past in the park, stop and take the time to wonder about it!

Travel Spotlight!

Now you can join the Texas Mountain Trail as a member and support our work, connecting you to your adventure in Far West Texas.  Click here for more information!  Joining is easy!

Cycle-friendly Big Bend Resorts and Adventures

The motel cat, "Baby," near the front door to the office

Beautiful setting next to Big Bend National Park

You can practice your golf swing!

Just a couple of miles from the western entrance of Big Bend National Park, sits one of our cycle-friendly accommodations properties, the Big Bend Resorts and Adventures.  They have motel rooms, RV hookups, a campground, cafe, horseback riding, golf, party facilities, laundry facilities, and a conference room available....AND they can provide personal, escorted tours inside the park in their rugged vehicle! 

Located conveniently between the Park and Terlingua Ghostown, Big Bend Resorts and Adventures allows easy access to the park, outfitters, and many of the restaurants in the area. 

 

Lots of room inside for your bike.  This is a
cycle-friendly property.

Just a few miles from Big Bend Resorts
and Adventures, the Starlight Theatre in
Terlingua Ghostown

Way to go El Paso!!

El Paso's Museum of Art

The largest city in our region has been getting TERRIFIC (and well-deserved) press lately. 

Take a look at the New York Times, 36 Hours in El Paso article! (Printed just last week)

And this one, distributed this week in Albuquerque and Santa Fe!  This one focuses on the nightlife and the advantages to exploring the downtown area...great places to dine, listen to music,

Tiffany Dome in the Hotel El Camino Real in
downtown El Paso

The New York Times article mentions the wonderful resources of Franklin Mountains State Park, home to our own Peak Fitness Challenge, where hikers can log their miles online and become eligible for prizes!  So far, over 1,000 hiking miles have been recorded online!

Inside the restored, historic
Plaza Theatre in downtown El Paso

We agree that El Paso is a city of surprising charm...the trick is to get off I-10 and explore! 

Bicycle Travel Can Save Small Towns

Our friends, Russ and Laura, of PathLessPedaled.com traveled through our Texas Mountain Trail region on their big 2009-2010 trip, staying at several of our cycle-friendly hotels including the Hotel El Capitan in Van Horn and the Gage Hotel in Marathon.  Read one of their posts here.

They make some great points about the economic benefits of bike travel to small towns, and we agree.  While we face some special challenges due to the long distances between some of our communities, the benefits are definitely there.

We're doing what we can to promote safe bike travel, and the (many) cycling resources in our region.

Click here to read our article on Far West Texas cycling on the Bike Texas website.

Visit this page, www.texasmountaintrail.com/bike for a full listing of our cycle-friendly accommodations.

A New Front Door

Now the FRONT of the Clark Hotel Museum,
In Van Horn along Broadway Street
(Photo by Dan Baeza)
 

Take just outside the "front" door of the Clark Hotel
in 1919, now the back door of the Clark Hotel
Museum in Van Horn
(Photo courtesy, Clark Hotel Museum)

When a society takes a big turn in a new direction, sometimes "back" becomes "front," and "front" becomes "back."

Such is the case with the town of Van Horn, when travel shifted from train to the automobile....and you can see that shift at the Clark Hotel Museum. 

The front door of the hotel was at the north end of the building prior to 1925, adjacent to the train station.  When automobile became more prevalent--Van Horn is on the Bankhead Highway and the Old Spanish Trail, the "front" door shifted to the south side of the building.  Read more about it here.

Travel Spotlight!

Just across the street from the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn is the historic Hotel El Capitan, recently restored to its 1930 splendor and available for visitor stays with all the modern conveniences.  The Hotel El Capitan is one of our finest regional historic hotels and a participant in our cycle-friendly program, too.


The Hotel El Capitan is a marketing partner of our non-profit Texas Mountain Trail organization.

Spend the Morning at Fort Davis: Assembly

 

What's it like to be a Buffalo Solder in 1870s at Fort Davis? 

10:00 am      One of the Bugle Calls from our "Morning at the Fort" feature at Fort Davis National Historic Site

Soldiers practiced battle formations and marching. New recruits learned more basic skills. Says a soldier:  "All right men looking better – you were all in step - you might just make soldiers yet." 11:00 a.m. Recall from Drill Morning work parties ceased at the sound of this call. Says a soldier:  "Finally, a break from all that wood choppin’ – where’s that water barrel – I’m going to find me some shade somewhere."

Click here to see and hear a typical morning's work at the Fort, circa 1870s! Travel Spotlight! Marfa has a new Visitor Center in the restored WWII - era U.S.O Building!   Come on in and say "hello" and pick up travel advice and brochures.  Located on Hwy 67 just south of the blinking light at Hwy 90 in the center of Marfa!  www.visitmarfa.com/ The City of Marfa is a merketing partner and supporter of our Texas Mountain Trail non-profit organiation.

SAVE the DATE! Trappings of Texas

SAVE the DATE!  Trappings of Texas at the Museum
of the Big Bend in Alpine!

One of the region's signature events is the Trappings of Texas at the Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine.  Click here for event information!

Close up of a noseknot on a braided rawhide bosal by Pablo Lozano of Tandil, Argentina. Pablo will have his work available for purchase this February in Trappings of Texas!

 

For 27 years, the Museum of the Big Bend has exhibited some of the very best cowboy gear and fine Western Art in the longest running event of its kind in the country: Trappings Of Texas. The Exhibit will be open to the public on February 22 - April 14, 2013, with Opening Weekend occurring on February 22-23, 2013.

This one-of-a-kind event opens on Friday, February 22, with a ticketed Opening Reception and Sale. The following day, attend the free Public Auction. All weekend long, visit the chuckwagon behind the museum. The opening weekend offers visitors to the museum an opportunity to meet the men and women who are the creators of the gear and art in the museum’s exhibit and public auction.

To learn more about Trappings of Texas and to purchase tickets, call 432-837-8143 or email nacosta@sulross.edu.

Here's a video we made in 2009 for that year's Trappings exhibit and show!

Travel Spotlight!

One of our Texas Mountain Trail cycle-friendly properties welcomes guests to the region all year round!  The Stone Village Tourist Camp is a renovated 1935 property in the middle of Fort Davis.  From their website:

"Stone Village has been in continuous operation since it's opening in 1935, when the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)under President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, came out to build the Davis Mountain State Park and Indian Lodge Complex. The University of Texas McDonald Observatory and the highway were also being built as well as the Balmorhea State Park, home to San Solomon Springs, one of the states largest spring fed pools." 

Stone Village Tourist Camp is one of our Texas Mountain Trail member/partners!

Last night's sunset, the first of 2013!!

The first sunset of the year, over West Marfa!

And....a NEW year begins!

Dawn at Big Bend Ranch State Park

We're excited to bring you the best of Far West Texas and the Texas Mountain Trail region all year long!

Visit this blog every day for all that's new and beautiful in the Texas Mountains...and....
Our facebook page
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Our special featured documents (Dining Along Historic Highways features are there now) on Issuu
It is our joy and our mission to connect you with your adventure through projects like:

Peak Fitness Challenge
Far West Texas Wildlife Trail

Are you an event organizer in Far West Texas?  You can add your event to our web calendar...follow the link here.

Remember, you can become a MEMBER of the Texas Mountain Trail and receive great benefits such as discounts at REI, Museum of the Big Bend and Friends of Big Bend National Park!  Click here!